Chioma James
The Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) FCT chapter has called on the police and other security agencies to ensure that the full weight of the law is brought on people harassing female journalists and cyberbullies as enshrined in the constitution to serve as deterrent to others.
They made the call at a training which coincides with their August congress in Abuja organised by the association in conjunction with Supporting Hand Initiative on Cyber bullying and Harassment of Female Journalists.
The Chairperson of NAWOJ FCT, Comrade Annah Daniels condemned in strong terms the cyber bullying and harassment of journalists ,especially female journalists,as they discharge their duties.
Daniels disclosed that the collaboration is owing to the urgent need to educate journalists on how to be persistent in reporting cases of gender based violence, following up the case to get justice, while putting up their best to reposition FCT chapter of the association.
Speaking at the training, the guest speaker Chizoba Ogbeche, a crime reporter charged women journalists to be modest in their dressing, always find balance at all times and not to compromise while doing their job.
Ogbeche also noted the overheating of the political space by politicians and their supporters even as the 2023 election draws near, especially on social media platforms, and sued for tolerance among them, while charging the security agencies to watch closely so as to detect and punish offenders to serve as a deterrent to others.
Another speaker Emmanuel Okoi, a Cyber Security and Forensic Expert cautioned women journalists to be cyber security conscious and deviate from clicking on unsure links .
“Don’t connect to public networks, disable anti virus on your gadgets, and it is not every video shared on your platform that you must open.
“Always subject yourself to training and retraining on Cyber security knowledge in as much as your job has to do with information”, he advised.
Again, the National President of NAWOJ Comrade Ladi Bala who commended the organisers of the training reiterated that the world today is driven by knowledge, information and ideas expressed her dissatisfaction over the poor remuneration and non-payment of some journalists by some employers in the face of rising cost of living in Nigeria, and made case for salary review and possibly a unified salary structure for media practitioners to boost the morale of journalists and appreciate the sacrifices they are making in service to their father land.
She also frowned at the spate of insecurity in most parts of the country, which left farmers scared of going to their farms for fear of being attacked by bandits, pointing that this could be the primary cause of hike in prices of essential food items even as she tasked government to put measures in place to protect farmers and cushion the effects of inflation in the country.
NAWOJ FCT unanimously expressed worry over the prolonged industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), calling on the government to be proactive in its effort to resolve the issues, given
that the long stay at home has made the teeming undergraduates idle and vulnerable for use negatively by political actors as the 2023 general election draws near.
The association congratulated the Nigeria Team in the just concluded Common Wealth Games, most especially the female delegates who won many medals and made Nigeria proud as good ambassadors and portraying the country in good light.
