2023: NUJ President Urges Journalists To Interrogate Issues

The National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Chris Isiguzo has tasked journalist in the country to interrogate aspirants and candidates ahead of the 2023 General Elections with a view to throw up the best option for the Nigerians electorate.

Isiguzo, who stated this while presenting a paper titled; “2023 Elections: Journalists As Watchdogs” at the second GYB Annual National Conference for Nigeria’s Political & Crime Correspondents, in Abuja, said that Nigerians are facing challenges on leaders to elect that would attend to the yearnings of the people especially on the three top challenges of insecurity, high prices of food and unemployment.

The NUJ National President said the challenges being faced by Nigerians should serve as a guide for Journalists particularly political reporters and editors to identify genuine and committed aspirants who would provide solutions to the issues with a view to build a better Nigeria.

Isiguzo noted that the constitutional responsibility placed on the media and practitioners was to tell the truth and maintain that narrative for a developed society and not to pander to any powerful name, or politician who is determined to skew the narrative in their favour against the corporate interest of the country.

The NUJ President therefore called on Journalists to be conscious and mindful of their role to keep the country together, stressing that their reportage remains critical to keep Nigeria one and secured for both the politicians and the journalism profession to thrive.

Isiguzo said such a burden of responsibility must be maintained by all means by telling only the truth as guided by the ethics of the job.

According to the NUJ President; “It simply means that for the country to remain afloat, for the country to remain as one, for there to be accountability, for there to be transparency in governance, we must as journalists deliver on this responsibility by reporting the truth

“We have a job to monitor governance closely in the absence of accountability or transparency in governance. This means that the Journalist role is very strategic. We have become agents of social control, we have been called moral guardians. We are described as members of the Fourth Estate of the realm.

“While we do this, we are expected to do well, not necessarily expected to say the way we feel about issues, but state the issues as they are. What we need to do is to interrogate the antecedents and look at the presidential aspirants above all. We should know that the war in Ukraine has altered their normal lifestyle,” he enthused.

Isiguzo therefore urged Nigerian journalists to stick to the truth at all times in their desire to build the nation.