Media woman behind first accountability reporting initiative in Nigeria

A flip through the pages of a typical Nigerian newspaper is sure to feed one with several reports of increased mortality rates caused by poor healthcare facilities, outbreaks of diseases due to poor access to clean drinking water, and extreme erosion caused by poor drainage systems among others.

This is despite the fact that every year, millions and billions of Naira (Nigerian currency) are allocated to the representatives of communities to fund several constituency projects that should cater for basic amenities and make life better for residents.

What happens to these funds left in the hands of representatives? why are communities still suffering from a lack of social amenities and basic needs?
This is the question on the lips of many Nigerians. But for years, it remained mere questions until 2018 when the ‘UDEME‘ project was initiated by Nigeria’s Center for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).

‘UDEME’ which means ‘my share’ in one of Nigeria’s indigenous languages is a social accountability intervention platform designed to hold government and representatives to account for how funds released for developmental projects are spent.

Since its launch, the platform has been used to advocate for a transparent government by gathering data on capital or public projects in Nigeria and using available information to do stories that expose gaps in the execution and implementation of projects by the government.

The birth of Udeme-Monitors

2018 when Udeme was launched was the same year, Ms Ijeoma Okereke-Adagba joined CJID as a graduate intern following her graduation from the University of Jos with first-class honours.
She was placed under the Udeme program but later become the program officer as well as a full-time staff of the organization in 2019.

At that time, the project focused on giving story grants to experienced journalists to track constituency projects and report on findings. Upon completion of the report, they submit it, get paid and that ends it.

But then, Ijeoma thought to herself, who goes back to monitor the impact of what they have done? what about other projects that they were unable to track? How about teaching the residents how to track budgeted projects in their communities using the language they understand? How about being on the ground always to monitor the status of projects in those communities and how residents are benefitting from it?

It was at this point that she spoke to her manager about establishing U-Monitors by training already existing campus reporters on how to do accountability journalism, data analyses, budget tracking, infographics and to engage policymakers at the grassroots.

“Every year, we put out a call for applications for campus journalists, successful applicants are shortlisted and approved by the management. Then we train them either virtually or physically and appoint editors to mentor them for six months.” Ijeoma told AWiM news.

After the training, CJID through sponsorship of the MacArthur foundation provides resources, and stipends and commissions these students to track five projects each per month and then produce an in-depth investigative report on one of the projects.

“ The ultimate goal of the program is to see that funds released for constituency projects are utilised accordingly in ways beneficial to the citizens.” Ijeoma added.

U-monitors holding the government accountable
With over 85 trained U-Monitors and over 200 volunteers, stories of impact have made their way to Nigerian newspaper pages and citizens are becoming more aware of their constituency projects as well as the activities of their representatives.

“In September, 14 U-monitors took budgets to different rural communities through the GetInvolved project where they broke the budgets down using the residents’ local dialects. U-monitors revealed the projects allocated to the communities and tauyght them how  to monitor and  track such projects” Says Ijeoma while narrating the level of impact achieved through the program.

“The students now have the skill to hold power to account. They have the knowledge and they back it up with data. Some of the U-Monitors have gone on to produce quality investigative stories beyond the program. Some have won awards and others are now working in big media/civil society organizations.” Ms Ijeoma added.

Before 2020 when Mr Johnstone Kpilaakaa was selected for the Udeme program, he had no previous journalism experience which meant he made lots of mistakes at the early stage of the program. He has now gone on to participate in other fellowships including the one with Cable News Foundation which he confessed was only possible due to the experience and knowledge he got from Udeme.

“When we started, we made a lot of mistakes in our first pieces since it was a first time for most of us but through the guidance of Ms Ijeoma and a host of others who were coaching us, we got better,” Johnstone revealed.

He recalls some of the projects he tracked which led to government intervention following the publication of his report.

One of such projects was a community library that was meant to be renovated by the state government but wasn’t. After tracking and reporting the story, a legislator took it upon himself to start and complete the project.

“Another one was a road project that was abandoned and the state government claimed it was commissioned by the president during one of his visits. After a series of investigations, the government resumed work on the site even before the story was published.” Said Johnstone.

Similarly, Mr Popoola Ademola, another U-monitor who was trained earlier this year told AWiM news that the program has enlightened him on the country’s Public procurement process.

He also recalls one of the projects he tracked involving a state governor who kicked off the rehabilitation of the state specialist hospital in August 2019. However, work stopped at the site in June 2021, leaving the project abandoned for close to a year.

A few months after publishing his report in May this year, work resumed at the hospital and has since been completed.

“The Udeme project is a good solution towards tackling poor execution of constituency projects because once the government representatives know that someone somewhere is following what they’re doing and how they’re spending the money allocated to them, they become more conscious. but when no one cares, it’s easier for them to do what they want to do thereby depriving citizens of democratic dividends.” Johnstone said.

Limitations

Handling the Udeme project is not all a bed of roses for Ijeoma. She wants to see to the training of more students but getting enough funds to do that sets a limitation.

“If we have the funds, we can train over 50 students concurrently. Imagine having over 50 of them doing accountability reporting in Nigeria at the same time. It will send a very strong message to the government to know that they are being watched. We also hope to expand the program to other neighbouring countries.” Ijeoma said.

She added that although some lawmakers feel attacked and exposed by the stories they produce and sometimes issue threats, the impact of the udeme project has been tremendous these past years.

Ijeoma lamented the low participation of female journalists in the program. She estimated the participation rate to be just five female journalists out of every 25 selected applicants.

This low participation according to Ijeoma is because most females think they do not qualify nor have the right set of skills to get selected for the program. Hence they do not apply.

“They need to boost their self-esteem and make attempts as they will never know what they’re capable of until they try.” She concluded.

This article is part of the African Women in Media (AWIM) Graduate Trainee Programme in collaboration with Fojo Media Institute.