Ndoma-Egba Tasks NUJ on Welfare of Members

Bassey Inyang in Calabar

The former Leader of The Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba,  SAN, has tasked the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to take the welfare of its members seriously, and put in place functional and effective welfare schemes for them.

Ndoma-Egba, also a former Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission  (NDDC), and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stated this when the leadership of the NUJ, Cross River Council, paid a courtesy call on him on Tuesday evening in Calabar.

Ndoma-Egba said the call was necessitated in a bid to ensure journalists carryout their work professionally.

He said there was need for journalists in the country to give very high premium to their members, and the families of their departed colleagues.

Ndoma-Egba, who is a Patron of the NUJ in the state said there are reasons to worry over activities of unregulated social media platforms in the country.

Commended the leadership of the NUJ in the state on it plans to reinvent the Union in the state, Ndoma-Egba said,

“Don’t just reinvent the union. But we need to see to the welfare of the members whether dead or alive.

“Because death is inevitable, we need to take care of those left behind by members of the union; we can’t question God over the death of love ones or member.”

Promising to reestablished his relationship with the Union as its patron, he advised the members to equip themselves in order to meet up with modern trends in the profession.

“Changes in the practice is fast becoming something else with modern gadgets, you must also reestablish yourself to continue to be relevant in the profession.”

“There is need for the practicing journalists to be abreast with the modern trend in the profession. There is need for members to be ICT complaint,” he said.

Expressing fear over the unregulated activities of various social media platforms in the country, the  former leader of the 7th Senate said some of the social media platforms would pose serious challenges to Nigeria in future if they are left unregulated.

He congratulated the new executive of the NUJ in the state, and urged them to brace up for the task of effecting positive changes in the affairs of state chapter of the Union.

In his remarks, the state Chairman of the NUJ, Mr. Nsa Gill, said the Union’s leadership would do a lot to enhance the welfare of their members.

The chairman said under the current dispensation in the Union, patrons of the NUJ will be contacted regularly on happenings in the NUJ, and provided with the necessary latitude to play their roles.