The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) is certain of the need to enhance and strengthen investigative journalism in Nigeria today as it was when the initiative began in 2005.
This conviction informed the creation of a local network for investigative journalism that collaborates with individuals and organisations with a passion for investigative journalism in the country and around the world. The need for a network for investigative journalism is further evidenced by the Centre’s over eight years experience with giving awards in all genres of media practice under the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting (WSAIR). The award winners in fact form the nucleus of the network.
On Thursday 10 November 2011, the Centre inaugurated the Nigerian Investigative Journalism Network (NIJN) at a workshop themed “Investigative journalism as a social restorative tool and the need for an enabling environment”, with Margaret Renn, a British veteran investigative journalist and senior fellow with the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa on hand to formally induct the over 50 Nigerian journalists present at the inauguration exercise.
The network (NIJN) serves as a platform for interaction, and provides access to opportunities and allied information and tools for all registered members. Other objectives of the NIJN are:
- To help mainstream, and create the enabling environment that promotes investigative journalism in Nigeria
- To encourage the culture of intensive fact based reporting, thoroughness, and ethical news reporting in the Nigerian media
- To provide access to regular capacity building exposures and professional resource materials for investigative reporters
- To evolve a self-conscious investigative reporters’ community
- To encourage mentoring interface between beginners, mid-career and veteran journalists
- To connect with international investigative journalism communities and related organisations towards the advancement of individual journalists in particular and the Nigerian media in general
The inauguration of the Nigerian Investigative Journalism Network (NIJN) was carried out with funding support from the British High Commission.