Nation
NLC Seeks NUJ’s Collaboration To Fight Poor Remuneration Of Journalists
President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, has expressed his readiness to collaborate with the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) on issues of the remuneration of journalists in Nigeria.
Ajaero noted that journalists are poorly paid and owed for many months by their employers, causing their living conditions and retirement age to be undesirable.
He stated that the living condition of most journalists is characterised by hardship and suffering, even as he said that journalists are among the groups that suffer the most indecent job conditions in Nigeria.
While he expressed displeasure that NUJ, an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress has stepped backward for no good reason in the affairs of NLC against what it was in the early days of his journalism career, Ajaero said he would meet with leaders of the journalists union to discuss extensively on measures to change the working and living condition of media practitioners in the country.
“The NUJ is going backwards, they are slacking in the affairs of NLC and I am not afraid of saying this. They have allowed the Guild of Editors to be at the forefront.
“The Guild are the managers and they cannot protect the interest of reporters. I don’t mean to open a debate between journalists being professionals or employees. If you are claiming to be professionals, you are undermining yourselves because 90 percent of your members earn a living through their employers.
“As professionals, do you have your chambers? Do you have your clinics? So if we leave the employee aspect of our association and move into the professional aspects, then there is a problem.
“If we say we are professionals yet our salaries are being paid or determined by one employer somewhere, what kind of professionals are we? You said you are professionals yet you are suffering in silence and your salaries are not being paid.
“The media are among the people that are poorly remunerated in Nigeria and I want to collaborate with the NUJ for us to set the machinery in motion, especially on the welfare of journalists, even to the issue of insurance. Do you know what happens to journalists on a daily basis?
“I want to work with the NUJ to know those organisations that are owing journalists. Don’t tell me you are a professional and they are owing you. And you tell NLC not to come. Don’t expect the Guild of Editors to do it for you. They cannot because they are editors and managers and cannot agitate for your welfare.
“We are not trying to incite anybody but what is right must be done. So we must face the truth. Are we actually professionals? If I say I am not working for organisation A today, can I actually stand on my own? And how many of us can stand on their own and continue to exist? So we must decide whether we are employees or professionals. Until we address some of these issues, we may be more Catholic than the Pope.
“How can journalists be working for the welfare of others and be suffering? Some of our colleagues who have left service, we are trying to find out how they are fairing. We will not be happy at all because the conditions of most of them are terrible”.
He therefore stressed the need for partnership for the overall well-being of journalists.
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.