- By Halimah Olamide
The Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism has called for objectivity in the reporting of matters relating to insecurity in Nigeria.
The centre acknowleged the report by the Civil Society Joint Action Group which said that at least 2,423 people were killed, while 1,872 were abducted within eight months of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
The centre in a statement signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Motunrayo Alaka, noted that the Institute for Economics and Peace ranked Nigeria 144 on the 2023 Global Peace Index.
According to Alaka, the calls for the safety and security of citizens’ lives and property must become a top priority.
“Umaru Pate, Vice Chancellor of Federal University Kashere, during the 2018 Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture traced the breakdown of local governance and radio systems to the violence in the North East and North Central.
“The impacts of insecurity on education, economic prosperity, health and safety of survivors as documented by some of our CMEDIA partners are dire. The media must objectively report issues, and raise awareness about security threats, their causes, consequences, and possible resolutions,” she said
Alaka explained that as part of interventions working with journalists and other partners, the WSCIJ addressed cultural challenges, insecurity impacts on displaced women, surrogacy ethics, delayed justice for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence cases, female coaches’ struggles, inheritance rights, birth attendants’ hazards and economic exploitation women face.
She said, |”Also a five part documentary titled ‘The Untold Stories Of Girls And Women In Nigeria’ and the media justice status report on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Nigeria titled ‘Missing data, missing justice’ by WSCIJ highlighted challenges women face in Nigeria and difficulty in getting justice.”
She concluded by appealing to investigative journalists to expose cases of social injustice, uncover human rights violations, raise public awareness, hold perpetrators accountable, and foster a more inclusive society.
“As WSCIJ joins the world to emphasise the importance of social justice, we reiterate the words of Wole Soyinka, Africa’s First Nobel Laureate in Literature and WSCIJ’s grand patron, that “Investigative reporting is the vital force for the restoration of human dignity” and urge the news media to work harder to uplift the dignity of the most vulnerable in society through human interest investigative reports,” she added