Respect journalists as essential service providers, NUJ urges security agencies

The Nigeria Union of Journalists, Oyo State Council has urged security agencies in the state to respect journalists on duty, especially during the current dusk-to-dawn curfew declared by government.
The council, in a statement jointly signed the Chairman and the Secretary, Ademola Babalola and Sola Oladapo respectively, in Ibadan on Monday described journalists as essential service providers.
The union said its members were major stakeholders in the efforts being made to contain the spread of Coronavirus Disease across the state in particular and the country in general.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Seyi Makinde had in their separate broadcasts exempted journalists from the restriction to movement order placed on citizens.
The NUJ called on heads of security agencies in the state to caution their personnel against harassing journalists in the discharge of their duties as the curfew lasted.
It also called on media organisations to make available preventive kits and sanitisers to their crews and ensure that only experienced reporters were made to handle critical reports during the period.
It urged journalists to maintain social distancing during live interview programmes and called for provision of hand washing basins and sanitisers at the appropriate corners in media houses.
The union also called on media managers to allow their subordinates work from home except where it was absolutely necessary for them to do so in the newsrooms or studios.