It all began when my editor in Lagos sent me a web link with a suggestion to apply for an Investigative Journalism Training Programme being organised by the Abuja-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). According to information on the online application form, the programme was being supported by BudgIT, Access Nigeria, CLEEN foundation and International Centre for Investigative Journalism. I was reluctant to apply for two reasons. The deadline for submission was the same date, and I believed countless number of accomplished journalists would have applied before the deadline, precluding me – a relatively inexperienced journalist.
However, I applied principally because I felt it would not be fair on my boss if I did not. If he got to find out I did not apply, he might have reservations about recommending me for other laudable programmes like this one that could boost my career. I also felt I had nothing to lose if I applied and was not picked. So I applied.
It was on Thursday, October 22, that I got a mail from the Project Manager of IWPR, Mr. Temitope Shaba, informing me that his organisation had, after careful consideration of at least 80 qualified applications, decided to enlist me and ten other journalists for the one-week intensive Investigative Journalism Training Programme which would lay emphasis on reporting corruption in the security sector.
I felt relieved and excited. The relief was because I had always felt the need to upgrade my journalistic skills. However, I couldn’t yet embark on such a mission in a regular, fee-paying institution because it would involve financial demands that I might find impossible to shoulder.
The excitement was borne out of curiosity. Who would be the instructors? How difficult would the instructions be? Would there be foreign instructors? How would my fellow participants look like? How would Barcelona Hotels, the venue of the training and lodging for participants, look like? The questions were endless…
The first question was answered by Monday October 26, when Managing Editor of Premium Times, Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, and Executive Director of ICIR, Mr. Dayo Aiyetan, were introduced as the lead instructors. I was very impressed. These were men whose IJ pieces I read while growing up, when they were reporters with Tell magazine. I still remember wishing I could marshal my thoughts the way they did.
But it did not end there. The instructions were progressive in nature. The instructions started from what we knew and gradually moved up. I learnt about things I never thought even existed in my wildest imagination. The instructors kept harping on research as the number one tool of the serious investigative journalist, and they led by example. The things they knew and taught us were tangible and verifiable. For example, I never knew I could conduct research using information from a website or webpage that had been “pulled down”. Now I know. What of how to deal with disloyal colleagues in the newsroom that could jeopardise your IJ story? Yes, I now know concrete steps to take to guide against such.
The Freedom of Information Act also came under scrutiny. We were taught how to make FOIA requests and get replies within the stipulated time allowed by law. The measures to adopt when our requests are ignored, and they surely will be in this ‘closed’ society, also came under the radar.
Also, we were taught how to use Microsoft Excel and spreadsheet on Google Docs to interpret data from investigative journalism stories. This included how to import tabular data from any website that could then be interpreted for tangible and verifiable information.
The focus of the programme, reporting corruption in the security sector, was obviously the most important lesson I grasped while at the training. I learnt how to evaluate the investigative journalism story vis-a-vis public interest. At what point should the IJ story be ‘killed’ to favour national or public interest? When government agencies cowering under the mantra of national interest refuse to give documents vital to my investigation, where else should I turn? At what point should I go undercover to report a story? Is it right to blend in with military forces to report in conflict situations? All these questions were answered in concrete and realistic terms.
Sincerely, I wouldn’t mind attending this training again. This is not because I haven’t learnt enough, but because I know the instructors, being research-minded journalists themselves, will always come across new information to pass across to willing listeners. Being the recipient of such valuable information will always be a desirable thing for me.
Altogether, the training was revealing, interesting, entertaining, informative and rewarding.