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Tag: NUJ

  • Odusile promises NUJ conference

    Odusile promises NUJ conference

    The Managing Editor of The Nation and a top candidate for the office of the president of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Waheed Odusile, has promised to build on the achievements of the present  executives if elected.

    Speaking at the weekend during his campaign at the Kogi State council of the NUJ in Lokoja, he promised to render account of his stewardship yearly.

    Odusile said he would organise an annual national journalists’ conference to promote interaction among the practitioners.

    He said if elected, he would put in place a national housing scheme for journalists and a comprehensive health insurance package that would assist practitioners, some of who are left to their fate during health challenges.

  • NUJ aspirant unveils six-point agenda

    NUJ aspirant unveils six-point agenda

    A presidential aspirant of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Abdulwaheed Odusile,  has said there is need for a special salary package for journalists.

    He spoke in Sokoto yesterday while  unveiling his six-point agenda which includes special media salary structure, eradication of quackery and sensitisation on social media.

    Others are focus on professionalism with emphasis on training, retraining, certification and registration of members.

    He also planned to set up of an NUJ Radio, enhanced welfare programmes and the defense of press freedom.

    Chairman of the union in the state, Labaran Dundaye, who received  Odusile urged the state government to revoke the N24million contract it awarded for the renovation of its Press Centre.

    Dundaye said the call had become necessary as the work which commenced over a year ago was going at snail-speed.

    “The contract was awarded over one year ago but the contractor is performing below expectations as the work would have been completed long ago.

    ‘’We, therefore, want the state government to revoke the contract and re-award it to a more competent contractor or to the union to complete’’, he added.

    Dundaye said that early completion of the renovation would enable the union to have a more conducive press centre for its activities.

    Dundaye described Odusile as “a tested and trusted journalist as well as a committed unionist who is capable of taking the union to greater heights.’’

  • NUJ to get radio station

    A candidate in the forthcoming national delegates’ conference and election of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Waheed Odusile, has promised to set up a radio station for the union, if elected.

    The Nation Managing Editor and columnist said the station would boost the union’s financial base.

    Odusile spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, when his campaign team visited the State Council of NUJ.

    The senior journalist explained that the radio station, which may not necessarily have a wide reach at the initial stage, would also publicise the activities of the union and create jobs for journalists.

    The NUJ presidential hopeful promised to “focus on professionalism with emphasis on training, retraining, certification and registration of members”.

    He noted that news writing cannot be acquired from reading Mass Communication or Journalism in schools.

    Odusile stressed the importance of experience and training for journalists to have a good grasp of their profession.

    He said: “I started journalism as a reporter, rose through the ranks before I attained management position.”

    According to him, these have helped him to understand every aspect of the media business.

    Reading out his manifesto, titled: My Bond With Nigerian Journalists, Odusile pledged to pursue a special media salary structure for journalists, especially for those working in government–owned media houses because they are supposed to be remunerated as professionals and not as civil servants.

    Among other things, the NUJ presidential candidate promised to eradicate quackery, sanitise the social media, enhance welfare programmes and defend press freedom, if elected.

    The Director-General of his campaign organistaion and Lagos NUJ Council’s Chairman Deji Elumoye described Odusile as “a man of character who has been tested and trusted”.

    He urged journalists in Rivers State, especially the delegates to the national conference in Abuja on July 23 to 26, to vote en masse for Odusile “because you will not be disappointed”.

    Rivers NUJ Council’s Acting Secretary Mike Mboye hailed them for being the first group to visit the state.

    He promised that Rivers journalists would do the needful at the Abuja conference.

     

     

  • NUJ poll: The Nation man solicits Akwa Ibom NWC’s votes

    A top contender for the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) presidency, Waheed Odusile, yesterday solicited the votes of members of the Akwa Ibom State NUJ Council.

    Odusile, who addressed reporters at the State Press Centre in Uyo, the state capital, promised that if given the opportunity to lead the union, he would propose that journalists in the employ of federal and state governments be treated as professionals and placed under a special media salary structure.

    Odusile, The Nation Managing Editor and columnist, was accompanied by the leadership of the NUJ Lagos State Council, led by its Chairman Deji Elumoye.

