By Ameenu Kutama
Ismail Auwal of SAHELIAN TIMES was among the 10 journalists who emerged winners of the Center for information Technology and Development CITAD mini grants for investigative journalism to support the fight against corruption in Nigeria.
The winners were unveiled at the headquarters in Kano State, on Tuesday.
The initiative tagged Journalists Against Corruption is supported by Mac Arthur Foundation, and is aimed at encouraging journalists to expose acts of corruption both in public and private sectors.
Executive Director of CITAD, Engineer Y Z Ya’u, said the mini grant with support from Mac Arthur Foundation is an encouragement to journalists to investigate and report corrupt practices at the grassroots level through a competitive process as a way of holding public officials to account.
”CITAD for a long time has been working with journalists to ensure transparency and accountability in the public sector and this particular grant is unique looking at the nature of the participants who are mostly young people with passion to make change in the society,” Yau said while unveiling the winners.
”Investigating corrupt practices both in public and private establishments will improve the quality of life, especially in the vulnerable communities that don’t have the voice to fight the menace of the system,” Yau emphasized.
Ya’u also said the winners emerged after screening their proposals for the exercise.
He said, while screening the applications of winners, judges consider the following things in the assessment to the final stages.
”Relevance/originality, background/justification, objectives, identified sources, proposed means of gathering information, and language presentation.”
The winners came from different media organisations across the country.
Read the list of the winners below.
1 – Auta Polycarp – News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
2 – Ismail Auwal Garba – Sahelian Times.
3 – Edwin Philip – Breeze FM Lafia, Nasarawa.
4 – Anibe Idajili – TheCable.
5 – Hauwa Kabir Lawal – Daily Reality Newspaper, Plateau State.
6 – Abbakar Muhammad Usman – Daily Trust .
7 – Rabiu Musa – Hot Pen, Kano.
8 – Abdulhafiz Sultan – Jasawa Times, Plateau State.
9 – Muhammad Auwal Ibrahim – Wikki Times, Gombe State.
10 – Zaharaddeen S. Yakubu – Daily Trust, Kano State.
Speaking during the announcement of the winners, Dr Rukayya Aliyu Yusuf of Bayero University Kano, said there is a need for collective efforts among the journalists in the fight against corruption.
