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IPC Launches Journalists Advisory on COVID-19 Reporting

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Press release  IPC LAUNCHES JOURNALISTS ADVISORY ON COVID-19 REPORTING For immediate release, Wednesday April 15th, 2020. The International Press Center, IPC, Lagos-Nigeria, today formally launched an advisory to aid journalists in the course of covering and reporting the Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Executive Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said in a statement today that generations of Nigerian journalists were covering a pandemic for the first time and therefore needed as much professional support as possible. Mr. Arogundade also said as front men and women in the effort to disseminate information that would help combat the pandemic, journalists were being exposed to heath and security risks, which must be addressed through diverse means. “It is against this background that the advisory is divided into three parts – Safety, Ethics and Professionalism and Social Responsibility”, he said. Mr. Arogundade said the advisory had also become necessary because the Covid-19 infection was spreading to more states and all journalists, whether on the field or not, should benefit from relevant knowledge. “The advisory derives from and complements existing national, regional and media standards for crisis reporting”, “he stated. The IPC Director said the release of the advisory would be followed by capacity trainings for journalists in partnership with other media and communication professional bodies in the next couple of days. “The trainings would enable journalists to share information and ask questions based on their experience on the field and in turn receive more professional support “, Mr. Arogundade added. According to him, the advisory was developed pursuant to the objectives of Component 4b: Support to Media of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, although the responsibility for the content was solely that of IPC. Get the PDF Version here COVID-19 ADVISORY FOR JOURNALISTS Sgd: Olutoyin Ayoade Communications Officer, IPC tayoade@ipcng.org +2348114503887

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Kogi and Bayelsa States 2019 Governorship – INEC offers its support.

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As countdown for the the Kogi and Bayelsa States 2019 Governorship Elections are just a few days away, scheduled for Saturday, 16 November, 20019. The INEC has assured the public that the INEC Citizens Contact Centre (ICCC) is available to the public for responses to enquiries, incident-reports, complaints about the electoral process. The Independent National Electoral Commission Citizens Contact Centre (ICCC) is a facility allowing the general public constant access to the Commission with enquiries and exchange of information. The INEC Citizens Contact Centre (ICCC) is a Situation Room that operates daily. For now, it will open between 9am and 5pm. Later on, the Centre will scale up to round-the-clock (i.e. 24-hour) service. As a daily Situation Room, the Centre offers the public opportunity for getting real time responses to enquiries, incident-reports, complaints and queries about any aspect of the electoral process. The Centre can be accessed through telephone lines, INEC’s website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Emails and myINEC Mobile App. 1. HOTLINES: 0700-CALL-INEC (0700-2255-4632) 2. Website address: www.inecnigeria.org 3. Facebook: www.facebook.com/inecnigeria (INEC Nigeria) 4. Twitter handle: @inecnigeria 5. Instagram: @inecnigeria 6. E-mail: iccc@inec.gov.ng 7. You can also download the official myINEC App on Google Play Store via this link  >>> Download here …..Call in, someone will be waiting to respond….. INEC: Making your votes count… Consolidating our democracy

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Campaign promises of President Muhammadu Buhari.

