New Telegraph

COVID-19: Nigerian journalists also deserve medals like other frontliners – Omotoso

The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso on Saturday took an assessment of the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic and said that  journalists across the country also deserve medals and awards like other frontline workers.

Omotoso, who spoke in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital during his address at the Demola Babalola-led Oyo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Week, requested that journalists be appreciated like nurses and doctors for the critical role they played during the lockdown occasioned by the pandemic.
Omotoso, a former Editor of the Nation Newspaper, made these assertions in his paper titled: “Journalists and the development of underdevelopment”, said that journalists like other professionals joined the battle against COVID-19, hence the need to praise them for jobs well done, noting that despite the challenges facing newsmen in Nigeria, they have always risen to occasion when it mattered the most.
“If nobody would praise the media, that would not be fine. Journalists deserve medals, just like the other frontline workers who joined the battle against COVID-19. Perhaps for the first time, you found many professionals – doctors, lab attendants, nurses, cleaners, drivers and others – working together as a team
“The Nigerian journalist has always risen to the occasion whenever it matters.
Consider the recent calamity that befell humanity; the deadly COVID-19. Before it arrived at our shores, experts had been predicting a kind of apocalypse. We were all gripped by great fear.
“So thick was the anxiety that you could cut it with a knife. They said we would be picking bodies on the streets. The rich invested heavily in ventilators, which they bought and kept in their inner rooms for themselves and members of their privileged families.
“To God be the glory, the gloomy predictions did not come to pass. We lost some of our compatriots – may the Almighty bless their souls – but we haven’t been picking bodies on the streets. Now the world is wondering how Nigeria did it, despite our weak healthcare system.
“Compared with the figures we see every day from the developed world, we can say boldly that Nigeria has done well in managing this pandemic. One fact remains strong in this narrative of success – the media,” the Commissioner said

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