A group, Alliances for Africa (AFA) has urged media practitioners in Imo State to intensify advocacy for accountability, social inclusion, anti-corruption and transparency as the 2023 general elections inches closer.

It made the call, yesterday, at a one-day workshop it organised in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and MacArthur Foundation in Owerri, Imo State.

Programme Manager of AFA, Blessing Duru, who was represented by the Programmes Officer, Lilian Ibe, said the workshop was also aimed at increasing the understanding of media responsibility to promote good governance in the state.

She said the group was poised to aid and empower citizens of the state to articulate their desired dividends of true democratic process, which will reflect service deliveries. Others are better policy reforms and standard infrastructure that will be used to engage candidates for the 2023 polls.

Also, the guest speaker, Prof. Samuel Ezeanyika of the Department of Political Science, Imo State University, said a fair, objective and skilled media was an essential component of any democratic society, saying: “The backbone of any democracy is an independent, professional and responsive media.”

He stressed that media practitioners should intensify their role in checking corruption and fostering accountability, transparency and effective service delivery for a better society.

He added that the media should also be held responsible for a failed society in which it was complicit in derailing the empowerment of the people to make responsible and informed decisions on the democratic process.

The participants, who were drawn from various media outfits in the state, identified whistle blowing, periodic monitoring and evaluation of projects, profiling of candidates and public participation programmes, among others, as tools to promote anti-corruption, inclusive reforms and active citizens’ participation in the 2023 general elections.