ABUJA – The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) says the struggle for the actualisation of a new salary structure for journalists in Nigeria, “the Media Salary Scale (MSS)’’ is still feasible.
The NUJ President, Malam Mohammed Garba, said this on the sidelines of a condolence visit to the NUJ Secretariat by the leadership of the Labour Interactive Forum in Abuja on Tuesday.
The forum, an arm of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), was at the NUJ secretariat to condole with the union on the recent demise of its former President, Mr Ndagene Aku.
Garba said the struggle for enhanced remuneration for journalists in public and private organisations was still on course and would be actualised.
“The issue of the MSS is still on course and we have even gone ahead to enhance our position by reviewing our proposal to make it holistic.
“What we are working on at the moment is the media enhancement bill which we believe will benefit all journalists.
“The new proposal captures enhanced salary for workers, improved working environment and harmonised laws regulating practice. We are consulting with stakeholders at the moment.’’
According to him, the assurances are that the media enhancement bill will be ready for transmission to the National Assembly before the end of the year.
He said the union and the stakeholders were worried about the condition of service in the media industry in Nigeria, adding that the contentious issues would be addressed in the draft bill.
The president explained that stakeholders were also working on ending the lingering leadership crisis in the Nigerian Press Council (NPC).
He expressed the hope that the sector would be enhanced with the enactment of the Media Enhancement Bill.
The president restated NUJ’s commitment to fight for improved working conditions and other packages for journalists in Nigeria.
Earlier, in his remark, the Chairman of the forum, Mr Raphael Okoro, said the group visited NUJ secretariat to condole with the staff over the demise of its former president, Aku.
Okoro said the group deemed it necessary to identify with the union given the late Aku’s struggle for improved welfare for Nigerian workers.[eap_ad_2]
He said the forum would always stand for enhanced welfare and other working conditions for the average Nigerian worker.
Okoro said the NUJ remained a strong ally of the NLC and the backbone of workers’ struggle in Nigeria.
He stressed the need for other professional unions in the country to emulate the NUJ by standing by NLC and be at the vanguard of workers’ emancipation in Nigeria.
Earlier, the NUJ president also received a delegation from the Netherland-African Business Council (NABC) at the NUJ secretariat.
The delegation was at the NUJ secretariat to solicit the union support for the forthcoming Nigerian-Netherland Economic Forum to be held at The Hague in September.
Garba commended the delegation led by the President of the Nigerian chapter of the NABC, Mr Cliff Ogbede, on the forum’s initiative to support government’s economic transformation efforts through the forum.
He said the Nigeria had tremendous opportunities for investment that should attract any serious minded entrepreneur.
He pledged the union support for the forum and any initiative that would put Nigeria on the path of progress and prosperity.
In his remark, Ogbede said the economic forum was an opportunity for Nigerian Small and Medium Scale Entrepreneurs to access funds from Netherland.
He said the Dutch government had set aside a substantial amount of money to support the growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Nigeria.
According to him, the economic forum will benefit SMEs in Nigeria and at the same time support the development of key infrastructure in Nigeria.
The group is in partnership with the Market Women Association of Nigeria on the economic forum. (NAN)[eap_ad_3]