    The Nation man said if elected, he would propose a law that would make it illegal for media owners to owe journalists salaries.

    He said: “We will propose to the government that all journalists in the employ of governments, either in the state or Federal government, should be treated as professionals. They should be accorded a special salary structure to take care of what they are doing.

    “What we are asking for is simple: we are saying, ‘let us have a minimum salary structure that should be paid to the Nigerian journalists’. Once we are able to achieve that with the government, we will be able to negotiate in our private organisations.”

    Odusile also vowed to fight quackery, if given the mandate to lead the union.

    The member of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) said there is need to correct the image of the profession in the eye of the public.

    He said: “We will eradicate quackery. Journalism should not be an all-comers’ affair. For you to become a journalist, we are saying come and train. We are saying journalism is a profession. Let it so be recognised as a profession. There is need for us to restore our dignity.”

  • NUJ aspirant Odusile vows to push for better welfare for journalists

    NUJ aspirant Odusile vows to push for better welfare for journalists

    AN aspirant for the office of the National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Alhaji Waheed Odusile, has promised to push for a better welfare package for journalists, if elected.

    Odusile said this on Monday during a campaign visit to the Lagos Office of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    He noted that unlike other employees in other sectors, journalists worked for more hours and hardly had any free time to themselves, but were still paid the same or even less than other workers.

    The NUJ presidential aspirant urged media proprietors to endeavour to adequately compensate journalists for their commitment and sacrifices, hence the need for a special salary structure for them.

    Odusile emphasised the need to control and regulate journalism in the country for more professionalism and better output by journalists.

    “Journalism is not an all-comers affair and if we do not control and regulate ourselves, we will not make progress.

    “If a journalist is properly trained and certified, he will not write lies and falsehood or put the profession into disrepute by soliciting for gratification from people,’’ he said.

    Odusile said there was need for special and proper training of journalists, as well as anybody who wanted to practise the profession, to get the best out of them.

    The NUJ presidential aspirant, who is currently the Managing Editor of The Nation newspapers and a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), also proposed to seek for a radio licence for the NUJ, if elected.

    He said this would earn more revenue for the union, limit its over-dependence on government for funds and support and aid in the training of NUJ members.

    Odusile also pledged not to disappoint, if elected.

    He was accompanied by the Lagos State Chairman of the NUJ, Mr. Deji Elumoye; the secretary, Mrs. Bimbo Oyetunde; the treasurer, Mrs. Kehinde Ajayi and an ex-officio member, Mr. Ben Ibe.

    Elumoye stated the need for the Lagos Council of the union, being the state with the largest membership of the NUJ, to once again produce national leaders for the union after a fairly long time.

    He noted that since the tenure of the last president of the NUJ from Lagos, Alhaji Ladi Lawal, Lagos had not led the union at the national level and called for all to support Odusile’s bid.

    He also called for support for the re-election of Mr. Adeleye Ajayi, an Assistant Editor-in-Chief with NAN, as the National Financial Secretary of the NUJ, stressing that Lagos had already adopted both candidates as their representatives in the union’s elections scheduled to hold in Abuja from July 23 to July 25.

    Elumoye urged journalists all over the country to support the council’s candidates.

    The Chairman of the NAN chapter of the NUJ, Mr. Tayo Ikujuni, thanked the visitors and promised the chapel’s support for the candidates.

     

  • Correspondent chapel condemns threat to colleague

    The chairman Aba Correspondent Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Okechukwu Ukegbu, has condemned the alleged threat to life of one of its members, Mr. Ijendu Iheaka, by the Deputy General Manager, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Mr. Ikechukwu Anyataonwu.

    Iheaka is the News Agency of Nigeria’s (NAN) Aba correspondent.

    Iheaka, on Tuesday went to seek Anyataonwu’s reaction on the efforts his agency (ASEPA) was taking to evacuate mountainous refuse heaps littering major roads and streets of the city thereby causing traffic gridlock in the city.

    According to the NAN’s correspondent, when he first called on the ASEPA boss, he was not in the office. When he called later, Anyataonwu asked the reporter to meet him at the Abia Hotels instead of his office at Pound Road area of the town.

