Mr Godwin Odemijie, Board Chairman, Nigeria Health Journalists, on Friday, tasked journalists to focus more on issues of mental health currently affecting many Nigerians in their reportage.
Odemijie made the call at the two-day Annual Conference of the Association of Nigeria Health Journalists (ANHEJ), taking place in Auta Balefi, Nasarawa State on Friday.
The conference has as theme; “Improving confidence on COVID-19 Vaccine in Nigeria beyond 2021: The Role of the Media”
He advised journalists to cultivate the habit of writing more investigative and human angle stories to curb the rising cases of mental health due to current global harsh realities.
According to him, lots of Nigerians are suffering from mental health without knowing it because of inadequate information on the issue.
“Mental health is a big issue in the country now and nobody is talking about it.
“Journalists need to focus on mental health for early detection,” he said.
Odemijie tasked journalists on digging deeper into contemporary issues instead of relying on press statements in informing the public.
The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), FCT Chapter, Comrade Emmanuel Ogbeche, expressed disappointment that agencies such as those in charge of COVID-19 were not represented at the conference.
Ogbeche, who expressed appreciation to the international organisations who were supporting the conference, noted that the refusal by many Nigerians to accept the COVID-19 vaccine was due to religious, ethnic and political factors.
“As journalists, we must work the talk, we must be seen to believe what we preach as this will encourage people to get vaccinated. (NAN)
