By Our Reporter
Journalists from the print, online and electronic media met in Lagos on Tuesday for a one-day training programme aimed at promoting coverage of indigenous issues in the country.
The event, tagged: "Training for Media Practitioners on Reporting Indigenous Issues," organised by Network of Journalists on Indigenous Issues (NEJII) with the support of MacArthur Foundation and Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education, (CHRICED) drew journalists from mainstream and online media.
No fewer than 35 media practitioners attended the training which, at the end, participants said empowered them with knowledge and greater understanding of the travails of indigenous peoples, especially the Abuja Original Inhabitants (AOIs), whose fears and aspirations demanded urgent redress.
Abuja was created in 1976 through a military decree, and over 3million indigenous people, whose generations had lived in the FCT for centuries were displaced, forcing them to relocate or sometimes living as refugees in their homeland, while many others were denied compensations.
In his opening remarks, Comrade Adewale Adeoye, former Head of Investigation Desk of The Punch Newspaper, said the aim of the training was for journalists to help shape peace building and conflict prevention in Nigeria.
Adeoye said the Abuja Original Inhabitants (AOIs) are a critical stakeholder in nation building, but sadly noted that they were currently being pushed to the wall by a political economy that excluded and marginalized them, adding that the country needed to listen to their demands for peace and stability of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
"We should not wait for a repeat of the Niger-Delta uprising to happen in Abuja before we listen to their demands," he said.
According to him, Abuja Original Inhabitants are of strategic importance to nation-building because the Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory is their ancestral home, saying that effective media coverage of their demands would promote dialogue, bridge the gap between them and the National Assembly towards national stability.
Speaking at the event, Adewale Busari of the Silverbird Television, said: "As journalists, we need to promote the voices of indigenous peoples in Abuja and elsewhere, appreciate their desire and amplify their demands within the constitutional framework in line with global standards."
He said he was a young man when the capital was moved from Lagos to Abuja in 1976, recalling that the military government took the fiat decision without consideration for the far reaching consequences of millions of people that would be dispossessed of their heritage, but quickly noted that democracy had offered the country a unique opportunity to address all forms of historical injustices.
Also speaking, Mr Francis Banji Abayomi, a Member of the Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspaper, in his presentation, said the media had a critical role to play in setting agenda for peace building and stability of democracy.
Abayomi argued that the media had the responsibility to echo the voices of vulnerable people, their social, cultural and economic needs, given the challenges faces by countries in West Africa which is home to million of indigenous peoples, asserting that such approach remained the only way they can be heard.
"The media has a critical role in setting agenda for peace building and stability of democracy. Given the challenges faces by countries in West Africa which is home to million of indigenous peoples, the media has the responsibility to echo the voices of vulnerable people, their social, cultural and economic needs. It is the only way they can be heard.
"It is the only way their fears can be turned into hope for sustainable growth and development," he said.
Abayomi said the scramble for land and resources had continued to aid conflict and violence in indigenous communities leading to deaths and displacement of millions of people, including women and children.
He said conflict was becoming a recurrent issue in Nigerian political discourse and that lack of property attention to the hues and cries of indigenous peoples was partly responsible for violence that capped almost every little conflict in Nigeria.
Some expectations of Abuja Original Inhabitants (AOIs) listed by participants were: Recognition of the rights of Abuja indigenous people; Creation of Abuja State to advance the political and economic rights of Abuja Original Inhabitants (AOIs); Free, prior and informed consent of Abuja indigenous people regarding the exploitation and exploration of the resources in their ancestral land; Special considerations to ensure job opportunities for AOIs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Domestication of the International Labour Convention (ILO) 169 and the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007.
Others include: The Presidency should kindly set up a Special Panel to investigate cases of unpaid compensation, displacement, destruction and seizure of ancestral land, sacred spiritual temples belonging to the Abuja Original Inhabitants (AOIs) and that a National Compensation Project for the Indigenous people in Abuja is put in place, taking into consideration the cases of displacement and dispossession since 1976.
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