National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Mohammed Garba, has concluded a two-day tour of the Chapels of the Union in the oil and gas wealthy Delta State.
Garba called on President Goodluck Jonathan to urgently tackle the unwholesome development in the country, as he expressed worry over the growing spate of insecurity in Nigeria.
He therefore called on the President to further ensure that security operative are made to become pro-active in their duties of effective policing and national security.
He also called on politicians, who may have a hand in the present insecurity situation in the country, owing to past elections not to truncate the present democratic structure, adding that they should, instead key into the good policy initiative of President Jonathan and to ensure national unity.
The NUJ President who catalogued the spate of bomb blasts, kidnapping, robberies and the Save Our Soul (SOS) calls on lives and property, said “the issue of insecurity is threatening our nascent democracy.”
On arrival at Asaba, the state capital on Wednesday, September 7, 2011, Garba was received by professional journalists in the state, led by Comrade Norbert Chiazor, Delta state chairman of NUJ.
The visit to Delta State which forms part of the Union’s assessment of the role of the media in national development and the progress of democracy in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation will alsoenable him solicit support for the 1 Billion fund drive earmarked for the building of a state of the art National Secretariat of the Union in Abuja.
Alhaji Garba spoke in Asaba, the Delta state capital, Wednesday, September 8, 2011, said that the continued payment of ransom to kidnappers, aiding and abating the activities of Boko Haram sect and suicide bombers, is now threatening the nation’s integrity.
He condemned the spate of violence, killings, burning of houses and destruction of properties in the Northern part of Nigeria and kidnapping in the South-South zone of the country, saying “it has become worrisome and threatening national unity.”
Garba who was on two-day working visit to the state, also harped on the insurance scheme for journalists, maintaining that the hazards in journalism profession has called for it.
He flayed casualization and quackery in the profession, even as he said the union has worked out modalities on sanctioning media organizations that fail in their offer of appointment’s terms.
He further disclosed that a stakeholders’ workshop where publishers’-employees’ welfare would be deliberated and constitutional sanctions applied on publishers, owing their workers over three months salaries, has been planned.
While he commended Governor Uduaghan for his contributions towards the upliftment of the profession and working to beat the 2012 deadline of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on digitalization, he urged him to absorbed casual workers in the state-owned media outfit.
Garba and his delegation met with political stakeholders in the state, including Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, Mr. Victor Ochie, Speaker of the State House of Assembly; Comrade Ovuzourie Macaulay, Secretary to State Government, and Mr. Chike Ogeah, State Commissioner for Information.
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