National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Comrade AbdulWaheed Odusile has assured that the leadership of NUJ will not rest until it has repositioned journalism practice in Nigeria to meet global standards.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna on a thank-you visit after the national election of NUJ in July this year, he assured that the leadership would strictly adhere to its programmes of action it had promised, stressing that plans are underway to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to intimate the federal government on the problems the media industry was going through for possible intervention.
He revealed that the union was packaging a proposed training programme for media managers with a view to updating them in modern journalism practice, pointing out that it would go a long way to have positive impact on the profession.
On the issue of flushing out quacks in the profession, Comrade Odusile announced that discussion was ongoing with members of Guild of Editors and stakeholders in the industry with a view to finding possible solution on the way out. He added that a presentation would be made to the National Assembly for the enactment of laws that will ensure that only trained journalists practice the profession.
The NUJ President explained that tremendous progress has been made on the possibility of having a Radio station assuring that the union had been advised to register a company with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to handle the radio station, adding that steps have been taken towards its realization.
As regards media practitioners welfare package, Odusile said the leadership has seen the Head of Service of the federation and assured that efforts would be made in persuading the government to accept the proposal of the union for enhanced pay package.
He stressed that the union has had discussion with media houses on the need for them to promptly pay members their salaries, noting that the response had been positive.
Speaking on the permanent site of the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), Comrade Odusile explained that the contractor has been mobilized to site to continue with the contract after after abandoning the work for some time. He noted that when completed, IIJ programmes would easily be accredited while NUJ will move its secretariat to the permanent site of IIJ for better performance of its activities.
He called on chapels of the association nationwide to ensure prompt remission of dues to aid the union undertake its programme for better service delivery to all members in the country.
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