By Bashir Mohammed
Kano
President, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs. Ifeanyi Omolowo, has called on journalists in the country to effectively use their pens to keep the nation’s unity sacrosanct.
Speaking at the 9th NAWOJ Zonal meeting in Kano yesterday, Omolowo said “fanning the embers of dissension by those who are supposed to promote unity and the oneness of Nigeria as sovereign entity would be inimical to national interest,” adding that maintaining the status quo was the only way out.
She said journalists were not expected to dance to the “whims and caprices of the political elite wielding authority in the corridors of power knowing their intrigues and game plan that often inflame passion,” stressing that as custodians of the pen they should not be swayed by primordial interests.
Omolowo said there was the compelling need for journalists to rise to the challenge of promoting stories that could engender peace, citing the example of the myriad of atrocities being committed in some parts of the country.
According to her, promoting ethnic and religious would only spell doom for the nation.
She pointed out that the issue of gender sensitivity in reporting events and conveying messages to the public was paramount, adding that the issue of gender was not about women only and that women journalists were indispensable in the quest for achieving the desired goal.
In his remarks, the Kano state Commissioner for Information, Comrade Muhammad Garba, said the governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje administration was working closely with journalists in propelling Kano to greater heights, adding that the administration was always ready to support the media on positive course.
He said the Ganduje administration had effected giant strides in the last two years under review which the people of Kano ought to be conversant with, stressing that the administration would never relent in supporting women journalists to forge ahead.
Also speaking, the chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kano state council, Comrade Abdujalal Haruna, described the relationship between the Kano state government and the press as “cordial,” affirming that with the active support of the Commissioner for Information, working journalists would be at an ample liberty to operate without hindrance.