National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Mr. Chris Isiguzo, has called on the Federal Government to overhaul the nation’s security architecture to guarantee safety of lives and property.
Isiguzo, who made the call at the Grand Finale of the 2019 Press Week of the NUJ Kogi Council on Thursday in Lokoja, said the country was not in good shape in view of the prevailing security situation.
He said there was hardly any part of the country without one form of security challenge or the other from Northeast to Southwest and Southsouth.
The NUJ president, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to rise to the challenge and overhaul the security architecture to ensure that lives and property were protected and secured in the country.
He held that the fundamental mandate of any government remained the protection and security of lives and property of its citizenry.
He, therefore, urged government at all levels to critically address security situation across the country.
Isiguzo urged journalists to see hazards of the profession as the price they had to pay to sustain democracy in the country saying, “it’s something we owe society.”
He cautioned against journalists drawing hasty conclusions in writing their reports saying, they should always ensure that their news were balanced, objective, factual, constructive and impartial.
The NUJ president added that they must be mindful of possible control by politicians.
Director General, Kogi Directorate of Information and Grassroots Sensitisation, Abdulkarim Abdulmalik, also urged journalists to always verify and fact-check their information before publication even if it came from a very reliable source.
According to him, any news that is not cross-checked is bad news.
“Developmental Journalism is our orientation, we should abide by it. This is not in any way, to say that we should “praise sing” the government,” he said.
Mr. Wilson Bako, Vice-President, Zone D of the NUJ, urged journalists never to be deterred by hash conditions under which they practice.
He said journalists must make duty bearers accountable to the people to ensure good governance.
Kogi council chairman, Momoh-Jimoh Adeiza, who spoke earlier, appealed to politicians to avoid actions that could threaten the oneness of Kogi and its people as the Nov. 16 governorship election approached.
Adeiza assured the state government that the state council of the NUJ was fully ready to report its policies and programmes objectively.
He said that where such reportage was considered offensive, the aggrieved should feel free to approach the leadership of the union.
NAN
