By George Onah
Port Harcourt—The Direct Data Capturing, DDC, machines have rejected journalism as a profession, consequently, some journalists, who attempted to register  in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, were told that the Independent National Electoral Commission, does not recognise journalism as a profession.

Vanguard gathered that following the non-recognition of the profession by INEC,  the commission did not list it among the noble professions in the country. Journalists were told to choose any of the listed professions.

Chief Press Secretary to the Rivers State Governor, Mr. Blessing Wikina, was one of the journalists, who attempted to register at a unit in Port Harcourt and was told to choose trader as his profession in order to be registered.

Wikina said, “the omission of Journalism as a profession by INEC in the number of professions listed on the DDC machines used for the current voters registration exercise is a great disrespect to journalists in Nigeria.

“It was very embarrassing to me at a registration centre in Port Harcourt, when the INEC official told me “that Journalism is not a profession recognised by INEC, in the voters exercise,” he added.

Mr. Wikina said, it was sad that the roles played by journalist in our democracy, including sensitizing people on the voters registration exercise, educating all segment of the society and mobilizing people in Nigeria for all National discourses is jettisoned by INEC, who depends 100% on journalists for the success of the exercise.

Wikina urged the national president of the NUJ to lodge a formal protest with Prof. Atahiru Jega, the INEC boss, on the matter, so that it is addressed.

He recalled that the present INEC boss comes from a trade union background, and he should have known better on how to deal with matters that would lead to a feeling of disenfranchisement of any person or group in the current voters exercise.

“At a time that votes would count in Nigeria, the votes of journalists cannot be excluded by INEC”, Mr. Wikina said.