We’ll picket media houses that owe our members –NUJ FCT chairman, Abechi

The incumbent chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Council, Mr. Paul Ella Abechi said his administration would focus on repositioning the union to restore the confidence of members and bring pride to journalism Why did you join the race for the chairmanship of the NUJ, Abuja Council? As a journalist, I have […]

The incumbent chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Abuja Council, Mr. Paul Ella Abechi said his administration would focus on repositioning the union to restore the confidence of members and bring pride to journalism

Why did you join the race for the chairmanship of the NUJ, Abuja Council?
As a journalist, I have the passion to protect the union and the profession. I graduated from the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) over 10 years ago, and within this period I have worked in different media organisations. So I have professional training. Right now, I am the assistant editor of the African Leadership magazine.
 How did you feel when you were declared the winner of the keenly contested election?
Among the three contestants for the position of chairmanship, it was clear that I was more ready to take over the leadership than the other two. I had taken my time to put down my manifesto. I didn’t see that preparedness in other opponents. And members needed what they could make reference to in the future. I want to believe that delegates and members noticed that I was more ready and better prepared for this task even though my opponents happened to be members of the then executive of the union.
So I will say it was not too shocking to me. However, I must say that at a time, I submitted myself to the will of God because so many things started happening to checkmate whoever would emerge winner. At this juncture, many things were considered and members took their time to decide who they should vote for. Nobody was too sure of who would carry the day. I was not very sure of victory. I equally was not too surprised because I did all I could to reach out to all the media houses in the FCT. And my manifesto reached where I could not reach. I met with top media executives in various media establishments, and they listened to me while I solicited their support.
Having won the election, what difference do you think you can make?
I want to introduce the culture of transparency and accountability in our dear union. Where there is neither transparency nor accountability, there is bound to be failure. These are the things that spurred me up to join the race. Over time, I have been an active member of the union in the FCT, and I noticed that the auditor has never given a report during congress. By the constitution of the NUJ, a monthly congress should be held where all will converge and the challenges facing them would be discussed; questions would be asked and solutions proffered and the best would be adopted for the way forward.
But I’m yet to remember when this constitutional provision was followed. I have never been in a congress where the financial secretary gave a financial report of expenses of the union. So they were not accountable to members; hence members began to lose confidence in the union and it became deserted. People no longer look at the union with dignity. I joined the race in order to put these things properly and restore confidence concerning our union and the journalism profession.
What is your plan towards addressing challenges of harmonisation as well as delay and non-payment of salaries by a lot of media organisations?
We have been having this unfortunate challenge because of poor leadership. If the Nigeria Union of Journalists had proactive leadership, owners of various media houses wouldn’t have been toying with the welfare of journalists in their organisations. They have been doing that because they know that nobody would fight for the journalists.
The media house owners know that this has been our challenge and they are taking advantage of that. This has to stop. It is one of the battles we will fight as a union. When you have a proper leadership that adheres strictly to the provisions and ethics of our constitution, when you have a vibrant union that is upright in its duties, I think it is going to be very difficult for any media house to owe our members. We are going to go after them according to the law and the powers bestowed on our union. We have powers to picket the defaulting media houses. We can close them down until they pay our members their wages. We have come to correct the wrongs that have been committed over the years.  We will strictly follow the provisions of our constitution and uphold the values and ethics of journalism.