Over 40 journalists from Plateau, Benue Nasarawa, Kogi, Kwara and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been trained on data mining journalism and how to access state budgets and auditors – generals’ annual reports for investigation.
The three-day training which was put together by the Daily Trust Foundation with support from Mac-Author Foundation was held in Ilorin, Kwara State.
In his opening remarks, a member of the Board of Trustees of Daily Trust Foundation, Chief Ishaq Ajibola, said:
“When you talk about transparency and accountability, it has to begin with the budget as government cannot operate without a budget, where it outlines sources of income and how the funds are spent for the development of the country and states.”
He said over the years, Nigerian journalists had emphasised only the national budget at the beginning of every year where they churned out reports about capital expenditure and recurrent expenditure and of course, the ministries that are allocated the jumbo shares of the budget.
According to him, from the perspective of an economist, budget is much more than the headlines we read in newspapers, as budget, whether federal or state, determines the fate of the people; the direction of government and its policies.
Ajibola further stated that journalists must scrutinise budgets as it should not be left to the president, ministers and National Assembly members.
“Journalists must ask questions about the budget – the sources of revenue and how the revenue is being spent. This is what it means to hold government accountable to the people, as enunciated in Section 22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” he said.
Mr. Damilola Ojetunde, a data analyst from Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Dr. Theophilus Abbah from Daily Trust Foundation and Atiku Samuel from International Budget Partnership Abuja challenged journalists to look beyond the call to duties to identify other challenges within the context of budget tracking with a view to influencing public interest and promoting democracy.