The Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Ekiti State Council, has vowed to rid the state of quack journalists and impostors parading themselves as media professionals.
The declaration was made on Monday in Ado-Ekiti during an anti-quackery campaign led by the State Chairman, Comrade Kayode Babatuyi, alongside members of the Union’s Anti-Quackery Committee.
Comrade Babatuyi said the exercise was aimed at sanitising the profession, protecting the integrity of journalism and shielding the public from criminals who use the NUJ’s name, emblem and insignia to defraud unsuspecting citizens.
He lamented the rising trend where individuals with smartphones and social media handles present themselves as journalists without any professional training or certification, stressing that owning an Android phone does not make one a journalist.
His words: “We are here this morning to sanitise the media industry and to show members of the public that the profession is not a joke. We have noticed impersonation of our profession. A lot of people think because they have an Android phone, they are journalists. We want to draw that line between a professional journalist and a content creator.
“Today, we have come out to fight against those who have been impersonating us, who are quacks, who are not professional journalists, especially those who have been using the emblem of our union to perpetrate crimes.
“We are grateful that we have been able to apprehend some. This is just the tip of the iceberg. It is just a warning. We have not come fully yet. This is just to send a signal to them that we will be back fully, and whoever is arrested, we will ensure that we prosecute the person and send them to where they belong.”
Also speaking, Chairman of the Anti-Quackery Committee, Comrade Abiodun Olofe, said the campaign targets both the public and fake practitioners, urging residents to deal only with properly identified and certified journalists.
Olofe disclosed that the Council has introduced official identification stickers to help the public distinguish genuine journalists from impostors, warning that the activities of quacks were responsible for the spread of misinformation and the erosion of public trust in the media.
“The essence of this exercise is simple. We are passing a message to the general public that they should be aware of the quacks among journalists and should not have anything to do with them. We have realised that they are the set of people who are misinforming the public.
“To those quacks out there, we are now battle ready for them. If you are not a practising and certified journalist, we will do everything humanly possible within the ambit of the law to show you the way out.
“This is a continuous exercise; it is not a one-off. It might be weekly or monthly. They should be rest assured that we will come again,” Olofe said.
He commended the leadership of the Ekiti NUJ Council for its commitment to professionalism, adding that all suspected fake journalists apprehended would be handed over to relevant security agencies for prosecution.
