NUJ President Urges Members To Take Personal Safety Seriously

Speaking while declaring open, a Gender Equity and Safety Training of journalists recently in Abuja, the National president of Nigeria  Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), Comrade Waheed Odusile, said journalists must know that they don’t need to put themselves in harm’s way just to get a report.

He said, “We want every journalist to report news but they should not end up being the news. No story is worth the life of any journalist.”

The two-day training which had 20 journalists in attendance, was sponsored by the Norwegian Union of Journalists through the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and supported by the Federation of African Journalists ( FAJ) and the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Speaking on the theme of the training, Comrade Odusile said media owners should pay particular attention to gender issues adding that discrimination based on gender was counter- productive .

He appealed to the participants to come up with actionable points that will help improve on gender relations and safety in media houses.

Odusile said the union was embarking on a biometric registration for a digital data base of its members to stamp out impersonators from the profession.

He asked all journalists to visit the union’s website www.nuj.org.ng to register.

He added that it would also help to promote excellence.

Also addressing the participants, the national secretary of the NUJ, Shuaibu Usman Leman challenged them to uphold the ethics of the profession.