National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Comrade Chistopher Isiguzo, has said that collective and individual efforts of all Nigerians are all that the country needs to deal with the challenge of bad leadership and ensure that human rights is
maintained.
He spoke at the Big Ideas Podium organised by African Heritage Institute, Enugu.
Isiguzo, who was a discussant at the event with the theme: “Human Rights and Democracy in Nigeria Agenda for a New Era”, said that the country has remained a train that is moving speedily towards destruction.
According to him, the challenge facing the country remains the fact that there is the desperation to get power by some people who do not really care about the wellbeing of the citizens.
“We only know that our politicians exist when it is another season of election and then they come to us promising to work well” he said.
He noted that everyone seems to have resigned to fate and continued to live with the imagination that all has been decided.
“We need collective responsibility to disrupt the existing status quo because it Is not enough to talk about such issues he said, adding that the media has a role to play in terms of providing accurate reports about the activities of the government.
He stated that the country needs to fight bad leadership and get Nigeria working again through positive disruption and the impelling need to get the electoral system right.
“When we get the electoral system right, every other system will work fine because it avails the people the right to bring in credible leaders” he said.
“We have not degenerated to this level before as a country. But beyond the spiralling issue of Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, herdsmen attack In the North Central and Banditory in the North West, we must begin to look for the way forward else we shall wake up one morning to discover there is no more country” he said.
The NUJ president said “As individuals, we have a critical role to play to get the country working again. It is not enough to throw stone” He said that human rights could be protected in a democracy, as a result, we must pay attention to sustenance of human rights.
“People’s power is what the country needs at this point in time”, he said.
