Victoria Udoh
26 September 2003
Lagos — The Jounalists for Democratic Rights, (JODER), a pro-media rights group, is soon to release a comprehensive assessment of media coverage the Oputa Panel to Nigerian and Intemational audience.
A statement signed by JODER's Chairman, Mr. Adewale Adeoye, stated that the report captured the strength and weaknesses of the media coverage of Nigeria's version of the post-military era of the truth and reconcilaition panel, commonly referred to as the Oputa Panel, set up by the Federal Govemment to assuage the pains of victims of human right violations.
The focus of the report, he said, was to broaden the understanding of journalists' in reconciliation and sustainable development of the nation.
The report, which is the first of its kind in the search for a broader understanding of the role of the media in reconciliation and participatory democracy in Nigeria, provided a yardstick to measure the role played by the media in ensuring that the Oputa panel achieved its desired aims and objectives, in the context of its implications for Nigeria's democratic governance and the search for peaceful co-existence in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS), a non governmental organisation, has called on the National Assembly to promulgate a law that would stop the molestation and humiliation of people living with HIV/AIDS in work places.
In a communique signed by the Chairman of the Nigeria Unin of Journalists (NUJ) Anambra State Chapter, Mr. Chris Aghanya and his Vice President, Zone F, Mr. Akwu Ngagene, after a four-day workshop on HIV/AIDS organised for leaders of NUJ by JAAIDS recommended the formation of an Action Committee on AIDS in each state council within two months from the date of the workshop and appealed to the Federal Government to follow up its anti-AIDS campaign with research on vaccine for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
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