The trio of Oby Ezekwsili, Haroun Adamu and Kabiru Yusuf will lead the discourse at the Second Media Roundtable of FrontFoot Media Initiative on 8 July 2023 at the Reiz Continental Hotel, Abuja. Publishers, senior journalists, and editors will join them.

They will speak to the theme of “The Accountability Imperative: Holding Politicians’ Feet to the Fire”.

Ezekwesili is a former minister across two portfolios of education and solid minerals and serves as the President of Human Capital Africa, founder of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance and Vice President of the World Bank Africa Region.

Mallam Kabiru Yusuf is chairman of Daily Trust newspapers, board member of the International Press Institute and president of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria.

Dr Haroun Adamu is a Nigerian journalism icon who served as publisher of The Nigerian Economist, managing director of Triumph Publishing Company, Kano and Punch Nigeria Limited and chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund.

Mr Chido Nwakanma, Training Coordinator, said the Media Roundtable complements and extends FrontFoot Media’s Audit Reporting Training by highlighting accountability issues and the audit process in Nigeria. FrontFoot Media held the third Audit Reporting Training in Abuja on 5-6 July at the same venue.

At the first Roundtable in Lagos in 2022, speakers included Mr Donald Duke, a former governor of Cross Rivers State; Mr Lade Bonuola, founding editor of The Guardian and former managing director of Guardian Newspapers; Dr Patrick Dele Cole, a former managing director of Daily Times, Newswatch co-founder Mr Dan Agbese and INEC Commissioner Mr Muhammed Haruna. Other speakers were Mrs Motunrayo Alaka, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Like the Audit Reporting Training, the FrontFoot Media Roundtable is the flagship media interaction programme under the Collaborative Media Engagement and Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project. The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism superintends the project involving over 20 NGOs with the sponsorship of the MacArthur Foundation.

Picture: Former minister of education and president of Human Capital Africa, Oby Kathryn Ezekwesili