Progressive Impact Organization For Community Development (PRIMORG) has received a thumps up on its anti-corruption radio program, ‘Public Conscience’ on the government and citizens from MacArthur Foundation and other Nigerian Civil Society Organizations.
Deputy Director, MacArthur Foundation, Africa office, Dayo Olaide disclosed the commendations on Wednesday during the program produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG in Abuja.
While speaking, Olaide said, funding of the program by the MacArthur Foundation has tremendously added significant value to the fight against corruption in Nigeria, noting that, public conscience has afforded citizens the opportunity to be informed and also get feedback that can better improve communication with different agencies responsible for driving anti-corruption fight in Nigeria.
According to Olaide, the fight against corruption is essential because more Nigerians have be reached through the radio at the same time.
“The radio is able to reach millions of people; it enables the fight against corruption. Nothing can be more empowering than the type of work PRIMORG is doing and I think it is really rewarding to say that a lot of Nigerians whether they are professionals or not are able to call into radio town hall meetings, talk during Vox pop,” he stated.
In his words, Senior Investigative Reporter at International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Olugbenga Adanikin said, “the partnership with PRIMORG in the last two years has been impactful.”
The Senior Program Officer, African Centre for Media and Information Literacy (AfricMIL), Godwin Onyeacholem also noted how much he had been encouraged by the radio advocacy.
“The only way we can do that is to continue doing what people like PRIMORG are doing, you know it is by pushing the matter out on the radio, advocating that people key into corruption strategies like whistleblowing and things like that,” he added.
On his part, Country Director, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Friday Odeh, said: “I must really commend PRIMORG’s effort; it’s been an exciting journey, and look forward to continuing this journey.”
Earlier, the Executive Director, PRIMORG, Okhiria Agbonsuremi has expressed that PUBLIC CONSCIENCE was created to prick the conscience of citizens and make the government take necessary democratic actions against corruption and also to stir citizens’ consciences through radio across many states in the country.
Agbonsuremi who expressed gratitude to MacArthur Foundation for bankrolling the program said, PRIMORG has been able to get at least fifteen states, cutting across the five geo-political zones in Nigeria with the exemption of the Northeast and have created content that reaches over 10 million listeners weekly through the syndication of Public Conscience in many radio stations across Nigeria.
He however, noted that despite PRIMORG’s feats, the organization is not complacent due to the government’s lackluster attitude to the issues of corruption.
“We have been able to get at least fifteen states cutting across the five geo-political zones in Nigeria with the exemption of the Northeast and we have created content that reaches over 10 million listeners weekly through the syndication of Public Conscience in many radio stations across Nigeria.
“We have been successful, but we have not been satisfied because corruption resides in top government circles and it is a big challenge and it boils down to the root of the problem; that is, government continuous neglect to take action when corruption cases are reported,” he said.
Other people who commended PRIMORG are Deputy Director at Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Kolawole Oluwadare; Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Abuja Council, Emmanuel Ogbeche to mention but a few.
