Newsclick Nigeria recently added a foundation arm with special focus on investigations and special reports. Since its launch in 2022, the Newsclick Foundation for Investigative Journalism (NFIJ) has bankrolled over 10 investigative stories/special reports published on www.newsclickng.com.
Find below paragraphs from some of the award winning stories as earlier published on www.newsclickng.com.
[NEWSCLICK NIGERIA INVESTIGATIONS] Climate Change: How soaring gas prices, power failure worsen Nigeria’s addiction to wood, coal fuel
NB: This report was facilitated by Newsclick Foundation for Investigative Journalism (NFIJ)
At the most recent United Nations (UN) climate summit—the twenty-sixth Conference of the Parties (COP26), held in Glasgow, UK where NewsClick Nigeria was accredited a media partner, Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari lent his voice to that of other world leaders by pledging to cut carbon emission in his country to net-zero by 2060 and backed the move by signing into law the Climate Change Act (CCA) in 2021.
Unfortunately, the continuous rise in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG/cooking gas) assisted by worsening power supply appears to have thrown a spanner in the wheels of progress for Nigeria among the comity of nations who pledged to save the planet by limiting global warming.
Today, in adapting to their economic reality, Nigerians are ignoring LPG Gas, which is clean energy, and backsliding to pollution-heavy fuels (wood and coal) – a development that negates Nigeria’s commitment and response to the threat of climate change.
A market survey by NewsClick Nigeria in August showed that the average price of cooking gas in Lagos and Abuja averagely stands at N9,000, 7000, N3,700 and N2,100 for 12Kg, 10kg, 5kg, and 3kg respectively.
However, the average price of cooking gas per kg is ₦700/N750. The survey only reflects the price at which retailers sell and these prices differ across gas stations from state to state in the federation.
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[NEWSCLICK NIGERIA INVESTIGATIONS] Tales, woes of Nigerian victims trapped in web of multibillion dollar global human trafficking business
NewsClick Nigeria in this two-part investigative report spanning 60-days of travels within Nigeria and the sub-region chronicled tales, woes of Nigerian victims trapped in web of multi-billion dollar global human trafficking business.
This report was facilitated by Newsclick Foundation for Investigative Journalism (NFIJ).
Editor’s Note: We adopted pseudo names for victims interviewed in this investigation for protection.
Fantasies of ‘perfect life’ abroad
The unquenchable thirst for a better life just anywhere outside the shores of Nigeria has made Nigerians susceptible to all forms of horrible, degradable and better-imagined-than-experienced circumstances. Owing to the prevailing economic and security woes, many Nigerians have had to gladly choose to live in countries with fewer resources for human capacity development not minding the consequences. For them, it is a case of anywhere, but Nigeria.
Sensing the distrust between the government and the governed, some unsolicited ‘middle-men’ who pose as travel agents are smiling daily to the banks with huge profits made from unsuspecting Nigerians blinded by the Hollywood and Nollywood fantasies of the ‘perfect life’ abroad. This is for the category of Nigerians willing to part with a significant portion (and in some cases all) of their hard-earned money while also submitting themselves to rigorous visa interview sessions at the embassy of their choice countries.
However, some other Nigerians also want the ‘perfect life’ but do not have the financial capacity to bankroll the process. These sets of Nigerians, mostly in their prime, fully aware that they lack the least prerequisite to procure a valid visa to travel to their choice destinations. Yet, out of desperation, they choose to seek perilous alternative sources to circumvent the process and realise their dreams of greener pastures offshore through irregular migration option.
Although in recent times, some University graduates have joined the irregular migrants in droves. Originally, the migration was dominated by ignorant, desperate and mostly unskilled young men and women who virtually shut out their sense of reasoning to any treatise against their unlawful movement abroad.
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[NEWSCLICK NIGERIA INVESTIGATIONS] Inside the multi billion naira non-functional, abandoned, constituency projects in South West states
NB: This report was facilitated by Newsclick Foundation for Investigative Journalism (NFIJ)
The debate on the tangibility of the Zonal Intervention Project, ZIP (also known as constituency projects) usually facilitated by both federal and state lawmakers in their various constituencies has been a lingering controversial issue for years.
Nigeria by now should have moved up the league of developed nations if indeed the funds allocated to the projects scattered across the country from 1999 till date are judiciously expended to serve the peoples’ needs.
The term Zonal Intervention Projects was until the return to democracy in 1999 non-existence in Nigeria’s political dictionary.
The bogus responsibilities of constructing roads, pipe borne water, electrification and other infrastructural projects then rested solely on the shoulders of the three tiers of governments; federal, state and local. While private sector interventions (through Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR) initiatives were allowed, however, those in government (either during the various military juntas or the often interrupted democratic dispensations) knew they owe the people the core responsibility of providing their basic infrastructural needs.
However, upon return to democracy in 1999, the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced constituency projects with the aims of reaching the grassroots and most importantly ensuring equity in the allocation of projects by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). In achieving this, the National Assembly yearly budgets an amount, out of which portions are ceded to lawmakers to execute projects in their constituencies.
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