…Varsity Don Urges Anambra Journalists
By Michael Nnebife
A Mass Communication lecturer at Paul University, Awka, Anambra State, Dr Davidson Azubuike Nkala, has advised journalists in the state to acquire multiple sources of income and higher academic degrees to overcome poverty situation usually associated with service retirement.
Dr Nkala gave the advice while presenting a lecture at the October Congress of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Anambra State Council.
Dr Nkala, who titled his lecture, ”Beyond the Paycheck: Finding Meaning in Retirement through Self-Improvement and Entrepreneurship”, lamented the poor condition of service for journalists in Nigeria and the bad condition they usually found themselves after service.
Saying communication infrastructure in Anambra was not wonderful and appealing, Nkala lamented that Anambra journalists practiced under an excruciating landscape and extremely poor salary and wage conditions.
‘Anambra media environment is that of poor paycheck, nonexistent pensions and gratuities for journalists, including poor advertisement revenue for the media organizations,’ he said, noting that all those created difficulties for journalists.
‘So your profession is in a difficult condition but we are going to work it out because if you fold your arms, hunger will kill you,’ Nkala, who is also a veteran journalist, warned.
‘Whenever I see the people who trained me in Daily Star in those days, I feel miserable for them.
‘They can’t pay their bills for old age sickness and syndrome. Why? Because the paycheck for a Nigerian journalist is so poor, and he is working under excruciating and difficult situations.
‘In a state like ours, the state of a retired journalist can as best be described as miserable, sickly and debilitating,’ Nkala continued.
He said the time had come for journalists to build capacity that aimed at multiple sources of income for their families in order to overcome the poverty situation and old age syndrome associated with Nigeria’s journalists.
‘The paycheck for a Nigerian journalist is too poor; the rate at which media organizations are shut and journalists sacked is too frequent,’ Nkala lamented.
As a solution, he charged journalists to look inwards and dust their books.
‘You should go back to the university to get your masters and doctorate degrees for the purpose of scaling your status to be in a position to negotiate a handsome paycheck with potential employers.
‘Get a capacity for bargaining power for any employment you should be looking for,’ the communication scholar advised.
He further advised the NUJ to begin to plan of setting up a community bank, cooperative society, among others, with a view to providing journalists opportunities of having multiple sources of income.
Also speaking, a special guest and Chief Executive Officer, Anambra State ICT Agency, Mr Chukwuemeka Agbata, shared with the journalists the success story of the agency within a short period of its existence in the state.
According to him, the agency had digitalized the chamber of the state’s executive arm, improving digital lives of the ministries, internet connectivity in the state, among others.
‘I can tell you, for two and half years now, no single paper has been shared to the commissioners for exco minutes,’ Mr Agbata said, adding that the agency had done the same in the Ministry of Lands.
He further noted that his agency had distributed over 5,000 laptop computers and printers to the state’s ministries, departments, as well as agencies.
The Chief Executive Officer added that the agency had provided over 25 of what he called ‘Solution WiFi’ spaces and spots across public places in Awka for free internet connectivity.
Agbata told Anambra journalists that those were to empower civil servants and Anambrarians in line with Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s manifesto.
In his remarks, another guest and chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Primus Odili, advised journalists to be fair in their assessment of what the APGA government was doing for the state.
Chief Odili said APGA had done tremendously well, developing all sectors of Anambra State’s economy simultaneously since 2006 to date.
In a vote of thanks, the State Chairman of the union, Comrade Dr Odogwu Emeka Odogwu, expressed appreciation to all the guests and the participants for their various support to the congress in particular and the union at large.
The event, which took place on Thursday, October 2, at Godwin Ezeemo International Press Centre, Awka, also featured presentation of a cash prize to the union’s football team for their excellent performance in their last outing ahead of the 2025 NUJ Week.
