COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF A MEDIA WORKSHOP ON DEFENCE ANTICORRUPTION (FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, GENDER AND OPERATIONAL DISPARITIES) REPORTAGE, CIVIC SPACE & OVERSIGHT, ORGANISED BY CIVIL SOCIETY LEGISLATIVE ADVOCACY CENTRE (CISLAC)/TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL IN NIGERIA (TI-NIGERIA) IN COLLABORATION WITH TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL – DEFENCE AND SECURITY PROGRAMME HELD AT AMBER RESIDENCE, IKEJA LAGOS STATE ON 18TH JULY, 2024.
PREAMBLE:
CISLAC)/TI-Nigeria in collaboration with Transparency International – Defence and Security Program with support from Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands held a two-day Defence and Security (financial management, gender and operational disparities) anti-corruption training for civil society. The training aimed bringing journalists under one roof to develop their research skills and understanding of corruption risks and red flags in the Defence and Security sector, to enhance accurate and verifiable reportage. There was an Opening Remark from Executive Director of CISLAC/TI-Nigeria, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani). The Dialogue had some technical sessions with presentations titled: Oversight Role of the Media and Defence Anti-corruption Reportage in a Civic Space, by Dr Anthony Okoye; and Setting Agenda in the Defence and Security: Navigating the Operational, Financial Management and Gender Activities, by Mr. Oladipo Daniel. The Workshop was attended by about 40 journalists, Civil Society and Academia. After brainstorming exhaustively on various thematic sessions, the following observations and recommendations were made:
Observations:
1. While anti-corruption reportage is instrumental in enhancing transparency and accountability in the Defence and Security sector, the media has hitherto faced persistent attacks, intimidation and harassment exposing operational disparities, financial mismanagement and procurement secrecy in the sector.
2. The unattended contradictory provisions of the FOI Act and Official Secrets Act remains a major challenge militating against media oversight of the Defence and Security sector.
3. The growing censorship by regulatory bodies of the media operations and contents hampers independent civilian oversight of the Defence and Security sector.
4. Media oversight activities of the Defence and Security sector must take cognisance of the persistent investigative journalism through thorough research and investigation, fact-findings and verifiable presentation of targeted issues.
5. Over-commercialised and politicised media outfits with profit-oriented tendency constitutes an impediment to coverage and reporting objectivity.
6. Corruption in the Defence and security sector is driven by financial gains, power and influence, weak oversight, conflicts of interest, institutional weakness, external influences, political interference.
7. Corruption in the Defence and security sector is enabled by complex procurement processes, lack of transparency and accountability, inadequate legislation and regulation, poor whistle-blower-protection, inadequate asset declaration, discretionary decision-making.
8. Defence and Security information inaccessibility endangers factual information gathering and reporting of the sector’s activities.
9. Needless complexity, bureaucracy, information secrecy and deliberate technicalities embedded in the Defence and Security budget and procurement system, impede independent oversight, fact-findings and accurate reportage of the sector.
10. Inadequate gender mainstreaming in the Defence and Security sector paves way for women’s rights abuse and violation in operational activities.
Recommendations:
1. Improving transparency and accountability in the Defence and Security expenditure on targeted oversight and reportage of financial and procurement activities.
2. Mitigating Defence and Security corruption through deliberate navigation of the Defence and Security financial, personnel and procurement activities, to fortify verifiable and factual reportage that raise public consciousness.
3. Immediate transition of Whistle-blower Policy into legislation by the National Assembly to encourage proactive information provision and ensure data secrecy, while preventing reprisal that discourage media oversight activities.
4. Immediate consideration for the adoption of vote-counting system in addressing specific matters of national importance in voting pattern and procedure at the National Assembly to encourage appropriate brainstorming and exhaustive legislative decision on sensitive areas of the Defence and Security.
5. Avoiding temptation for over-sensationalised reportage through strict adherence to factual objectivity and verifiable information gathering and reportage.
6. Resisting socio-economic pressure in information gathering, coverage and reportage of the Defence and Security sector to prevent reported partiality and restore public confidence in journalism.
7. Harmonising the contradictory provisions of the FOI Act and Official Secrets Act to encourage independent and verifiable information gathering and reportage of the Defence and Security activities.
8. Training and re-training programmes for journalists on specific areas of the Defence and Security sector, to boost technical and research capacity for in-depth coverage and oversight of issues as well as verifiable reportage.
9. Enhancing collaboration through constructive relationship building with the Defence and Security information to elicit privileged information to fortify accurate and verifiable reportage.
10. Understanding language barrier in information extraction within the Defence and Security to aid flow of communication between journalists and military personnel.
11. Strict adherence to the rule of law in the Civil-Military relations as well operational activities to prevent intimidation, harassment and threat to journalists.
12. Technical simplification and de-classification of the Defence and Security budgetary information to enable exhaustive media oversight.
13. Technological mainstreaming in the Defence and Security information gathering to mitigate the risk associating with investigation and reporting.
Signed:
Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani)
Executive Director of CISLAC/TI-Nige
