Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

News

2023 Elections: IPC Seeks Bulletproof Vests For Journalists

The International Press Centre (IPC) is making a case for bulletproof vests for journalists covering the 2023 elections.

This is according to the Executive Director of the IPC Lanre Arogundade who spoke during the presentation of the outcomes of the organisation’s analysis of trends in reportage of the 2023 elections.

At the event held in Abuja on Tuesday, the IPC chief said journalists are victims of election violence, adding that 250 journalists were attacked during the 2019 polls.

“I don’t know whether that would be a violation of the Police Act and I don’t know if it is allowed. But you see, we need to have this conversation with them,” he said.

“Bulletproof, why not, especially for cameramen? If the police can give us bulletproof once we are accredited, we will be happy about that. But beyond that what we are saying is that on election day, know that your own life matters.

“One thing is that as journalists, we must be ethical, professional and another thing is for a conducive environment to be provided for us. And that’s why I talked about the need for political parties and government to come together and ensure that we are protected as safety matters.

“Though no journalist was killed on election day in 2019, 250 journalists were molested across the country including some of them who were accredited, particularly by overzealous law enforcement agencies.

“So, we’re using this occasion to draw the attention of INEC, governments, security agencies, and their own political parties to their own responsibilities if they want us to cover these elections effectively.”

He called for security to be attached to journalists during the coverage of this year’s exercise as he appealed to security agencies to protect media professionals so they won’t be a repeat of the 2019 incident.

____

Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng

Copyright 2023 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to  www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement

Related

News

A total of 4,613,291 Nigerians who have collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) are expected to participate in today’s by-elections to replace members who...

News

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has stopped the Independent National Electoral Commission from conducting by-elections for the 27 defected Peoples Democratic Party’s...

News

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it is considering the first week of February for the conduct of re-run and by-elections arising from...

News

As voters across Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states elect their next governors today amidst threat of violence, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has...

Copyright ©