Varsity don urges journalists to investigate ecological funds, strengthen environmental accountability
A Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Bayero University Kano (BUK), Aliyu Salisu Barau, has warned that recurring environmental challenges are overstretching Nigeria’s capacity to cope, calling for new approaches to climate change and disaster reporting.
Barau said Nigeria and other parts of Africa were increasingly exposed to serious environmental challenges, including climate change, land degradation, desertification, drought, soil erosion and violent windstorms.
“These are problems that are recurrent and they are overpowering and overstretching our capacity to cope with them. So, we need new adaptation strategies that are novel,” he said.
The professor spoke on Monday during a capacity-building workshop for journalists and media practitioners on the use of Earth Observation tools for climate change and disaster reporting and investigation, held at the Centre for Dryland Agriculture, BUK.
The workshop was held under a research project at BUK titled, “Achieving Transformative Flood Risk Management in Informal African Cities Using Demystified Earth Observation,” funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Future Earth.
Barau, who is the Project Team Lead, described the media as a bridge between science, society and policy, noting that scientific findings are often communicated in technical language that members of the public may find difficult to understand.
He said exposing journalists to scientific information in simplified language would enable them to translate research into reports that directly relate to people’s environment and livelihoods.
Also speaking, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Development, BUK, Prof. Amina Mustapha, urged journalists to investigate the management of ecological funds and strengthen scrutiny of duty-bearers amid growing climate and environmental challenges.
Mustapha said journalists have the power to scrutinise, investigate and hold governments and corporations accountable, particularly on issues affecting communities vulnerable to climate change.
She urged reporters to document the impacts of climate change on frontline communities and give greater attention to women and youth in pastoralist and farming communities, who are often vulnerable to climate impacts but underrepresented in decision-making.
“We urge you to use the skills you will acquire in this workshop to document the impacts of climate change on frontline communities, to investigate the management of ecological funds, and to champion the cause of just and sustainable development,” she said.
SolaceBase reports that the Ecological Fund is a Federal Government intervention mechanism for addressing ecological challenges across Nigeria, with intervention areas covering erosion and flood control, pollution, drought and desertification, among others.
The mandate of the Ecological Project Office includes the judicious and equitable management of the fund, while its procurement responsibilities cover maintaining records for auditing, conducting due diligence on projects to ensure value for money and reporting acts of procurement corruption.
Mustapha expressed concern that Nigerian climate reporting often focuses on environmental developments in other parts of the world while paying inadequate attention to climate-related problems closer to home.
According to her, issues such as the shrinking Lake Chad, the slow progress of the Great Green Wall, loss of livelihoods, displacement and food insecurity deserve greater media attention.
“The media occupies a unique and indispensable position in the fight against climate change and the pursuit of environmental sustainability.
“You are the bridge between scientific knowledge and public understanding. You translate complex data into compelling narratives that can influence policy, shape behaviour and hold governments and corporations accountable,” she said.
Mustapha urged journalists to move beyond sensationalism towards solutions journalism that not only exposes environmental problems but also highlights pathways to sustainability.
“Climate change is not just an environmental issue; it is a development issue, a justice issue and a human security issue,” she added.
Speaking on how technology could strengthen such investigations, a remote sensing and Geographic Information System researcher in BUK’s Department of Geography, Dr. Murtala Uba Muhammad, said Earth Observation allows journalists to use satellite imagery as evidence in environmental reporting.
Muhammad explained that journalists could compare satellite images of an area taken years apart to establish changes in the physical environment and support investigative findings.
“Using that picture, we can see the area 10 years ago and see the situation now. You can be able to see how buildings are encroaching on water bodies or how forest is gradually being eaten up by other activities, let’s say farming,” he said.
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He noted that satellite imagery could help reporters communicate what words alone may fail to show, describing pictures and images as a universal language capable of strengthening evidence-based journalism.
“We can use it to reconstruct our story in a way that people can understand,” Muhammad added.
Earlier speaking, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Development. BUK, Prof. Amina Mustapha, welcomed participants to the university and highlighted the importance of strengthening the capacity of media practitioners in climate change, disaster risk management and environmental sustainability reporting.
She reaffirmed the university’s commitment to supporting journalists through its research centres and experts, with a view to translating research findings into compelling narratives capable of influencing policy and public action.
The training brought together journalists from different media organisations in Kano State and other media practitioners, exposing them to the use of Earth Observation data for evidence-based reporting, visual storytelling, investigative journalism, environmental accountability and early warning communication.
A communication specialist with the Centre for Dryland Agriculture and participant at the workshop, Dr Nura Garba, said the skills acquired would improve storytelling around agriculture and farming communities.
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Garba said communication specialists frequently visit farming communities for field activities, adding that the ability to map areas and understand environmental trends would help them better communicate issues affecting farmers.
Similarly, a climate change reporter and participant, Zainab Baba Aliyu, said journalists often struggle with access to data, information and analysis when reporting environmental issues.
She said the training had exposed participants to scientific facts and data analysis that could make climate and environmental stories more evidence-based.
“Now we will report with evidence and facts based on the training that was given to us,” she said.
She added that the knowledge gained would make it easier for participants to report environmental and other data-driven stories using scientific evidence and analysis.
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