The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on journalists across Nigeria to deepen their commitment to ethical and fact-based reporting, particularly on issues affecting children in the conflict-affected northeastern region.
Speaking during a one-day media dialogue on Journalism Ethics and Child Rights Reporting held in Damaturu on Tuesday, the Officer-in-Charge and Chief of UNICEF’s Maiduguri Field Office, Mr. Joseph Senesie, said the media must rise to its constitutional responsibility of shaping public discourse with integrity and precision.
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“Journalism is not just about tools, but the quality of the tools available. As the fourth estate of the realm, the media has an obligation to provide factual and accurate reporting to society, particularly on issues as sensitive and consequential as children’s rights,” he noted.
The training, organised by UNICEF in partnership with state governments in the northeast, brought together media practitioners to review principles of ethical journalism and deepen focus on rights-based reporting on children, especially those affected by insecurity, malnutrition, and educational disruptions.
Senesie highlighted UNICEF’s ongoing interventions across sectors in the region, revealing that in 2024 alone, nearly 600,000 acutely malnourished children received life-saving treatment. Similarly, 1.2 million children were immunised with the pentavalent vaccine while 1.6 million people benefited from the cholera vaccine.
In the area of civil documentation and education, over half a million children aged 0–59 months were supported with birth registration, while 500,000 children accessed formal and non-formal education in Borno and Yobe states. Additionally, 32,215 zero-dose children – those who had never received a single vaccine – were reached with routine immunisation.
Despite these gains, the UNICEF official lamented that only three out of ten children in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa have their births registered, while close to two million children remain out of school in the region.
He added that twelve local government areas in Borno and Yobe are still classified as zero-dose zones.
“These gaps require more than humanitarian support—they require strong, independent, and ethical journalism to draw attention to them and hold stakeholders accountable,” Senesie stated.
He called on journalists to go beyond event-based reporting and undertake investigative stories that amplify children’s voices and highlight the successes and shortcomings in humanitarian interventions.
“The society counts on the quality of your reports to shape the national conversation around children. Your pen can either protect or expose them,” he said.
He expressed optimism that the training would result in stronger, more impactful storytelling on child rights from the region.
UNICEF reiterated its commitment to working closely with the media and other partners like Child Rights Information Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Information to promote the well-being of children across the northeast, stressing that child-focused journalism remains central to changing the narrative in one of Nigeria’s most vulnerable regions.