Stakeholders have advocated the need to strengthen trust, transparency and accountability between law enforcement and the community.They made the advocacy at a town hall meeting on human rights, the Police Act 2020 and regulations with the theme: “Enhancing police governance: Deepening understanding of the Police Act 2020 and regulations across Nigeria.”

The meeting, a project of the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative also known as Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN), was to educate the media on mainstreaming the Police Act 2020 into its reporting and impact on police-citizen interactions.

The project sought to address critical gaps in the understanding and application of the Act and accompanying regulations within the Nigeria Police Force.

PWAN’s Communications Officer, Ogechukwu Holly Mohanye, said the essence of the gathering for media representatives in Lagos across the geopolitical zone that includes Ondo, Osun states was to increase the capacity of the media in respect to human rights and the Police Act, and relevant regulations to ensure that they understand what the Act meant, and how they could relate to it in terms of reporting as media representatives.

Programmes Officer for Network on Police Reforms in Nigeria (NOPRIN), Precious Osinaku, noted that the media were ethically responsible for anything they put out in the public space.

“So, we want to ensure that they are conversant with what’s in the Act, they know when to ask questions, and they ask the right questions, and they can also push out the right kind of information”.

And at that point, we are having a robust journalism, the police are speaking to what they are speaking to, the media is also speaking to issues, and they are speaking truth,” she said.

Communication Lead, Inside Osogbo, John Afolarin, said media practitioners should leverage the meeting to sensitise the people.  A freelancer, Ngozichukwu Chukwuma, stated that with the workshop, the media should be able to hold accountable the police, government for trust, transparency, and also advocate for gender-based violence survivors in their stories.