Thematic Engagement
WSCIJ provides training and mentoring for journalists on specific issues to develop their capacity to consistently produce professional and qualitative reports on the issues in a way that helps to draw the critical connections between transparency issues, development and social justice, using the tool of investigative journalism.
- Oil and gas
The Follow up on Oil Sector Probe project funded by the Facility for Oil Sector Transformation (FOSTER) was WSCIJ’s first engagement on the oil and gas sector. Aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector through improved sector reporting, WSCIJ was supported to execute a six-month project in 2013, and again in 2017 to train and mentor journalists on reporting the oil and gas sector. Through the intervention, journalists were commissioned to write stories focusing on voice and accountability.
With support from the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), the WSCIJ implemented the Media for Oil Reform (MFOR) programme in partnership with the Pan-Atlantic University and Premium Times between 2015 and 2018. MFOR sought to develop the capacity of the media to report specific Nigerian oil and gas sector governance issues in a bid to contribute to efforts to elicit reforms by policy makers. It achieved its goals through training, mentoring, grants, awards, and networking opportunities for journalists in particular and the media in general.
- Education
WSCIJ’s first major project on education, ‘Programme for Improving Education Reporting— Media Engagement on Low-Cost Private Education in Lagos’ took place in 2015 in collaboration with Developing Effective Private Education in Nigeria (DEEPEN) of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). It was aimed at creating awareness among education reporters on key issues of private education in Lagos State as well as developing high quality and analytical reporting from a professional cadre of reporters
Currently, WSCIJ is implementing the Regulators Monitoring Programme (REMOP), to among other things, improve the capacity of reporters to investigate basic education in Nigeria, and in turn improve the quality of reports on basic education.
- Electricity
In response to the dearth of reporters covering electricity, WSCIJ builds a network of reporters covering the Nigerian electricity sector with its Regulators Monitoring Programme (REMOP).
The REMOP Electricity project seeks to follow and report the activities of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which is the regulatory body for electricity in Nigeria, to promote proactive disclosure of information, transparency and accountability.
- Security
On the Security sector, the WSCIJ alongside Premium Times, held a two-day training for journalists in June 2015 under the Security Sector Accountability Programme sponsored by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) to improve journalists’ skills on reporting the sector.
- Governance
In the area of governance, the WSCIJ partnered the United States Consulate General Lagos, on a training programme for senior political reporters and editors in four cities — Lagos, Enugu, Port-Harcourt and Osogbo in June 2018.
The WSCIJ has engaged the media in general, and particularly the journalists on other sectors, including local governance, agriculture, health and sports, through its annual award programme, the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting.
