24th August, 2015
The United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, on Sunday in Abuja, began his visit to Nigeria with a meeting with state governors amid tight security.
Correspondents of media organisations, local and foreign, were barred from covering the parley, which began at about 6:45 p.m. at the Transcorp Hilton.
NAN reports that the barred media because they were “unaccredited” included AFP, TV Continental (TVC), The Guardian, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), The Nation and Leadership.
Although the list of the media accredited for the meeting was not made public at the venue, Nigerian Television Authority, Channels Television and NAN were granted access into the session.
Protest by representatives of the “unaccredited” media did not yield result as no official, either from the Nigerian Governors’ Forum or the UN was available to comment on it.
One of the aggrieved journalists told NAN that only six media houses were accredited by the NGF to cover the event and decried the discrimination in the coverage of “an important assignment as this”.
The UN scribe will, as part of activities of his two-day working visit to Nigeria, on Monday, lay a wreath at the UN Building in memory of persons who died in the 2012 bombing of the house.
He will also meet the Nigerian business community and the conversation would centre on “The Role of Nigeria Business and the Economy in Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and Addressing Climate Change”.
Before departing later on Monday, Ban will visit an immunization centre and hold a dialogue on democracy, human rights and countering violent extremism.