By Chinwendu Agoha (Media & Governance Reporter)
The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) will hold it's Open Contract Reporting Project (OCRP) Close-up and Award Ceremony on Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at The Pearl Hotel, opposite Jabi lake.
The award event is supported with funding from the MacArthur Foundation. A statement by Mr Dayo Aiyetan, the Executive Director of International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), said the Open Contract Reporting Project (OCRP) is aimed to build capacity for the Nigerian media to report critical issues on budgetary and procurement processes at all levels of government, to promote transparency and accountability. During the seven years of the project, the ICIR has trained more than 300 journalists from scores of newsrooms across the country; more than 500 investigative reports have been published, many of them making remarkable impacts and winning awards.
At the event, the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission, ICPC, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, will deliver a keynote address on “Combating Corruption in Nigeria: The imperative of Starting with Procurement Fraud.” The keynote address will be followed with a panel discussion moderated by Dr Joe Abah, the Country Director of DAI. The panelists will focus on analyzing issues arising from the keynote address but also examine the broader topics of budgetary and procurement fraud, suggesting reforms and the role of media houses in bringing these about.
The event will also witness the unveiling of OCRP Investigative Data and Impact Dashboard (INRID), an interactive platform that provides information, data, analysis and much more on the investigative reports published under the OCRP over the last seven years. We will also be launching a documentary on the seven years of the project. The event will also be capped with an award ceremony honouring journalists who did courageous and exemplary investigative reporting work during the project. Out of hundreds of journalists, six have been selected to get the ICIR’s OCRP Journalism of Excellence Award. NNL.
