The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NUJ

  • NUJ Abuja mourns a committed member

    The executive of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja council, have paid a condolence visit to the family of a deceased colleague, Mr. Francis Ogbu-Ngene.

    Ogbu-Ngene, a long-standing member of the union, died recently at the Maitama General Hospital, Abuja, after a brief illness.

    The chairman of the council, Comrade Chuks Ehirim during the visit to the family at Federal Housing Estate, Lugbe, Abuja, described the deceased as a strong member of the union.

    He pledged the support of the union for the family during and after the burial ceremony, adding that they should feel free to contact the union at all times in any area they need assistance.

    While praying God to grant the family the fortitude to bear the loss, he admonished them not to place their trust in man but in God at all times especially as they grieve over the demise of the head of the family.

    Responding on behalf of the family, Eze Igbo Lugbe, Eze John Okonkwo, expressed appreciation for the union’s concern and support to the family starting from the time their brother was hospitalised.

    The National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Mohammed Garba, also urged journalists to always uphold the ethics of the journalism profession at all times.

    Garba gave the charge during the service of songs organised by the NUJ, Abuja council to honour the late Ogbu-Ngene, at the council’s secretariat, Utako.

    Garba said journalists should use their, “God-given talent to turn around the society for the better, bearing in mind that we would be held accountable for all we do as well as be remembered for the work we did when we are gone.”

    The president who was represented by an ex-officio of the union, Mr. Gbenga Onaiyega, appealed to journalists to subscribe to the NUJ insurance scheme given the hazards of the profession so as to provide for their families in event of sudden deaths.

    Deacon John Ojamiren of Winners Chapel in his sermon urged media practitioners to endeavour to make time out of their busy schedule for God, pointing out that it is their relationship with God that would count for them in the end.

    Praying against sudden and untimely deaths in the union Ojamiren, however, said that death should be an earnest expectation of all Christians and should not take them unawares if they are living lives worthy of Christians.

    Similarly, Pastor Vincent Mkpu of Graceland church urged friends and family of the deceased not to grieve too much as the dead only transit to a place where life is permanent, adding that death is not shame but gain to Christians.

    According to him, they should expect it with boldness, just as the death of others should be a reminder of their mortality and encourage them to make peace with God and man as no one can tell when it would be their turn to move on to eternity.

    Speaking on behalf of the deceased’s family, brother-in-law of the deceased, Mr. Azoro Ekezie expressed appreciation of the family to the union for their care and concern for their brother.

    The body of the late Ogbu-Ngene has been laid to rest in his country home in Enugu, Enugu State.

  • NUJ panel to probe alleged blackmail, extortion

    The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has inaugurated a three-man committee to investigate allegations of blackmail and extortion levelled against Mallam Tukur Mamu, publisher of a Kaduna-based weekly magazine, Desert Herald, by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

    The FCTA recently accused Tukur of serial blackmail of the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed and an attempt to extort N15 million as gratification to discard a controversial book on alleged rot within the FCTA.

    The committee was inaugurated at a brief ceremony held at the national secretariat of the NUJ in Abuja by the union’s national President, Malam Garba Mohammed.

    The panel is chaired by a former Vice President of NUJ and a Deputy Director with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Mr. Gbenga Onayiga.

    The other two members of the committee are the Chairman of Kaduna State chapter of NUJ, Mallam Yusuf Idris and Mr. Akin Orimolade of the Daily Newswatch newspaper who will serve as secretary of the committee.

    Inaugurating the committee on, the NUJ President, Mallam Garba Mohammed urged the members to do a thorough job, stressing that the image and integrity of the union were at stake due to rampant unethical practices.

    He formally handed over the petitions and other documents received on the matter to the committee chairman, Onayiga.

    Speaking on behalf of the members, Onayiga assured the president and members that they would do a thorough job by discharging their duties dispassionately.

    He pledged to be neutral and fair to all the parties concerned. The event was attended by the Deputy President of the union, chairmen of 10 state chapters of the union and four vice presidents of the NUJ among others.

    For nearly two months there has been altercation between the FCTA and the Desert Herald Magazine following the latter’s claim to have written a 284-page book detailing alleged rot in the FCTA.

    Following repeated publication of the allegation in successive editions of the magazine and a particular national newspaper (Leadership), the FCTA recently wrote a petition to the NUJ and the Nigerian Guild of Editors calling on them to call the magazine to order and investigate an alleged attempt by its publisher, Mallam Tukur Mamu to extort N15 million from the FCT Minister Senator Bala Mohammed through his SA Media, Mr. Nosike Ogbuenyi.

