The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) has launched a ‘COVID-19 Reality Check’ project to ensure comprehensive reporting of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its impacts in Nigeria.
The COVID-19 Reality Check project according to a statement by the Executive Director of WSIJ, Motunrayo Alaka will examine government interventions and promises in relation to the realities on the ground.
The coverage will include social welfare, water and sanitation, economics, security, food availability and accessibility, education, electric power supply and others.
The country already has 238 confirmed cases of infected persons, 35 have recovered, while five persons have died of the disease according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The WSCIJ and its partner, the MacArthur Foundation, will support reporters from various media organisations to better report such stories and point out gaps.
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At a virtual meeting with reporters on Friday, 3 April 2020, to discuss the ramifications of the project, the team decided on strategies for crowdsourcing information to help reporters to do the work, mostly from home.
“The meeting laid emphasis on the safety of the chosen journalists who would have to go out to get their stories.
“The project will include a media campaign on reports to support on-ground interventions by all stakeholders to save lives and reduce the impact of the pandemic on our country and by extension on the rest of the world,” Alaka stated.
