BENUE NUJ: CLEANSING THE AUGEAN STABLE – 1
I wholeheartedly welcome the ongoing debate initiated by Benue NUJ Chairman Bem Ugber on journalism practice and membership of the state NUJ, a debate which to, me is long overdue.
To the Benue NUJ Chairman’s credit, nowhere in his statement did I read his barring anybody who’s not a registered member of the State NUJ from practising in the State. His concern, as I deduce from his statement, is that non members cannot be protected by the council where they get on the wrong side of persons and agents both governmental or otherwise, as journalists often do. In other words, only journalists registered with the State NUJ can enjoy the protection of the union. This is the way it is; no ambiguity about it.
James Ibechi, a contributor to the debate and luckily a member of the prestigious Correspondents’ Chapel in Benue, which I had the honour of serving in the past as Vice Chairman (1997) and Chairman (2002/2003) as well as (later) Chairman Kaduna Correspondents (2008/2009), has a valid point in asserting that paper qualifications is not a yardstick for deciding who qualifies to practise journalism, especially in today’s Nigeria which has evolved from yesterday’s traditional requirements of diploma in Mass Communication or journalism bla bla. In fact, most journalists reading this must remember No-Sweat Abdullahi, one of the nation’s oldest journalists who died a few years back. ‘Baba No-Sweat’, as he was popularly known and addressed, was never an NUJ member anywhere. He was however the most widely travelled journalists in Nigeria. Even if we are to insist on paper qualifications, I daresay the Benue situation is a hopeless mess. I would urge Ugber and the relevant organ in the Benue NUJ, using the instrumentality of the Union’s constitution, to do an inhouse screening of the Council, especially the Correspondents’ Chapel. The result will no doubt cause rumbles in the very foundations of the union.
Continues..