     

  • NUJ to build N74m guest house

    NUJ to build N74m guest house

    The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos chapter has laid the foundation of a two-storey 20-room guest house in Shomolu, Lagos.

    The edifice will be built on the grounds of the old secretariat of the union located at 3 Adeola Street, off Apata Street, Shomolu.

    The Chairman, Mr Deji Elumoye, said the choice of a guest house was aimed at earning income for the chapter.

    He said the guest house will also serve as accommodation for journalists, especially those in transit.

    On the design, the chairman said the guest house is designed to have car park, restaurant and bar on the ground floor, 10-room ensuite on the first floor as well as another 10 rooms on the second floor. On the cost, Elumoye said it is conservatively put at N74million.

    On financing, he said it would be financed from proceeds accruing from rent from the Lagos NUJ property, a four–storey house named after a former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, located in Victoria Island in addition to a facility from a bank.

    The Managing Director of Epega & Co (developers and project managers), Mr Segun Opayemi, said they were looking forward to delivering the project in two years. He said the two-floor guest house has a parking facility for 14 cars and would be built to specifics and managed to yield good income for the Lagos NUJ.

    Opayemi said his firm has a history with NUJ properties, revealing that they are not only managing the NUJ property in Victoria Island, but also midwifed the buying of the union’s secretariat in Iyalla Street, Ikeja.

    He said the guest house will have competitive services with the kitchen and bar located at the ground floor and first and second floor housing 10 rooms each.

    Chairman of the event and former Governor of Ogun-State, Chief Segun Osoba, while commending the chapel for the laudable project said it would present journalists in good light as a respectable and responsible professionals.

    He regretted that journalists have always borne the brunt of brutal regimes and pleaded with them to be persistent in the pursuit of the ethics of the profession. He advised both the Federal and state governments to learn from journalists in terms of project costing and management without inflation of contract figures as it is common with government’s contracts.

    At the event were the NUJ President, Mallam Muhammad Garba; his Guild of Editors counterpart, Dele Adesina and representatives of the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly and the Deputy Governor.

  • NUJ to picket debtor-media houses Wednesday

    The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has said it will picket media houses, which are not paying salaries of their members on Wednesday.

    This is contained in a 14-point communiqué issued at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Umuahia.

    According to it, the NUJ leadership appeals to state governments to implement the 22 per cent weigh-in allowance for journalists.

    The document, signed by Mallam Shu‘aibu Leman, the National Secretary of the union, urged the Federal Government to pay the arrears of the weigh-in allowance owed its media workers.

    The union appealed to the government to ensure the security of life and property of Nigerians by addressing security challenges across the country.

    The communique condemned the increasing spate of arrests of journalists, especially the four staff of Leadership Newspapers, describing it as a siege.

    “The NUJ will not shy away from its responsibility of protecting the interest of journalists; members should carry out their duties in line with the ethics of the profession,’’ it said.

    The union expressed the need for the review of the code of ethics of the NUJ to be in tandem with emerging realities in the media and in line with international best practices.

    It re-affirmed the commitment of the union to the welfare of members, adding that the recent journalists of the year award initiated by the leadership of the union was meant to encourage journalists.

  • Abducted journalist released

    A reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority in Akure, Mrs. Olubunmi Oke, who was abducted on Thursday had been released, the Ondo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said in a statement.

    The statement signed by the Chairman of the council, Mr. Akinfolayan Owanikin, said, Oke was released late on Saturday and that she had reunited with her family.

    “The NUJ wishes to thank all those who played one role or the other in securing her release from the den of kidnappers.

    “We commend the spirited efforts made by the family and we pray that nothing of such will take place in the family and our union again.

    “We also use this medium to call on government and security agencies to step up protection of Nigerians against criminals,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted the council as saying in the statement.

     

  • Akwa Ibom NUJ demands apology from govt, SSS

    The Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists yesterday demanded apologies from the Director of the State Security Service (SSS), T. Minti and the state government, following the assault on The Nation reporter, Kazeem Ibrahim.

    NUJ’s State Chair Joe Effiong decried the attack on journalists in the state.

    Three operatives of the SSS beat up The Nation reporter at the Government House in Uyo during Governor Godswill Akpabio’s 50th birthday ceremony on Sunday.

    Condemning the act, Effiong, who is the state correspondent of The Sun , said the union may be constrained to take action to protect the rights of its members.

    His words: “We demand unreserved apology from the state.

