The federal government has accredited about 350 foreign media journalists to cover the 2015 general elections.
Mr. Mike Omeri, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency, in a press briefing, made the disclosure, saying that on arrival, the foreign journalists would be given guidelines to follow, and they would be expected to adhere strictly to protocol.
“It’s an ongoing process and about 350 foreign journalists have been accredited already. As they report here, we will give them the guidelines to follow,” he said.
The NOA director acknowledged that the foreign media journalists are from different countries across the globe and would include popular international news networks like CNN, Al Jazeera, the BBC, among others.
“We have them from across the world; we have a few examples like Al Jazeera, CNN, BBC, media houses from the Congo, Cameroon Radio stations and so on,” he added.
Reacting to rumours that the federal government has refused to grant some sections of the international press visas, and complaints of delay from foreign journalist, he said: “We do background checks in the process of issuing visas and when some are denied visas, we don’t have to state the reasons why they were denied visas; and no country interferes with the consular affairs of another country.”
“The problem is that they (foreign journalists) wanted to submit (applications) today and get accredited tomorrow but there are procedures for everything and we must follow them, not just because of the political exigency,” he concluded.
Journalists, including the Africa correspondent for Toronto’s Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York had complained that the government was making it difficult for foreign journalists to obtain Nigerian visas.
According to the Punch, he debunked “propaganda from the opposition” that the Federal Government may yet again postpone the forthcoming general election, reiterating that the Government would take no such action except if the Independent National Electoral Commission chose to do so.
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