NUJ declares Aug. 30 national protest over impunity against journalists

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has declared Thursday, 30th August as a national day of protest against what it called “impunity against the Nigerian journalist.”

The National Secretary, Shuaibu Leman, had through a memo, directed all the state and FCT Councils of the union to mobilise their members for the protest.

Leman directed the various NUJ councils to stage protests within their respective press centres.

He said that the protest could also be organised in select media houses, urging the state councils to ensure full media coverage of the event.

The NUJ scribe, while urging councils to inform the various state governments of the planned protest, also confirmed that the union’s national secretariat had sent a letter to Presidency regarding the plan.

Similarly, the Secretary of the union in FCT Council, Rafatu Salami, has urged media practitioners in Abuja and environs to take advantage of the declaration by the national secretariat to demand for justice and enforcement of freedom of expression of journalists in the country.

Salami, in a statement on Wednesday, said, “the event is to appeal to the federal government and all state governors to take effective measures in protecting Journalists and to fully implement the declaration of principles on freedom of Expression in Africa, which clearly states that ‘no one shall be subject to arbitrary interference with his or her freedom of expression'”.

She urged Journalists in Abuja to converge at NUJ FCT Secretariat, Utako by 9am for the takeoff.

For proper coordination across the country and to create the hub for syndicating reports and updates from the mass action across the country, the NUJ has advised that the process be trended using the following hashtags on social media, #EnoughIsEnough, #JournalismIsNotACrime, #PhotographyIsNotACrime and #SafetyOfJournalistsNotNegotiable.