A former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar yesterday appealed to journalists in the country to be more objective in their criticism of persons and events in the country.

Mr Abubakar made the remark during a courtesy visit to his Minna home by the President of the Nigeria Union of Journlaist, Garba Mohammed. The former head of state said journalists should never forget the ethics of their profession.

He enjoined reporters to make good research on the persons or events they were covering or interviewing, so that their reports could be more beneficial to the larger society.

He told his visitors that Nigerian journalists enjoyed greater freedom compared to their counterparts in other parts of Africa.

“If you know the mouse and cat game journalists in other parts of Africa play with their home government, then you will understand the great freedom you enjoy,” he said.

Mr Abubakar urged journalists to make good use of the Right of Information (ROI) Act, so that they could get into a better position to report events for the benefit of Nigerians.

He said he enjoyed a good rapport with working journalists in the state and promised to assist the national secretariat of the union and to take journalists along on future African Union or United Nations missions abroad.

Earlier, Mr Garba told the retired General that the union had begun the sensitisation of its members over the ROI Act, so that they would fully grasp its content and its benefit to journalists and other members of the society.

He added that the union was worried about the poor funding of media establishments in the country.

“Most of the media establishments, whether government or private-owned media, suffer from poor funding and it is affecting the performance of our members,” Mr Garba said.