    On getting to the hotel, ASEPA DGM, who said he was already going out because he had an emergency, asked the reporter to join him in his car.” When I got to the hotel, instead of responding to my questions, the ASEPA GM started to threaten me, asking me where I live; if I’m married, if I do clean-up exercise in my house? Do I know what it takes to evacuate refuse? Why do you want to stop your own on the path to greatness? I was once a journalist and write whatever you care; you are the one to suffer it”.

    The NAN reporter added that the ASEPA GM boasted in his car, “You did not employ me. The man who employed me would have sacked me if he was not satisfied with my performance. So, get out of my car and go and write whatever you want and nothing will happen.”

    Iheaka however, raised the alarm over his safety and that of his family following the alleged threat to his life by the ASEPA DGM.

    Ukegbu in an interview with our correspondent described the actions of the ASEPA DGM as unfortunate and unbecoming for government official to conduct himself in such a manner, adding that it was a crying challenge and disaster the Governor-elect, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu must address when he assumes office as the governor of the state after his swearing-in on May 29.

    According to the Aba chapel chairman, “it is on record that some days after the celebration of World Press Freedom Day, some yet-to-be identified hoodlums attacked the Sun office in Aba and some days after this year’s World Press Freedom Day celebration, government officials assaulted and tried whisking away some journalists working in the state.

    “It is a mark of gross irresponsibility and indecency on the persons of government functionaries. I am tasking Ikpeazu to be mindful of the class of people he is going to hire to work for him to avoid the image and reputation he has built for himself over the years being dented by a few individuals. Journalists have the right to seek for any information that they want which the Freedom of Information Act empowers them and any attempt by government functionaries to refuse disclosing such information would be counter-productive.

    “There is no rationale for government official(s) to vent their anger on journalists who serve the public selflessly and anyone that does that is wallowing in ignorance or is beclouded by the office that he occupies. Journalists should not be a vulnerable group that everyone should always intimidate”.

    He called on the government and other security agencies in the state to ensure that the environment remains conducive and secured for journalists in the state while performing their professional duties.

    However, some journalists in the state have equally called on the incoming governor to ensure that there would be a better and more conducive working environment for journalists, insisting reporters must be allowed to carry out their official work without fear of being molested, humiliated, killed or maimed by any person or government official who felt aggrieved by a reporter’s report, stressing that there are legal and democratic ways of fighting for their rights or channeling their complaints in order to get justice.

    The ASEPA DGM could not be reached for comments while filling this report.  However, a check round the commercial city of Aba on Saturday has it that refuse were yet to be evacuated in some parts of the commercial city even as some residents warn of possible outbreak of epidemic if nothing is done to redeem the ugly environmental situation of Aba.

  • Odusile gets backing for NUJ president’s bid

    NIGERIA Union of Journalists (NUJ) presidential aspirant Waheed Odusile will launch his nationwide campaign next week.

    The aspirant, who is a Managing  Editor with The Nation, is enjoying a wide support across the country, Lagos State NUJ Council Chairman Deji Elumoye said on Wednesday during a pre-campaign launch visit to The Nation headquarters in Matori, Lagos.

    The Lagos NUJ team sensitised members of The Nation Chapel on Odusile’s aspiration.

    Last month, the chapel’s congress resolved to give unanimous backing to Odusile’s bid.

    The team was received by Managing Director Victor Ifijeh, Editor  Gbenga Omotoso, Sunday Editor Festus Eriye, Saturday Editor Dele Adeosun, Online Editor Lekan Otufodunrin and Editorial Board Chairman Sam Omatseye.

    Elumoye said: “We believe Lagos can do it. It took us a long time to decide who our flag bearer should be. After about six months, we decided on Abdulwaheed Odushile.

    “Odusile was chosen because of his hard work and sterling records.

    “We all know what he did at the state level. He is a leader. We believe he can deliver because he is someone who has seen it all and has worked his way to the top from being a reporter to a Managing Editor. He is also a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors,” the Chairman said.

    He said Odushile’s candidacy was ratified at all levels required by the union’s constitution, including the State Working Committee.

