Journalism like any other profession has its dangers which the practitioners are facing daily in the discharge of their duties.
Journalists have been killed, detained or maimed during their coverage of events, wars, investigating crimes, fraud or other reasons.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), other continental, regional and local journalists groups and associations have been at the forefront of the fight against impunity against journalists.
In fact, the Deputy National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mukhtar Gidado recently expressed the union’s concern over the increase in attacks on journalists in Nigeria.
He spoke in Bauchi at the closing of a recent training of 50 journalists on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sponsored by the Bauchi State Council of the NUJ and Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP).
He berated the authorities for the treatment being meted out to journalists by security agents. He said that, the NUJ leadership was disturbed by the growing trend which journalists always found themselves at the receiving end.
Gidado lamented that, despite the unofficial status of Journalism to be the “Fourth Estate of the Realm”, journalists especially in the developing world are being seen as enemies than partners in progress.
According to him, a number of journalists have been brutalised, detained and assaulted in many parts of the country which the NUJ had been drawing the attention of the federal government to address.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in a statement by its National Secretary, Shuaibu Usman Leman, stated that acts of violence against journalists and media equipment are not only a crime, but also serious threats to press freedom and by implication to democracy.
According to the statement, the NUJ affirmed the fact that Nigerian journalists must have the freedom to seek and receive information from all available sources to enable formulation of proper opinions and communicate without any let or hindrance.
Gidado, however, noted that while the body does not support its members to breach or break laws and pose threats to national security, it would not condone attacks and impunity on its members from any quarters.
“We have our ethics which our members must strictly adhere to and we have our disciplinary machinery to sanction our erring members. We have the Ethics and Disciplinary Committee at all levels which takes care of all professional ethical infractions by our members.
“Unfortunately, the various government machineries especially security agents don’t want to follow legitimate means to address issues involving journalists. Our members are being harassed when they demand information despite the ‘Freedom of Information Act’ which empowered journalists including other Nigerians to have unfettered and unrestricted access to public information,” he said.
