Election Coverage: IPC launches IOS and Web App media code

By Chidinma Chukwu

International Press Centre (IPC) has launched a digitised IOS and Web App for the media code of election coverage.

The App is designed to assist journalists, researchers, and students of mass communication get the required code of conduct for election media coverage in the country.

The unveiling of the App took place at a stakeholders round table on democratic accountability, incorporating the public presentation of independently compiled campaign promises of President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday, in Abuja.

Speaking, the Executive Director of IPC, Mr Lanre Arogundade, charged media practitioners and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to monitor governments policies and ensure that they are held accountable. He also stressed the need for the media to continuously educate citizens to the point that they can demand for the implementation of these promises.

“During the campaigns, we were documenting the campaign promises of all the presidential candidates because it is normally our tradition to publish that of the President, so that we can look at some of these promises in our respective beats maybe in the area of sports, health, education which ever appeal to us and see how they are implemented.

“These days we talk of solution driven journalism but you can’t have solutions when you don’t pick promises, follow them up and ensure that they are actually implemented and also ask questions if there are challenges of implementations and if there are changes to that plan. That is what we call democratic accountability”, he said.

In his presentation, the Founding Executive Director, African Centre for Leadership, Strategy & Development (Centre LSD), Dr Otive Igbuzor said despite all odds, democracy remains the best form of governance.

He added that demanding for accountability from government officials will reduce the abuse of power.

Representative of Mr Tunde Rahman, Media Aide to President Bola Tinubu, Ayo Oyalowo said the present administration is aware of all the promises they made during the campaign.

He stressed that Tinubu’s administration will strive to implement all its campaign promises before their tenure is over.