The Daily Trust Foundation has embarked on a three-day training for media practitioners in the six states of the North East on budget tracking and investigation.
The workshop, which has drawn over 25 participants from various media organisations, is part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the Media Trust Group, supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of the Foundation, Malam Bilya Bala, said the training was necessary to sharpen the skills of journalists to track budgets from source to implementation.
Bala said it’s the responsibility of journalists to go beyond government pronouncements, follow the money and track how the resources were being implemented and for what they were budgeted for.
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He said, “Always report back to people the budget performance while holding the government accountable for all the promises made, and the stages of implementation, with evidence.”
He further said that Media Trust had always set aside part of its profit to give out as charity to specific kinds of indigent people.
The Gombe State Commissioner for Information, Mijinyawa Ardo Tilde, who represented the governor, said most of the government projects were being implemented based on need assessment carried out through engagement with CSOs, traditional rulers and town hall meetings.
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