The Nigeria Union of Journalists has called on both the Federal Government and state governments in the South West to take concrete action to reduce rising insecurity in that area.
The NUJ B-Zone leadership, which is made up of the councils of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, and Lagos, expressed concern over the situation and bemoaned the fact that residents and users of the roads in the Southwest zone were “at the mercy of criminals who kidnap, maim, and kill, especially on the highways, particularly on the Ibadan-Lagos expressway.”
According to a communiqué on Sunday at the end of their zonal meeting in Ekiti State, presided over by the NUJ Vice President, Aderonke Samo-Afebioye, and signed by the Zonal Secretary, Abdulrasaq Alege, the journalists lamented that “the value of human life has become so gravely degraded that news of deaths often on an industrial scale hardly shocks the citizenry anymore.”
While appealing to the governments to move steadily “towards putting an end to the ugly situation,” the journalists lauded what they described as “the commendable efforts of Amotekun Corps in the Southwest.”
They also called on the Federal Government to attend to the hardship being faced by road users on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, saying, “Motorists plying the axis have continued to spend hours in gridlock daily. We urge the Federal Government to take some measures that will relieve motorists during the Christmas and New Year festivities.”
The NUJ B-Zone also sought support for the establishment of state police, describing it as the only solution to the insecurity situation across the country.
It stated, “It is obvious that effective policing could no longer be guaranteed with the current federal structure of the Nigeria Police Force to combat crimes and criminality. We appeal to the National Assembly and the state Houses of Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, see to the passage of an enabling law for state police.”
Also on the 2023 general elections, the journalists charged political actors to give more attention to issue-based campaigns that would assist voters in making the right choices during the elections.
