By Funmi Falobi/Lagos
As the 2015 election is gathering momentum, power supply, education and security top public agenda for media reporting.
This was the result of a survey carried out by the Nigerian Democratic Report (NDR) through the social media on public agenda for the media ahead of 2015. Others include youth employment/job creation, health care, women empowerment, rural development, food & agriculture, and transportation (roads).
In the opinion poll, power supply emerges highest followed by education and security of lives and property in the country. Out of 22 states of the federation where the survey was conducted, Lagos recorded the highest votes followed by Abuja, Ondo and Kaduna.
Speaking at the public launch of NDR in Lagos on Tuesday, Director, International Press Centre (IPC), Lanre Arogundade, said the real aim of the project was to help the media to follow up on issues that should be reported towards the 2015 elections.
The project, which is being funded by the United Nations Development, Programme Democratic Governance Development (UNDP, DGD) is a component of IPC's sub-project on "Media Projection, Advocacy, Engagement and Capacity Building to deepen democratic reforms and good governance in Nigeria; NDR responds to the strategic priority of engaging the media to ensure it plays a vanguard role in the deepening of democracy and development."
He explained that the project, which started in 2011 on the platform of the Nigerian Election News Report (NENR), is now being reinvented into NDR, which has a broader mandate; hence it comes in the dual character of an independent news medium and a media resource.
"NDR will operate as an online news portal publishing public interest and development oriented reports, interviews and analysis on a broad range of issues of democracy, good governance, electoral reforms and gender as well as conflict transformation. This will be in accordance with professional and ethical principles of fairness, balance, accuracy and diversity. It will also serve as a platform for the exchange of information and in-depth analysis of developmental issues being addressed by the broader project on 'Consolidating Media Development, Conflict Resolution and Engagement on Freedom of Information Act for Democratic Reforms," he said.