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Press statement Lagos. For immediate release, June 20, 2019. IPC releases documented campaign promises of President Muhammadu Buhari, as the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2019 General Elections. The International Press Centre (IPC) Lagos-Nigeria, has released (see the attached) a compilation of the campaign promises made by President Muhammadu Buhari in the course of electioneering activities for the 2019 general elections. Thirty (30) of such promises covering pledges on specific and general issues of Road/Rail infrastructure, Education, Agriculture, Poverty Eradication and Inclusion of Youths/Women in government as well as the fight against Corruption and Insecurity were documented. The documentation was done by IPC’s Media Monitoring Team, while the promises were derived from quoted statements of the President in The Nation, The Punch, Daily Sun, Daily Trust, Vanguard, This Day, Leadership and Nigerian Tribunenewspapers over a four-month period from November 2018 to February 2019. The specific sources were page 6, The Nation newspaper of Monday November 19, 2018; page 2,  The Punch Newspaper of Monday November 19, 2018; page 6, Daily Sun newspaper of Monday, November 19, 2018; front page, Daily Trust newspaper of Monday, November 19,2018; page 5 and 41, Vanguard newspaper of November 19, 2018; page 1 and 10,  This Day of November 19, 2018; page 2, Nigerian Tribune of November 19, 2018; page 25, Leadership newspaper of December 5, 2018; front page, Thisday, January 17, 2019; page 12, Daily Sun Newspaper, Thursday, January 31, 2019; page 9, Nigerian Tribune of January 17, 2019; and front page, Vanguard Newspaper, February 09, 2019. The promises are: 1.      To engage one million N-power graduates and skill up 10 million Nigerians in partnership with the private sector. 2.      To expand the school feeding programme from 9.3m to 15 million children, creating 300,000 extra jobs for food vendors and farmers. 3.      To complete the Ibadan/Kano phase of the Lagos/Kano rail link. 4.      To complete the Port Harcourt/Maiduguri line. 5.      To complete the Itakpa/Warri link to Abuja, through Lokoja. 6.      To complete the Second Niger Bridge and the East West Road connecting Warri, Delta State, to Oron, Akwa Ibom State, through Kaiama and Port Harcourt in Bayelsa and Rivers State. 7.      To establish a peoples Moni bank. 8.      To institutionalize the giving of soft loans of up to 1million naira to small traders, artisans and commercial drivers. 9.      To increase the beneficiaries of trader Moni, market Moni and farmer Moni from 2.3 million to 10million. 10.  To create more room for inclusion in government by achieving 35% in female appointments. 11.  To give more access to youths as aides of cabinet members and through opportunities for appointments in board and agencies. 12.  To introduce special mentoring programme in governance with young graduates working with ministers and other appointees. 13.  To reinterpret the education curriculum through coding, robotics, animations and design thinking. 14.  Retraining of all teachers in public primary and secondary schools to deliver digital literacy. 15.  Remodeling and equipping of 10,000 schools per year. 16.  To complete the 365 road projects under construction in all parts of the federation. 17.  Provision of infrastructure and rebuilding the economy. 18.  To sustaining the anti-insurgency war and curb insecurity. 19.  To fight corruption and revamp the economy. 20.  To develop 6 industrial Parks in each of the geopolitical zones. 21.  To establish 109 Special Production and Processing Centres (SPPCs) across each senatorial district of Nigeria. 22.  To develop the Special Economic zone to quickly concretize our made in Nigeria for export (MINE) plan. 23.  To expand the social investment program so as to eradicate poverty. 24.   To ensure completion of Manbilla Dam and Bridge. 25.  To ensure the construction of the Makurdi Taraba Borno rail project. 26.  To complete the bridges across the stretch of River Benue in Ibi local government area. 27.   To continue to pursue agricultural policy by ensuring that fertilisers are made available at all the local government areas across the country, for easy access by farmers. 28.  To resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Company. 29.  To ensure the completion of the on-going Zungeru Hydro Power project. 30.   To include persons of integrity in the cabinet. Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said the exercise was in line with the tradition of IPC, which in 2011 documented 91 campaign promises of President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). According to him, it was also embarked upon pursuant to the implementation of Component 4b: Support to Media of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria(EU-SDGN) Project by IPC over a 52-month period. Explaining the methodology further, the IPC Director said the campaign promises of all the presidential candidates that contested the 2019 elections were documented but only that of President Muhammadu Buhari was being released being the declared winner of the elections. He however said both President Buhari’s campaign promises and those of the other candidates would later be uploaded on the IPC websites. Explaining the rationale for the documentation of the campaign promises, Mr.  Arogundade said the activity was in consonance and conformity with IPC’s mandate to advance democratic accountability. “The essence is to ensure that it serves as a tool for journalists to monitor, track and ask questions about the diverse aspects of the implementation including using the Freedom of Information Act to such relevant questions”, Mr. Arogundade stressed. “Having trained journalists across Nigeria on issue-focused reporting of elections, we believe they need information like this to follow-up after the elections”, he added. According to him, the documented campaign promises will also be useful for civil society groups working on development and democratic governance issues as well as various electoral stakeholders.  “The documentation of the president’s electoral promises from the media reports, which is by no means exhaustive, is to serve as a major instrument to proactively engage the Buhari administration on its performance over the next four years and provide bench marks in seeking democratic accountability, service delivery and the fulfilment of key campaign promises made by the president”, he said. Signed: SANMI FALOBI

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IPC condemns attacks on journalists during governorship/state assembly elections

