By Lekan Otufodunrin
Last week, I wrote about the death of late Tayo Awotunsin of Champion Newspapers who was killed along with his Guardian Newspaper colleague, Krees Imodibie in 1991 while covering the Liberian crisis. Their death is an example of one of the major hazards journalists face while on duty.
Every profession has its hazards known to the professionals. What is required of their employers is that necessary steps should be taken to protect them against the hazards and where it is impossible, they or their families should be adequately compensated.
Unfortunately, this is not the case in Nigeria where journalists don’t generally get adequately remunerated despite the risky nature of their job. Some journalists don’t even get paid for months and can’t even expect any form of compensation if they get injured or killed on the job. Only few media houses have insurance policies for their staff.
Some staff of a defunct newspaper were shocked when they learnt that apart from being owed by their former employers, the company did not remit their tax or pension to the appropriate authorities for the months they were paid.
How are journalists expected to perform their duties as watch dogs in circumstances like this when they are not sure of what becomes of them if they lose their jobs, get injured or killed in a worst case scenario?
I am forced to return to the issue of condition of service for journalists this week following the report that 13 Nigerian journalists were killed last year in Nigeria while covering various assignments.
The figure said to be the highest in the history of the country since independence according to the President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mohammed Garba, is worrisome.
As Garba rightly reiterated, there is an urgent need to intensify the provision of security and safety for journalists. Comprehensive insurance policies should be provided for journalists to encourage them to take necessary risks even when their life is at risk on the job.
Many journalists have told me that the profession is not worth dying for and I quite agree with them. Why should anyone risk getting killed on duty when employers are unable to meet their obligations to employees?
With increasing cases of killing by the Boko Haram and other terrorists groups in the Northern parts of the country, I really pity journalists who are based in particularly some of the volatile states like Borno, Kano, Yobe and others. When I speak with some of them, they tell me how worried they are about their safety and that of their families.
If the journalists have their way, they would have relocated to other safer locations like other residents who have fled for their safety. Media managers should not only be concerned about getting stories from the crisis states, they should be very interested in the safety of their staff.
I am aware that some of the worst-hit states before now were not priority states for many national media organizations in terms of editorial coverage. Now that the states are now in focus due to the endless killings by the terrorists, journalists who have to remain there as a matter of duty have to be protected from becoming victims of the attacks.
They should well-paid to justify their working in the states, insured and provided necessary gadgets to ease their work. This is one sure way to ensure that the figure of journalists killed in the country does not increase next year when the figure for 2013 will be released.