A Non governmtal Organization, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA has called on media practitioners to promote peace in their reportage during the forthcoming elections.
CAPPA Excutive Director, Mr Akinbode Oluwafemi stated this during a training programme for Journalists on Peaceful and Non violent election for the 2023 general elections.
Mr Oluwafemi also called on the media organisations to exhibit professionalism and asked Nigerians not to engage in anything that can cause disharmony during the election.
He however tasked journalists to focus their reports on rural areas with a view to drawing the attention of relavant authorities for development
According to him, the project was funded by the European Union EU and its objective is to change public attitude and build greater tolerance in the society by using the media to ensure peaceful and Nonviolent electoral process in selected States of Nigeria.
The Director Programmes, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa CAPPA, Mr Philip Jakpor while delivering a paper on the role of the Media as Society’s Watchdog, stressed the need for Journalists not to allow politicians to use them to achieve their personal interests.
Mr Jakpor emphasised that, Journalists should always focus on issues affecting the society and verify Information before publishing.
According to him, journalists should always consider National Security while reporting, adding that, the interest of the country should always come first.
In her presentation, the Policy and Research officer for CAPPA, Mrs Zikorah Ibeh stated that, part of the role of the media was to educate the electorates by providing them with accurate, impartial and objective information on political candidates.
Mrs Ibeh urged media not to promote hate and inflammatory languages, stressing that, it should always aid responsible reporting for peace and development in the country.
According to her, the media can also challenge hate speeches by providing counter narratives to the misinformation.
At the end of the training, different posters were distributed to the participants with different captions such as VOTE IN PEACE NOT IN BLOOD, I SUPPORT PEACEFUL POLLS, ELECTION IS NOT WAR VOTE PEACEFULLY, VOTE WITH YOUR THUMB NOT WITH GUN among others.
Journalists were drawn from various media organizations.
AMINU DALHATU
