Coronavirus Pandemic
Olusegun Runsewe, the Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), has urged the Federal Government and stakeholders to strengthen the media in the war against Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Runsewe said journalists were in dire need of protective equipment and special palliatives to enable them perform optimally.
He made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
The NCAC director-general noted that media practitioners are also in the frontline in the fight against the novel Coronavirus, just like the health workers.
He added that, just like attention, incentives, Personal Protective Equipment had been given to medical practitioners, such should be extended to media practitioners, saying that they play a major role in the fight against the virus.
According to the NCAC boss, everyone depends on the media for authentic information and without them (journalists) the information about the virus will not get to the people.
He also said that media practitioners work tirelessly to make sure that the message about the pandemic was spread across board.
Runsewe applauded the media practitioners for their commitment in information dissemination across the country.
He, however, encouraged them to keep up the good works, enjoining them to also protect themselves against the infection.
He therefore appealed to Nigerians to adhere to instructions and directives on social distancing, washing of hands and others in order to mitigate the spread of the virus.
The director-general further admonished the citizenry to avoid stigmatising people with the disease, stressing that it is not in the country’s interest to do so.
“Let me first of all appeal to Nigerians at this time not to stigmatise the people with the disease because it is not in our best interest.
“It is imperative to understand that the virus is real and needs to be treated like any other sickness, and stimatisation can cause more problem in the society.
“I advise we tolerate each other and make sure we find lasting solution to this pandemic in the interest of everyone so we can come back to our normal lives,’’ he urged.
Runsewe noted that the lockdown in the country was necessary in a time the entire world was applying same strategy to help combat the pandemic. (NAN)
– Apr. 30, 2020 @ 10:09 GMT |
Tags: COVID-19: Runsewe drums support for journalists
