INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Barr. Festus Okoye has charged journalists to build their capacity and attain the requisite knowledge of the nation’s electoral laws to boost election coverage.
He gave the charge while delivering the keynote address at a one-day forum on Ekiti and Osun state governorship elections organized by the INEC press corp with the theme “Election Coverage in Nigeria: A look at the Grey Areas in the Electoral Act.” In Abuja.
Barr Okoye said there are new issues, new provisions, and grey areas in the Electoral Act, 2022, hence assuming that the coverage of all elections is the same is quite unsafe for the country’s democracy.
According to him, journalists assigned for election coverage must be effectively grounded with some expertise and specialization in electoral matters to enable accurate reporting.
“Elections and election laws are in a class of their own and it is the responsibility of the journalist to find the law, be abreast of its provisions, and apply it to election coverage. “The journalist must build his own capacity and must be in a position to take a capacity-building course to understand the variables and vagaries of the Nigerian society in the context of the law and the constitution.
“The journalist must avoid sensationalism and must on no account rely on rumors and unverified information as so doing can trigger a breakdown of law and order.
“The journalist must be circumspect and not give in easily to the temptation of joining a section of the new media in the breaking news syndrome and must on no account rely exclusively on unverified and unverifiable social media accounts and reports. The journalist must at all times be careful in relying on “sources that wish not to be named” or on sources “not authorized to speak” on particular issues.”
Also speaking The Director, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Chidi Nwafor, while presenting a topic on ‘Technological Innovation in Election as an Antidote to Election Fraud’, said the essence of imploring technology in elections is to ensure credibility in the electoral process, adding that the commission will continue to build upon its technological innovation to pr
oduce the desired results. “The aim of INEC is to totally eliminate electoral acts of fraud by the use of technology.”
Meanwhile, Jake Epelle of Albino Foundation further urged the media to increase persons with disability reportage and draw the attention of policymakers on issues that affect them so as to reshape the electoral process.
“We need an increase in terms of reportage around disability, therefore drawing the issues around disability within the electoral process.
A lot more still has to be done and we’re depending on you, don’t neglect persons with disability issues as this one will not make news, it’s time for us to do more than what we’re doing.”
The commission believes delivering a free, fair, credible, and inclusive election requires a multi-stakeholder approach, thus on the civil society organizations, the media, the security agencies, and the political parties to join hands with the Commission in order to strengthen the Electoral Act 2022
