COVID-19: Nasarawa journalists appeal for provision of protective equipment
Worried by the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria, journalists in Nasarawa state have appealed to the state government to avail them with protective equipment to enable them discharge their duties effectively
Journalists across different media organisations in the state made the appeal on Thursday in Lafia, the state capital.
A cross section of journalists, who lamented that they are also frontline workers battling the pandemic, demanded that they should also be provided with necessary protective items.
They noted that journalists are vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus as they go about their duties across the state.
Chairman, Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the state, Mr. Isaac Ukpoju, said journalists report activities at this time without any form of protection and support, considering the risks associated with COVID-19.
Ukpoju noted that if journalists in the state decide to withdraw their services due to lack of protection and support from any quarters, the society would be totally ignorant of what is happening and how to take preventive measures.
He declared that journalists put their lives on the line as part of the sacrifice to help curtail the spread of the virus and therefore, need to be protected.
The Correspondents’ Chapel chairman also appealed to owners of media organisations to provide allowances and insurance cover for their correspondents, referring to a case of a journalist that tested positive for COVID-19 in Adamawa state.
“The recent reports of large numbers of journalists who tested positive for the virus in India and the index case in Adamawa state is a wake-up call to all media houses that journalists should be protected,” he stated
The correspondent of Thisday Newspaper, Igbawase Ukumba, said that the task force handling issues of COVID-19 in the state should make themselves accessible to the press like other states by providing daily updates and wondered why the case is different in Nasarawa state.
He therefore, appealed to Emmanuel Akabe, deputy governor of the state, who is the chairman of the task force to be transparent by updating journalists daily on their activities.
Speaking earlier, the correspondent of The Voice Newspaper, Miss Esther Akaa, said the state government should provide hand sanitisers, face masks, and other protective kits to enable journalists go about their duties without fear of contracting the virus.
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She said journalists in the course of their duties are vulnerable to contracting the coronavirus, hence the need for government to accord special priority to them for the effective discharge of their duties.
Akaa added that the ban on commercial motorcycles and tricycles operators in the state would affect the smooth operation of journalists because majority of them rely on the said group to move from one place to the order.
