TheCable

The Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism ( PTCIJ) has entered into a collaboration with three media houses to promote accountability in the Edo and Ondo states governorship elections.

In a statement on Friday, Mboho Eno, programme manager for advocacy and accountability, PTCIJ, said the partnership will “ deepen democratic engagement and strengthen institutions through civic and media strategies during the electoral cycle.”

TheCable, Premium Times, Daily Trust, and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) are the media houses partnering with PTCIJ on the project.

“It is basically a resource sharing initiative to help deepen the nation’s democratic gains through ensuring the accountability of the electoral process,” Eno said.

“The partnership is at no cost to the media houses, rather, we are drawn by a high sense of our constitutional responsibility to help extend each other’s news coverage resources through collaborative reporting that deepens citizens capacity to make informed electoral choices.”

He said the purpose of the partnership is “strongly located in the vision of the Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria of the European Union (EU-SDGN) to contribute to the reinforcement of democracy in Nigeria”.

Tosin Alagbe, programme director of PTCIJ, emphasised the need for media houses to collaborate on “high value issues like elections”.

She said such collaboration will promote transparency and accountability around elections in Nigeria.

Alagbe appreciated the EU for the EU-SDGN programme and called on all relevant stakeholders to contribute in promoting a sustainable democracy in the country.