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Press Release MEDIA AND ELECTION SITUATION ROOM REPORT IPC condemns attacks on journalists during governorship/state assembly elections For immediate release, March 11, 2019 The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos has once again condemned reported incidents of attacks on journalists and other media professionals during the Governorship and State Assembly elections held on Saturday March 9, 2019. IPC Director, Mr. Lanre Arogundade said: “It was particularly worrisome that there was an increase in the attacks on journalists during the Governorship and State Assembly elections when compared with the Presidential and Senatorial elections which held two weeks ago. This is despite calls by IPC and other media groups on electoral stakeholders and security agencies to ensure a safe environment for journalists to carry out their responsibilities during the elections.” He said further that, “The rights of journalists to monitor and report election activities as guaranteed by various regulatory frameworks such as the Electoral Act, the Nigeria Broadcasting Code and the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage have not been respected as expected.” The IPC Director therefore called on all concerned security agencies and INEC to carry out immediate investigations with a view to prosecuting or sanctioning the alleged perpetrators of the attacks against the concerned journalists and media professionals. Information gathered by IPC’s media and election situation room revealed that several journalists and media professionals faced one form of harassment or the other including physical assault, abduction, denial of access to cover election proceedings, etc. The details of these incidents include: Delta State Over 250 duly accredited journalists were ordered to be barred by the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC from accessing the premises and covering election events in the commission. Only those whose names were in a different list put together by the commission were given access to cover election events. Edo State Collins Ossai of Channels television was barred by political thugs from covering the elections in Central Primary School, Iruekpe, Esan Central Local Government Area, Edo state.  Lagos State BBC Africa Pidgin Reporter, Ajoke was slapped by a politician, Segun Adewale over her coverage of vote buying at Pleasure bus stop polling booth, near Lagos – Abeokuta expressway. About 15 thugs attacked Benjamin Alade of The Guardian while he took pictures and video of protesting National Youth Corp members, who were owed allowances at a collation centre situated at the Community Primary School in Idimu area of Lagos. Kaduna State Amos Tauna of Daily Post and a group of journalists were physically assaulted close to Zonkwa police station by political thugs in Kaduna state, while covering the irregularities being perpetrated by the politicians and their thugs. Their phones, cameras and other personal belongings were seized and destroyed. Plateau State Kunle Sanni, a Premium Times journalist was abducted by political thugs for taking pictures of alleged underage voters at a polling unit of Governor Simon Lalong in Plateau state. He was later released after he was forced to delete the pictures. Yobe State Soldiers at ORO3, Union bank formation in Damaturu, Yobe state, confiscated journalists’ car and kept them hostage for hours. The journalists are Musa Mingye of Blueprint and Hamisu Kabir Matazu of Daily Trust, who were using their personal vehicles with INEC approved sticker, INEC’s reflective jackets, INEC issued Identification cards and company’s ID cards. The heavily-armed military men threatened to resort to brutality if the journalists insisted on leaving the location to continue their election duty. SGD:                       Melody Akinjiyan Safety Alert Desk Officer, IPC House 11, Dideolu Court, 2nd gate b/stop, Ogba Lagos Tel: +2348132776441

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Communique Issued at the End of Two-Day Workshops for Online Journalists/Bloggers on Conflict Sensitive Reporting Online, Ahead of the 2019 General Elections

