International Committee on Red Cross (ICRC) will train members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Rivers State on First Aid in order to prepare them for emergencies.
Stanley Job Stanley, NUJ Chairman in the state disclosed this in Port Harcourt while speaking during a one-day workshop titled “Role of the Media in Situation of Urban Violence”
The workshop was organised by the Union in collaboration with ICRC.
According to him: “We want Red Cross to come to NUJ monthly meetings to educate journalists on the issue of First Aid. It is important that we know all those things in case of an emergency.”
“We thank the Red Cross for coming to explain their activities to journalists. We have learnt a lot of things from the interaction and the NUJ is grateful.”
Earlier in his presentation, ICRC Generalist Field Officer, David-West Egede, said the organization visits the Port Harcourt Prisons and other detention facilities in the state, to investigate the condition of detainees.
Egede said: “We visit detention facilities often to check the condition of the detainees. As far as a detainee has not been sentenced to death, he has a right to life.
“We constantly visit Port Harcourt Prisons, SCIID (State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department and SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad) detention facilities.”
He insisted that with a new law signed into law by the President, there is no need to get Police Report before treating victims of gunshot injuries.
Egede said: “It is popular that you must get a Police report before getting treatment, but it is no more like that. A law has been signed by the President that you should treat first before getting a Police report.
“A lot of medical practitioners don’t know about the law and law enforcement agencies use their ignorance of the law, to humiliate them.”
He called on media outfits to set up humanitarian platforms in order to help in the propagation of the projects and activities of the Red Cross.
“We call on media organization to set up platforms for humanitarian activities so that some of the projects we execute for those in need can be disseminated.”
