The Nigerian Union of Journalists in Niger State, North Central Nigeria, have appealed to the State government to provide safety kits and palliative to Journalists on duties for safety and relative comfort.
In a statement issued by the Secretary and the Chairman of the Union, Abu Nmodu and Abdul Idris, they urged the Niger State Government to initiate ways of cushioning the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on media establishments in the State.
The Statement further pointed out the essential nature of Journalists especially in difficult situations, such as the COVID-19 crisis, which confounds the nation with unprecedented health, social and economic consequences.
“We use this opportunity to call on all practicing journalists in the state to adopt all safety measures as advised by medical experts and abide by ethical journalism in the course of their duties. Sensational and stigmatized reportage must be avoided”.
While appreciating the efforts of the Niger state government for proactively putting measures in place to check the spread of the pandemic in the state, the union body further urged the government to caution security agencies on constant harassments of Journalists on assignment duties during the State lockdown.
“It should be noted that the national secretariat of NUJ has issued templates on how journalists should protect themselves and in line with that, the Niger state council was the first to close its recreational center even before the curfew started on Wednesday 25th March 2020 “.
“In the ongoing fight against the spread of Coronavirus (COVID 19) the media has been in the forefront and ensuring that the members of the public are well informed, the council, therefore, consider the harassment of her members by security men as counter-productive in the fight against the COVID-19 spread” the statement read.
Source: VON
