Press Release: WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY (MAY 3RD): PAY ATTENTION TO JOURNALISTS’ WELFARE 2nd May 2008

The world marks Press Freedom Day on Saturday 3rd May, 2008. The press is the Fourth Estate of the Realm and the bulwark of democracy, freedom, justice and fairplay anywhere in the world. The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) congratulates the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) on this occasion and salute the courage of hundreds of its followership who toil day and night within and outside Nigeria to uphold the truth, to redress wrongs and to affirm the Allah-Given and fundamental rights of mankind.   

The past year alone witnessed a number of ugly incidents in the profession of journalism. Many journalists were detained. Some were beaten up and traumatized by ‘thugs’ in police uniform. Equipments like photographic and video cameras were either seized or smashed during the period. It was also a tragic period in which six journalists died in a motor accident in Plateau State. The NUJ headquarters in Abuja also fell victim of executive recklessness as it was bulldozed.

MURIC wishes to assert the significant role played by the press in the polity. The press is the oil that lubricates the engine of democracy and the rule of law. It is the press that showcases the good qualities of a good government and vice versa. In fact the press is vox populi.

We therefore call on the Federal and State Governments to, as a matter of urgency, build and strengthen its partnership with the press. We charge Governments at all levels to evolve means of providing better welfare and adequate protection to journalists. All employers of the press are requested to guarantee life insurance for all its staff in view of the dangers inherent in  the profession. Above all, government should grant journalists free healthcare delivery. We advice the police leadership to check the excesses of its rank and file so that police brutalisation of pressmen can stop.

Finally, MURIC reiterates its earlier call that the Federal Government should establish a special fund to cater for the welfare of widows and orphans left behind by journalists who die in the line of duty. Such orphans should enjoy scholarship from primary to university level while the welfare package should include accommodation for the family left behind.

Dr. Is-haq Akintola