Senate president, Bukola Saraki, has advocated for a comprehensive insurance cover for journalists in Nigeria.
He also made a case for enhanced salaries for media workers in order to boost their morale and increase their productivity.
Saraki made these remarks at the weekend when he chaired the opening session of the fifth Triennial National Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja.
The Senate president, who was represented at the event by Shehu Sani, senator representing Kaduna Central, said that recent events in the national, cross-border and global polity had undoubtedly put a lot of emphasis on the safety, sustainability, value, rights and moral standing of an average journalist.
He said journalists put themselves through difficult, often uncharted channels to ensure that democracy had its highest expression.
“It is incumbent on us, the custodians of this democracy, to bring to the fore viewpoints that will enhance the productivity and efforts of these professionals. That is why I associate myself with the
call for journalists to be provided insurance cover by their employers, be it government or private. I also want to canvass enhanced salaries for the professionals.
“However, this demand that journalists through their associations should strictly enforce adherence to professionalism and code of ethics of their profession. There must also be penalty for those who violate the ethics or behave in a manner unbecoming of a professional,” he said.
The influence of the mass media on diverse issues in the society and the multi-dimensional nature of influence have inevitably led to the call for the role of the media, with particular emphasis on democracy to be centred keeping the people informed, providing critical information and setting agenda for the public, he said.
He said: “However, as seemingly basic as the above roles might seem, the unwavering impact of the attendant consequences cannot be glossed over and so, the effectiveness of the media in discharging these set duties will all but depend on the quality of media personnel, ownership, poverty level,
ethnicity, civil society, professionalism, ethical and moral orientation of the media, religion, influences on the media such as powerful groups, advertisers and public relations people.”
He said that no nation can underestimate the importance of the media in the art of governance because the roles they play are primarily and centrally placed in national, regional, and local affairs.
It is necessary to urgently review the training curriculum in journalism institutions to accommodate parliamentary journalism and other necessary skills to prepare potential reporters for challenges in the area of legislative reporting, the Senate president said.
According to him, positive developmental and citizen journalism should be emphasised by the mass media with a view to fostering national unity, national interest and national cohesion.
He commended the NUJ for holding the conference with the theme: “Fostering Safety of Journalists and Building Synergy with Agents of the State.”
Earlier in his remarks, the outgoing National President of the NUJ, Mohammed Garba, said he was leaving behind a more peaceful union having helped to restore normalcy to troubled state chapters of the union.
He said that the leadership of the NUJ is committed to providing enabling environment for journalists so to carry out their professional duties without molestation.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE
