The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) FCT Correspondents Chapel has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to unveil his administration’s plan and agenda on safety measures and mechanisms for media practitioners and workers in Nigeria.
The union described the toxic and hostile environment in which the media have been operating over the years, thereby putting their lives in danger, as absurd, ridiculous and unacceptable.
The NUJ FCT Correspondents Chapel stated this on Friday in a statement jointly signed by Comrade Jide Oyekunle and Raphael Oni, Chairman and Secretary respectively, to commemorate World Press Freedom Day 2024 in Abuja.
“Today we join the rest of the world to mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day. It is expedient to remind the Nigerian government of its legal obligation to defend and protect the fundamental rights of the Nigerian people, including press freedom and freedom of expression as guaranteed by section 36 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The media space is shrinking, hostile and suffocating on a daily basis due to intolerant posture of some government officials to criticisms and dissenting voices.
“We, therefore, call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come out clear with comprehensive safety measures and mechanisms for the protection of Nigerian journalists and media workers to enable them perform their essential and constitutional role in democracy.
“Journalists in Nigeria face significant safety risks, including harassment, intimidation, and physical attacks while carrying out their duties.
“We demand concrete steps to protect journalists while carrying out their role as watchdog of society and to ensure that those responsible for various attacks on journalists in the past are brought to justice.
“We demand accountability on the part of the government and security agents and make those uncultured security operatives who have no respect for democratic tenets and values to face the full wrath of the law.
“These attacks are unacceptable and must stop. Journalists must be able to carry out their work without fear of violence or retribution.
“We will not abdicate our statutory
responsibility in upholding the fundamental objectives of the directive principles of the state policy of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended
“We have continued to emphasise that journalism is not a crime, journalism is not an opposition, journalism is the oxygen of democracy and positive change and development of any democratic society.
“If democracy is about good governance, accountability and transparency, then press freedom should not be denied, curtailed, restricted or taken away”.