    “Our coming here is to intimate you of our support for Odusile. We have been going round to various media houses to campaign for our candidate; the inter-state campaign will start next week,” he said.

    The Lagos State Council, the largest in the country, has not produced a NUJ president since Ladi Lawal’s tenure between 1995 and 1996.

  • NUJ seeks revival of state-owned newspapers

    NUJ seeks revival of state-owned newspapers

    The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has urged state governments in the Southeast to revive their print media outfits.

    National Vice President (Southeast) Chris Isiguzo spoke yesterday at the commemoration of the 2015 World Press Freedom Day.

    Isiguzo congratulated journalists for their dedication and discharge of duty with utmost sense of professionalism.

    He reminded them that the objective of the World Press Freedom Day is to remind governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as civil societies, of the role of the freedom of press in strengthening democracies and promoting development around the world.

    “The theme for this year’s Press freedom Day: ‘Let Journalism Thrive Towards Better Reporting, Gender Equality and Media Safety in the Digital Age’ is apt in view of the array of challenges facing the media world over.

    “As we celebrate, we must take time to reflect on salient issues that would advance the practice of the profession, bearing in mind that a free press is a critical tool for the development and sustenance of democracy.

    “The role of the media cannot be over emphasised. Apart from the primary role of educating, informing, enlightening and entertaining, the media remains an agent of positive change. The press can assist in strengthening and deepening our democracy through promoting transparency, accountability, good governance, human rights and rule of law,” Isiguzo said.

    The comatose media outfits include: National Ambassador (Abia), National Light (Anambra), The Patriot (Ebonyi), Daily Star (Enugu) and Statesman (Imo).

  • I will fight quacks in journalism, says NUJ Presidential aspirant

    I will fight quacks in journalism, says NUJ Presidential aspirant

    Nigerian Union of Journalism (NUJ), Presidential aspirant, Alhaji Waheed Odusile, has promised to fight the quacks infiltrating the journalism profession.

    He said that his aim is to ensure that journalists in the country are professionally qualified in terms of training and certification because according to him, the quacks are giving the profession a bad name.

    Odusile added that the union needs to be mindful of the leaders that are elected to lead the union, because the organisation is in need of a better leadership.

    He spoke yesterday in Abuja, when he collected the nomination form at the NUJ secretariat.

    Odusile, a Managing Editor at  The Nation, said: “We should be mindful of the quality of leaders that we put at the helm in NUJ because in the past we have had instances where our leaders in the NUJ had not lived up to expectation, now that we have the opportunity, we should not fall below the standard expected of us and to be able to go higher, we must look for a better leadership to take the union higher.

    “NUJ is a big organisation that has given birth to a lot of bodies. Those other bodies probably have learnt from our mistakes and learnt to do things better but it doesn’t mean that NUJ is worthless, we are the father or mother of those organisations, we will do better.”

  • NUJ urges Nigerians to obtain PVCs

    The Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos Information chapel, Adeola Qudrat Lawal, has urged Nigerians to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to avoid being disenfranchised.

    She spoke yesterday at the Conference Room, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa-Ikeja at the opening of this year’s Press Week.

    Lawal said: “The essence of the Press Week is to rejuvenate professionalism among members through interactive forum and discourse on issues of practice in our challenging social, political and economic environment.”

    The programme began with a news conference, after which NUJ members went for medical screening.

    Today, there will be a lecture on the theme: “Development Communication: Lagos PATH in perspective”.

    Guest speaker is the Editorial Board Chairman of The Nation, Mr.  Sam Omatseye. To discuss his presentation are Prof. Lai Oso of the School of Communication, Lagos State University (LASU); Dr. Abigail Ogwezi Ndizika, Head of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos (UNILAG); Mr. Jide Johnson of the NUJ and Mr. Segun Ogundeji.

    The NUJ chair said there would be programmes tomorrow, Thursday, and on Friday there would be a special jumat/ prayer at the Lagos State Secretariat Mosque, Alausa at 1pm, to be followed by a Gala/Award night.

    At the event, a book written on Governor Babatunde Fashola, titled: BRF: TPA and PATH in Perspective, will be presented.