The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, has tasked journalists covering the Senate with upholding the highest standards of parliamentary journalism in Nigeria.
Akpabio gave the charge on Monday at the 2026 Capacity-Building Workshop organised by the Senate Press Corps, urging parliamentary reporters to set the standard for quality reporting.
He also advised journalists to have a sound knowledge of the Constitution and the rules governing the institution they cover.
Represented by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, Akpabio said the theme of the workshop, “Leveraging Legislative Oversight and Media Collaboration to Safeguard the National Budget from Unlawful Insertions”, addressed a critical aspect of representative government.
“Parliament must guard the public purse, the press must illuminate the public record and both must answer to the Nigerian people from whom all public authority comes,” he said.
Akpabio said parliamentary journalism required thoroughness and accuracy, noting that while sensational claims could attract immediate attention, careful corrections often received less visibility.
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He said Nigeria needed journalism capable of withstanding scrutiny, particularly at a time of economic hardship and public disagreements.
“We face real hardships and disagreements, and the public deserves facts that help us confront them,” he said.
The Senate President said exposing institutional failures could be an important form of public service, just as journalists had a responsibility to resist presenting conjecture as fact.
“Patriotism asks us both to tell the truth about our country and to care what happens to it,” he said.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Director of BudgIT, Mr Oluseun Onigbinde; Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mallam Auwal Musa Rafsanjani; and Publisher of Eagle Times Newspaper, Mr Ikechukwu Chukwunyere, delivered papers at the workshop.
The presentations focused on various aspects of legislative oversight, budget transparency and the role of the media in promoting accountability in public finance.
