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Prince Chris Isiguzo, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Saturday urged the Federal Government to give maximum freedom to the press so as to enable democracy to thrive in Nigeria.
He stated this while speaking during his working visit to Oyo state council in Ibadan.
Isiguzo noted that the union has set up a fund-raising committee for media organisations, following the difficulties that the industry is experiencing as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
He stressed that his leadership of the union had met with the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration several times in the last three years and have always informed the government on the need for press freedom as a tool for effective democracy.
He said the leadership of the union in the last three years had on several occasions told president Muhammadu Buhari the truth on how to make democracy thrive in Nigeria.
Isiguzo said; “Recently, we met with the president of federal republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari, and spoke the truth to power. We informed him that for democracy to thrive in Nigeria, the media must be given due recognition.
“In the last three years, our Union has been doing very fine, even though we have not been to Eldorado because nobody has ever visited Eldorado. We can only make effort.
“We are not only consolidating on our achievements but we are taking our Union to a greater height. The union will continue to tell the truth.
“Due to coronavirus, many of our members lost their jobs. This is because many organisations had to downsize.
“A particular media organisation in Nigeria today has no staff. All their staff has been converted to freelance and there is a need for us to support our people, especially when they are facing challenges.”
