NUJ Abuja council seeks partnership with Premium Times

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Council, on Tuesday, called for partnership with PREMIUM TIMES, Nigeria’s leading investigative newspaper, in the areas of training of journalists, press freedom advocacy, and upholding the ethics of the profession.

The NUJ council made the call during a visit of its Executive Committee led by its chairperson, Grace Ike, to PREMIUM TIMES head office in Abuja on Tuesday.

The NUJ delegation was received by the Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu Mojeed, joined by top editors of the organisation.

Ms Ike said the FCT Council of the NUJ was out to seek a partnership with PREMIUM TIMES in the areas of training and retraining of journalists, press freedom advocacy, even as she lauded the organisation’s commitment to excellent reporting standards and catering for the welfare of its employees.

“Premium Times has consistently demonstrated a commitment to excellence, to involve its content and its approach to managing its workforce,” she said.

Ms Ike, who is the first female chairperson of the council, also noted that the collaboration with PREMIUM TIMES would benefit NUJ and its members immensely. “We will not shy away from coming close to you to see that we tap from your wealth of experience.”

She said that journalists needed continuous training given the ever-evolving digital space.

“Digital transformation is one area where we want to partner with Premium Times,” she said.

She iterated the role of NUJ in advocating the welfare of journalists in Nigeria.

Earlier, Secretary of the council, Jide Oyekunle, described PREMIUM TIMES as a cornerstone of journalism given its immense contribution to advance of consequential investigative reporting in Nigeria.

Responding, Mr Mojeed acknowledged the need to enhance journalistic skills beyond the basics, expressing PREMIUM TIMES’ readiness to partner with the NUJ.

“Let me say we are ready to partner with you in whichever way we advance the cause of journalism and the media, whether it is in terms of press freedom, advocacy for press freedom, whether it is in the area of training, or whether you want to do a public convening that advances journalism and society, we are open,” he said.

Beyond its multimedia news platform for which it is known around the world, PREMIUM TIMES has the Premium Times Academy through which it partners with newsrooms, private firms and government institutions to train and upskill their team members. PREMIUM TIMES also has a publishing arm, Premium Times Books, which has published notable books of established authors.

Mr Mojeed charged the NUJ at the council and national levels to ensure that the ethics of journalism is upheld, while also advocating for the welfare of journalists.

“One of the areas that give us a lot of concern here is ethics,” he said, noting that many journalists are not conversant with the ethics of the profession.

Mr Mojeed highlighted other challenges faced in the field of journalism, including non-payment of salaries and inadequate training.

“People should be treated like human beings wherever they work. And it’s the kind of advocacy that we should be bold enough to push. That’s one way we can really step up the level of journalism,” he said.

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He also called for journalists to rally round colleagues that are violated or harassed by authorities through robust reporting of such cases.

Members of the executive committee of the NUJ, FCT Council, who joined the chairperson, Ms Ike, on the visit to PREMIUM TIMES office were Vice Chairman, Yahaya Ndababo; Secretary, Mr Oyekunle; Sandra Udeike, News Editor of the NUJ FCT Council news platform; Ebriku John, Member of the Editorial Council of NUJ FCT Council, Isa Mahmud and Sharon Emephia.

They were received by PREMIUM TIMES Editor-in-Chief, Mr Mojeed, along with the Deputy Managing Editor, Adeyemi Adesomoju; the General Editor, Festus Owete; the Assistant Managing Editor in charge of Special Projects, Nosike Ogbuenyi; and the Administrative Manager, Willie Obase-ota.