NUJ Elections: Otunba Aladenika promises better welfare packages for members
As the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) elections into various positions draw closer, one of the presidential aspirants, Otunba Mike Ade Aladenika has ruled out picketing of media organizations as part of measures to address unpaid workers salaries in the media industry.
The former chairman of the NUJ, Edo State Council made this remark at a Colloquium titled ‘The role of the press in building a new Nigeria’ held at the NUJ secretariat, Benin City, on Thursday, ahead of the Triennial Delegates Conference of the Union slated for October 2018, in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
He promised to reset the boundaries of ideas between Media owners and workers by initiating a policy framework that would lay the unabated issues to rest if elected.
Aladenika, however vowed to abolish non payment of media workers salaries and irregular sacking and dismissals of journalists by media owners, which has become a norm in the last few years without been curbed by the union executives.
“People are tired of picketing. The first thing I am going to do is to convey a national conference, which will feature resource persons from the world of politics, business and corporate organizations.
“It is not by carrying placards, what we need is intelligent quotient (IQ) that can drive the process through in order to achieve set goals,” he noted.
Furthermore, the guest lecturer, Comrade Austin Osakue, argued that the apparent non performance of the mainstream media had given way to a social media that is virulent.
Osakue, Executive Director, Foundation of Good Governance for Social Justice, tasked the media to critically appraise government policies as watchdog of society to deepen democracy.
On his part, the state chairman of NUJ, Comrade Roland Osakue, pledged his support to the presidential aspirant and spotted evidence of his capacity to deliver on his promises. “Aladenika, as a former chairman of Edo NUJ, is a candidate to beat.”
The well attended Colloquium was attended by journalists across the 11 Chapels of Edo NUJ, members of Edo Civil Society Organizations (EDOCSO’s) led by its Coordinator-General, Leftist Omobude Agho.
