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The Lagos State
government on Thursday donated two three-bedroom apartments, one each
to the families of two journalists murdered in Lagos recently by gunmen
who are yet to be apprehended by the police.

The recipients are
the family the late Bayo Ohu, a political editor with The Guardian
until he was murdered on September 20, 2009, and the family of the late
Edo Sule Ugbagwu who was a judiciary correspondent with The Nation
until he was shot dead on April 25.

The state’s
commissioner for information and strategy, Opeyemi Bamidele, made the
presentation at a media stakeholders’ debate titled ‘150 years of
journalism, how far?’ The debate was organised by the Lagos chapter of
the Nigerian Union of Journalists to commemorate the 2010 Press Week.

Mr Bamidele, who
represented the state governor, Babatunde Fashola, at the event, also
announced the donation of N1m to the widow of Mr Ugbagwu, to a loud
applause from the participants, including the information and
communication minister, Dora Akunyili, who was the special guest of
honour at the event.

The donation
fulfilled the promise made by Mr Fashola following a rally held by the
Lagos NUJ complaining of the killings which have placed journalists and
their families on the endangered lists.

Reading from the
governor’s speech, the commissioner advised journalists “to adopt a
sociological approach in discharging their responsibilities. This
approach would help rebrand Nigeria and her citizens in the comity of
nations.” According to him, the same approach was used in South Africa
when the apartheid regime fell. “We can adopt the same approach in
Nigeria by deploying our cultural and traditional values to promote
ourselves. This is the only way we can attract foreign investors and
rebrand our country internationally.”

Mrs Akunyili expressed strong misgivings at the frequency with which
journalists constitute the victims of targeted killings in our country
but avoided the long-standing issue of the Freedom of Information Bill.