Journalists cautioned on phone conversations with news sources

The Editor-in-Chief of Premium Times, Musikilu Mojeed, has again reminded Nigerian journalists that the authorities have placed them under surveillance.

According to him, surveillance on journalists will not stop as technology gets more sophisticated.

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Mojeed, who is also the president of the International Press Institute, Nigeria, asked journalists to continue to take precaution and gradually boycott phone conversations with their sources.

He spoke in Abuja yesterday during a press freedom manual launch in commemoration of the World Press Freedom Day, organised by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) in partnership with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

Mojeed recalled how the military invaded Daily Trust corporate head office in Abuja in 2019 and took away about 24 computers.

 “If you go through the budget of the Nigerian government, the government is spending so much money acquiring surveillance equipment.

“It is not totally negative considering the insecurity being faced in the country today. But the way it is being deployed is dangerous,” Mojeed said, during the panel discussion.

Also speaking as a panelist, the General Editor of Daily Trust, Hamza Idris, urged journalists to have their facts while writing stories.

Speaking on ‘State Surveillance and Threats to Journalism Practice in the 21st Century’, Idris noted that journalists had become more exposed to surveillance through advancement in technology.

“But I am encouraging journalists to continue to learn to speak from the position of strength,” he added.

Other panelists were Onwuka Okereke, a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Abia State University; Tunde Akanni, an Associate Professor of Communication, Lagos State University; Mojirayo Ogunalana-Nkanga, a gender and human rights advocate and General Manager, MEGA FM, Warri.