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Introduction The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria, held a two-day workshop for online journalists/bloggers on conflict sensitive reporting online, ahead of the 2019 general elections. The workshops, which were supported by the European Union (EU) under Component 4b: Support to the media of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) project, were held on Tuesday, September 18 and Wednesday September 19, 2018 at Continental Suites, IBB Boulevard, Ibara, Abeokuta, Ogun State and Thursday September 20 and Friday September 21, 2018 at Grand Pela Hotel, Abuja, respectively. The two workshops attracted a total of 71 online journalists/bloggers, with the Abeokuta workshop attracting 36 participants from the six southwest states, while the Abuja workshop attracted 35 participants from the FCT, the North-East, North-Central, South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria. The thrust of the workshop was to build the capacity of the concerned online journalists/bloggers in using online media for fair, balanced, language sensitive and conflict sensitive reporting of the elections. Overall, the workshop focused on building the capacity of participants on professional and conflict sensitive reporting of the electoral processes as well as mitigating hate speech in an online environment. Goodwill Messages and Presentations The workshop in Abeokuta which received goodwill remarks from Comrade Wole Shokunbi, Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Ogun State and Dr. Niran Malaolu, former Ogun state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, and the founding MD/CEO of Rock city FM, featured six main presentations.  There were presentations accompanied by an interactive questions/answers, comment sessions including a plenary session on emerging issues/real life scenarios and practical steps to managing conflict situations in online reporting that was moderated by the workshop facilitator/resource persons. The first day had four presentations. The First presentation, Understanding conflict, its nature and character was delivered by Dr. Dan Jibo, Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, while the Second presentation, Understanding communication challenges in the age of conflict, hate speech and fake news was delivered by Professor Nosa Owens-Ibie, Dean, College of Social and Management Sciences (COSOMAS), Caleb University, Imota-Nigeria. The Third Presentation, Contemporary conflicts in Nigeria and possible impact on media coverage of 2019 elections: the pitfalls to avoid in Online Reporting was anchored by Dr. Dan Jibo, while the  fourth Presentation, Social Media and Elections: Knowing and Dealing with the Challenges was handled by Dr. Qasim Akinreti, Assistant News Editor, Voice of Nigeria (VON)/Chairman, Lagos NUJ. There were two presentations on the second, namely, Giving practical effect to conflict sensitive reporting online by Dr. Qasim Akinreti and Sticking to ethics and professionalism in online reporting by Professor Nosa Owens-Ibie. A special session, Introduction to anti-hoax platforms was handled by Mr. Jamiun Folarin, Dept of Mass Communication, Crescent University, Abeokuta. Six papers were also delivered at the Abuja leg of the workshop by three resources respectively. The first resource person, Dr. Ruqayyah Yusuf Aliyu of the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University Kano, had two presentations, ‘Understanding Conflict: Its Nature & Character’ and ‘Hate Speech & Fake News: Imperatives of Ethics & Professionalism in Online Reporting in Nigeria’. The second resource person, Dr. Y.Z Yau, Executive Director, CITAD presented two papers on ‘Contemporary Conflicts in Nigeria and Possible Impact on Media Coverage of 2019 Elections’ and ‘Monitoring of Hate Speech Online: Observations, Lessons and Recommendations from Outcomes’. The third resource person,  Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, Editor-In-Chief, Premium Times spoke on ‘Social Media & Elections: Giving Practical Effect to Conflict Sensitive Reporting Online‘ and ‘News gathering & Newsroom Gate keeping in Era of Hate Speech: Tips on Pitfalls to Avoid‘. Observations The Workshop identified and noted the following: Embellished’ news reports with tribal, ethnic or religious undertones are often the purveyor of conflicts in Nigeria. There are growing concerns about the use of social media and online mediums for the dissemination of fake news and hate speeches. Photo-shopped photographs and disturbing videos with fabricated local narratives promoted through online sources can trigger tension, political crisis and even communal conflict in sensitive communities.    Conflict is a natural occurrence and inevitable; mainly orchestrated by perceived threats. Hate Speech is among the universal inflammatory speeches like dangerous and offensive speeches. Hate speech criminalizes people, demeans and puts them in a bad light. Hate Speech is not just about spoken or published words; it can come in the form of music, graphics or inscription on cloths, etc. Hate speech leads to violence due to explicit, implied, contextual or historical ‘call to action’ embedded therein. Therefore hate speech is a hallmark of dangerous speech. Online journalists/ bloggers are always on the edge to be the first to ‘break the news’ which inadvertently is lowering the bar of factual and professional reporting. Unprofessional reporting online cast aspersion on the credibility of media professionals working in the online environment. Recommendations In view of the forthcoming 2019 and subsequent elections, the following recommendations were made to serve as a guideline to online journalists/bloggers reporting governance and electoral matters: Online Journalists/Bloggers reporting governance and electoral matters should restrict themselves to the Ethical Framework & Stipulated Guidelines which would differentiate them from the regular trend of citizenship journalism. Online Journalists/Bloggers reporting governance and electoral matters should equip themselves with information and knowledge on conflicts especially its context, its underlining causes, its effects and preventive and corrective measures. Online Journalists/ Bloggers should profile peace makers and subdue voices of purveyors of intolerance and cheerleaders of hate, xenophobic & religious extremists. Online Journalists/Bloggers reporting governance and electoral matters should exhibit high sense of professionalism in reporting the elections more so as good journalism requires the provision of accurate and reliable information to citizens; Online journalists/ bloggers should be careful about reports and stories that could trigger killings and destruction; Online journalists/ bloggers should pay more attention to what they publish online because of the attendant implications for peaceful co-existence and social cohesion; Online journalists/ bloggers should note that their negligence in applying ethical considerations to reports online, can cause unnecessary violence or even deaths of people; Online journalists/ bloggers need to stick to ethical standards by making sure that contents are problem solving; Online journalists/ bloggers should embrace responsible journalism by looking out for accurate and factual dissemination of news; Online journalists/bloggers should avoid sensational and misleading headlines in their reports but rather stick to professional and  credible reporting online; Online journalists/bloggers should  verify  news from all sides before publication in-order for their medium not to be tagged a medium  of fake news; Online journalists/ bloggers should

