NUJ Sets Up Committee on Better Condition of Service

The Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) says it has formed a committee that will look into the condition of service of journalists in Nigeria. Mallam Mohammed Garba, who disclosed this in an interview, says the committee’s terms of reference will also include how to ensure regular payment of journalists.
 Speaking on the exact line of action taken by the committee, Mallam Garba says: “considering the hazardous nature and essential services journalists perform, we are trying to ensure regular payment of salaries especially in the privately owned media organizations which have not been paying. The committee is also to negotiate better condition of service for journalists above that of the civil service.”
 While commending the Federal Government for honouring its part of the bargain by including the remaining 50 percent of monetization for parastatal agencies in the 2010 budget, Garba who announced that an insurance programme for practitioners would be launched, says the scheme would take off before the end of 2010.