    “We also demand an apology from the Director of SSS in Akwa Ibom State and the media managers in the state.

    “Although, some of them (media managers) were also harassed at the event, we were responding to their own invitation.

    “If you come to my house and my security man harasses you, it is my own responsibility to make amends, even though I never asked the security man to do that.

    “So if we went to the Government House on invitation and we are harassed by the security, I think it is also the responsibility of government to apologise to us.

    “So we demand unreserved apology from the state government.

    “Government cannot run away from this. If government showed concern about the activities of security operatives in the past, I believe this assault, harassment, beating of reporters would have stopped.

    “So we say that enough is enough. We expect their apologies tomorrow or at our congress, but if they refuse whatever decision we take will be binding on all of us.

    “We are having state congress on Thursday. By Thursday, we expect the State Director of SSS and the Commissioner of Information to come to our congress and apologise and reassure us that this terror act will not repeat itself.”

    Effiong, however, appealed to members to remain calm and support the union in its bid to tackle the problem.

  • Fashola, Tinubu, others win NUJ Award

    LAGOS State governor, Babatunde Fashola, and wife of the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator (Mrs.) Oluremi Tinubu, yesterday bagged political leadership award from the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Information Chapel of the state’s Ministry of Information and Strategy.

    Also recognised and awarded along were Senator Olugbenga Barewu Ashafa, and former commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele.

    Receiving the award, Fashola who was represented by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba, urged journalists to remain steadfast and be committed to the sacred obligation of informing the people.

     

  • ‘Good Governance Tour begins today’

    To showcase projects executed in the country, the Federal Government has begun what it describes as ‘Good Governance Tour’ today with visits to projects in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Minister of Information Mr. Labaran Maku said at a Media Interactive Forum organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja, that the tour would cut across projects executed by the three tiers of government.

    Noting that two years are not enough to assess a government that has a four-year mandate, he said the tour would expose Nigerians to the achievements recorded within the period.

    While stressing that the tour would be on non-partisan, he called on the media to be fair in their reports.

    After the tour of projects in each state, he said that a Town Hall meeting would be held to meet minds with the people and offer them the opportunity to comment on the projects in their areas.

  • ‘Local councils should have guided autonomy’

    ‘Local councils should have guided autonomy’

    The Chairman of Ido Local Government in Oyo state, Professor Joseph Olowofela has canvassed for “guided autonomy” for the 774 local governments in the country.
    He explained that instead of full autonomy which could lead to abuse, guided autonomy would ginger growth at grassroots level.
    The Commissioner for Local Governments and Chieftaincy Matters in the state, Hon. Peter Odetomi also lent his support to the call for guided autonomy for councils to fast-track development.
    Olowofela, a Professor of Geo-Physics and former Head, Physics Department, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, was the guest speaker at the 2012 press week lecture series of the Oyo State Correspondents chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) held at Lafia Hotel, Ibadan.
     Professor Olowofela who also called for the creation of additional councils in the state, argued that the existing 33 councils in the state   were grossly insufficient in driving development at the grassroots.
    He stated that having more local governments would give the needed impetus to improve on infrastructure, provision of social amenities which would in turn lead to accelerated growth at local levels.
    The guest speaker who delved into the topic:” Community Involvement in Grass-root Politics” , encouraged market women, members of the academia, artisans , students , trade and professional bodies  to participate actively in grass-root politics to be able to effect the needed change.
     Professor Olowofela, while answering questions after his lecture, recalled the role of Mrs Funmilayo Ransome Kuti between 1900 and 1978 as a foremost women leader.
    He said: “Ransome Kuti’s political activism led to her being regarded as “the Mother of Africa”; she was a very powerful force advocating for the Nigerian woman’s right to vote”.
     Speaking further on the need for additional councils in the state, the council chairman argued that some councils were too big to be evenly administered , saying  that “the more, the merrier”.
    In his goodwill message,the Oyo state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters , Hon Peter Odetomi  maintained that the meagre resources being allocated to the councils in the state were not enough to take care of the needs of respective council areas, stressing that, new councils being advocated would only end up becoming burdens on the governance, especially overhead costs of the personnel and other career officers.
    He criticised the administration of the Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala led administration for poor quality road construction throughout the 33 local government areas in the state.
    “The quality of road construction and materials used on the roads are far different from what we have in the past government. We don’t want to go to jail that is why we have been prudent and careful with what we do. We want to give the best to our people. That is why we have taken time to access everything before embarking on any project,” he said.