PwC supports Nigerian journalism
LAGOS 11 October 2021: PwC reiterated its dedication towards building trust in society and solving important problems by hosting its annual two-pronged media initiative again this year. This year’s PwC Media Excellence Awards was held on Friday 8 October, and the Capability Enhancement Workshop was on Wednesday 6 October. Their respective goals were to equip media professionals with the necessary training for effective news reporting and affirm the media's role in providing valuable contributions to the news cycle.
This year hosted the sixth edition of the awards ceremony to celebrate and reward excellence in business reporting in Nigeria in four categories: Tax & Fiscal Policy Reporting, Finance & Capital Markets Reporting, SMEs Reporting and Business & Economy Reporting.
‘The PwC Media Excellence Awards demonstrates our commitment to rewarding and celebrating excellence in business reporting in Nigeria. The awards recognise the hard work, dedication, ingenuity and courage of Nigerian journalists. By educating, setting the agenda, advocating, and informing the public, journalists are key stakeholders in helping us achieve our purpose of building trust in society.’ ~ Uyi Akpata, Country Senior Partner, PwC Nigeria
The jury for the awards comprised eminent professionals in Journalism and Media, as well as Business and Economy fields. This year, the juries included head judge, Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner & Africa Tax Leader, PwC Nigeria, and supporting judges, Yemi Adamolekun, Executive Director of Enough is Enough Nigeria (EIE) and an active citizen, nation-builder and connector; Professor Abigail Odozi Ogwezzy-Ndisika, the first female Professor and previous Head of Department of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos; and Industry leader, Dr. Andrew S. Nevin, Partner & Chief Economist, PwC Nigeria.
This year attracted 188 valid entries that progressed to the judging phase, an 8% increase from 174 last year. Business & Economy Reporting had the highest number of submissions with 80 entries representing 43% followed by SMEs Reporting with 41 entries (22%), Finance & Capital Markets Reporting with 39 entries (20%) and Tax & Fiscal Policy Reporting with 28 entries (15%). By media channels, the submissions consisted of digital media, radio, television and print.
The winners of the 2021 PwC Media Excellence Awards emerged as follows:
Nkiruka Nnorom of Vanguard Newspaper won in the Finance & Capital Markets Reporting category for the entry ‘Unclaimed Dividends: Controversy over transfer to federation account.’ Odinaka Anudu of The ICIR topped the Tax & Fiscal Policy Reporting category with the entry, ‘Money for the Boys: How agberos pocket billions of Lagos transport revenue.’
SME Reporting went to Afeez Hanafi of The Punch for the entry, ‘Odo-Owa: Kwara community where widowed black soap makers raise children with meagre proceeds’; while Nicholas Ibekwe of Premium Times emerged winner in the Business & Economy Reporting category for the entry, ‘Investigation: Kickbacks for referrals (1, 2 and 3).’
Each winner in the respective categories received a cash prize of N500,000.00 and was named PwC Journalist of the year within their categories. The first runners-up received cash prizes of N150,000.00 and a certificate, while the second runners-up received cash prizes of N50,000.00. There were also consolation prizes for the remaining top 8 finalists from each category, for the sum of N20,000.00.
The 2021 PwC Capability Enhancement Workshop for Journalists is in its eighth edition, and it featured insightful presentations from industry leaders on how journalists can gather, disseminate, and publish accurate information to society.
Industry leader, Dr. Andrew S. Nevin, Partner & Chief Economist, PwC Nigeria, kicked off the training with his presentation on ‘Digging deeper into the economic realities of Nigeria.’ He encouraged journalists to avoid reportage, consistently look at events from a micro and macroeconomic scale and tell value-adding economic stories from established narratives.
He also shared the top 10 themes shaping the Nigerian Economy in 2021 for journalists to focus their stories on for better coverage of the country's economic realities. Some of these themes include harnessing the power of the diaspora, moving the informal sector to the formal sector and shifting from the GDP lens to the SDG lens.
Rukaiya El-Rufai, Partner & Head of Sustainability Services, PwC Nigeria, in her presentation titled ‘Enhancing ESG credibility through journalism’, focused on the media’s crucial role in demystifying ESG and accordingly encouraging people to embrace climate change and adopt sustainable ways of living. She highlighted the increasing demand from stakeholders such as the government and society for more reliable information on impacts, e.g., climate change impacts on livelihoods and economic growth, and subsequently shared various guidelines on how ESG should be reported.
She concluded by noting that excellent journalism would build stakeholder trust in ESG practices and inform their present and future decisions regarding sustainability.
Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner & Africa Tax Leader, PwC Nigeria, was the last to present with his training titled ‘Recent developments in the Nigerian fiscal space - facts, opinions and fictions.’ His presentation differentiated between what was fact, opinion and fiction on the following policies: Fiscal Federalism and Tax Administration, particularly VAT; The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), particularly its key issues; and The Pandora Papers, particularly what they entail.
The insights on these policies will improve business reporting and avoid amplifying misleading information. He concluded his presentation by urging the media to champion a new focus on the broader conversation about the tax system and the social contract.
In summing up the Capability Enhancement Workshop, Taiwo Oyedele restated the goal and hopeful outcome of the event with the following Abraham Lincoln quote and ensuing statement:
‘We can complain about Nigeria and blame everyone but ourselves on its current state but "The best way to predict the future is to create it." The media has a crucial role, sometimes even more important than the politicians, in helping society refocus, ask the right questions, and ensure that jointly and collectively, as well as individually, we begin to create the Nigeria that we want.
We have been running this workshop for years and the benefits we've seen perpetually motivate us to build and enhance the capacity of reporting by our journalists who do a lot of hard work especially in this very difficult environment.'
