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NUJ leaders reaffirms commitment to anti-AIDS campaign

State and national leaders of the Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) in the 19 northern states have signed on
to the campaign against HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, courtesy of a
media training programme recently concluded in the ancient
city of Kaduna.

At the end of a four-day workshop attended by chairmen and
secretaries of the union from 16 northern states, the union
executives committed themselves to forming action
committees on HIV/AIDS in their respective states. They
also drew up action plans for implementing HIV/AIDS
capacity-building and behaviour change communication
interventions in their respective states as well as at
zonal levels.

According to the action plans, each state council of NUJ,
will by February 2004, have put in place action committees
to run HIV/AIDS programmes for their members.

The journalists? meeting, which held at the Command Guest
House, Kaduna on November 16-19 2003, was part of a larger
project by Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria to tap
the capacity of the Nigerian media for HIV/AIDS prevention,
care and control. With funding support of the World
Bank-assisted HIV/AIDS Programme Development Project, the
project aims to scale-up media response to the pandemic and
build a critical mass of media advocates on HIV/AIDS.

Components of the project include training programmes
targeted at leaders of the NUJ, the Nigeria Guild of
Editors and the National Association of Women Journalists
(NAWOJ). It will also develop a curriculum for media
training on the pandemic. The Kaduna workshop followed an
earlier training programme attended by NUJ leaders in
Nigeria?s southern states in Benin City last September.

At the end of the Kaduna workshop, participants recognised
the need for objective and properly investigated stories as
a tool for fighting stigma and discrimination of people
living with HIV/AIDS. They urged media owners and operators
to increase the amount of space and airtime presently given
to stories on HIV/AIDS.

They also called for affirmative action within communities
and organizations to protect rights of people living with
HIV; and urged employers to commit to non-discrimination of
HIV-positive employees.

Participants recognized that some cultural practices such
as cleansing, wife inheritance and initiation can drive
further spread of infection. While noting that culture and
religion are positive forces that can be harnessed for HIV
control, they called for open dialogue on sexuality issues.

The workshop was attended by chairmen and secretaries from
Kwara, Katsina, Adamawa, Jigawa, Gombe, Bauchi, Kaduna,
Niger, Nassarawa, Borno, Zamfara, Plateau, Kano and Abuja
state councils, as well as Mr. Shuaibu Leman, the NUJ's
national secretary and Mr. Sylvester Madaki, vice-president
(zone A).

Two other workshops are expected to follow early in 2004
for leaders of the Nigeria Guild of Editors and the
National Association of Women Journalists.

Constance Ndubuisi-Enyali
Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria
Email: [email protected] [3]