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Press Release: IPC Set To Train Online Journalists/Bloggers On Conflict Sensitive Election Reporting

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The International Press Centre, Lagos-Nigeria will next week train about 60 online journalists and bloggers from across the country on conflict sensitive reporting online. This is being done in view of the on-going electoral process and the forthcoming 2019 general elections. The workshops will take place in Abeokuta, Ogun State on September 18 and 19 and Abuja, FCT, on September 20 and 21. A statement by Director of IPC, Mr. Lanre Arogundade, said the training is part of the activities being implemented under Component 4b: Support to the media of the EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) project. According to Arogundade the training will seek to enhance the capacity of the participants to use online media for the responsible reporting of elections by being language sensitive, conflict sensitive and checking hate speech in the online environment. To ensure the attainment of the objectives, the workshops will feature presentations by media scholars and seasoned journalists. At Abeokuta, Professor Nosa Owens-Ibie, Dean, College of Social and Management Sciences (COSOMAS), Caleb University, Imota-Nigeria will speak on ‘Understanding communication challenges in the age of conflict, hate speech and fake news’ and ‘Sticking to ethics and professionalism in online reporting’; Dr. Qasim Akinreti, Assistant News Editor, Voice of Nigeria (VON)/Chairman, Lagos Council of NUJ will speak on ‘Giving practical effect to conflict sensitive reporting online’ and ‘Social Media and Elections: Knowing and Dealing with the Challenges’ while Dr. Dan Jibo of the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan will address ‘Understanding conflict, its nature and character’ and ‘Contemporary conflicts in Nigeria and possible impact on media and Coverage of 2019 elections: the pitfalls to avoid in Online Reporting’. In Abuja, Dr. Ruqayyah Yusuf Aliyu of the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University Kano, will focus on ‘Understanding Conflict: Its Nature & Character’ and ‘Hate Speech & Fake News: Imperatives of Ethics & Professionalism in Online Reporting in Nigeria’, Dr. Y.Z Yau, Executive Director, CITAD will present on ‘Contemporary Conflicts in Nigeria and Possible Impact on Media Coverage of 2019 Elections’ and ‘Monitoring of Hate Speech Online: Observations, Lessons and Recommendations from Outcomes’ while  Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, Editor-In-Chief, Premium Times will take participants through ‘Social Media & Elections: Giving Practical Effect to Conflict Sensitive Reporting Online’ and ‘News gathering & Newsroom Gate keeping in Era of Hate Speech: Tips on Pitfalls to Avoid’. Discussions at the two workshops can be followed online using the media hashtag: #EU4DemocracyNG or @ipcng twitter, facebook and other social media channels. Signed Stella Nwofia Programme Manager Tel: 234-(0)8020359629, 08063810424 Email: stellanwofia@ipcng.org, stellanwofia@gmail.com, stellanwofia@yahoo.com

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Press Release-Youths and Elections: INEC Chair, Omotola, AY, other top celebrities for UNILAG Campus Outreach Programme

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As part of broad range of activities to deepen the engagement of youth ahead of the 2019 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within the framework of the European Union Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN) shall be holding the Lagos edition of the ‘Youth Votes Count Campus Outreach’. The programme will hold on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at the J.F. Ade Ajayi Hall, University of Lagos, (UNILAG) Akoka, Lagos from 9am. Aimed at increasing the level of youth participation in elections through registration, voting as well as boosting citizens’ trust and confidence in the electoral processes, the programme will be attended by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Ketil Karlsen. Top celebrities including Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Helen Paul, Ayo ‘AY’ Makun, Cobhams Asuquo, and institutional stakeholders like the INEC Resident Commissioner for Lagos State as well other electoral stakeholders from the civil society and the media will also grace the event to be moderated by Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV. The Youth Votes count Campus Outreach Programme, which started at the University of Abuja on May 3, 2018 is scheduled to take place in five other Universities across the country including the one at the University of Lagos. The International Press Centre (IPC) and the Institute for Media and Society (IMS) who are implementing components 4a and 4b – Support to Media, of the EU-SDGN project shall be providing media support for the UNILAG event. Lanre Arogundade Director

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