NLC Seeks Minimum Wage for Journalists in Nigeria

•Cautions against harassment by security agents

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is interested in working with media stakeholders to negotiate a uniform salary template for practicing journalists in the country.

Against the background of recent cases of arrests and detention of some journalists by security agents, the labour movement warned against intimidation and harassment of the media.

Speaking during a visit to the headquarters of the National Union of Journalists in Abuja, yesterday,  NLC President, Joe Ajaero said journalists have continued to suffer neglect despite their risks associated with their job and sacrifices they make in nation building.

He said that journalists were deeply involved in the fight for the restoration of the current democratic dispensation.

He said: “Unlike those days when journalists will running from one business centre to the other to send stories, today technology has made things easier.

“But beyond that the welfare of journalists is being neglected, as journalists we advocate for everybody but nobody for us .

“We fight for others and not for ourselves. There are media houses that have not paid salaries for almost one year. I think we should all meet and talk to ourselves.

“I am advocating for a consultative machinery that will even it is every two years to negotiate with all media employers in the country a minimum wage or industry salary benchmark for journalists.”

Ajaero said this benchmark could be further classified into those employed by the federal government, States and the private sector.

He said journalists are now like endangered species.

According to him, despite the new technology, the practice of journalism in Nigeria was getting worse in terms of security and welfare.

He appealed to the NUJ to join hands with the labour movement to seek ways of resolving the challenges facing  journalists.

Ajaero, who described the NUJ as his union lamented that journalists are in a peculiar situation when it comes to the issue of welfare because no one negotiates for them.

The NLC boss further deplored the manner in which the NUJ was moved from its former office in the nation’s capital. He said that effort should be made to recover the former premises.

He said the NLC would like to work with the NUJ leadership to see what could be done to proffer solutions for the problems and challenges bedeviling the industry.

Speaking on the treatment recently being meted to journalists by security agents, Ajaero said freedom of the press should not be hindered in any form by the government.

He said where a journalist runs foul of the law, he should be prosecuted according to the law not kidnapped.

While welcoming the NLC president and his delegation, the NUJ national president, Mr. Chris Isiguzo thanked Ajaero for identifying some of the key challenges of the media profession in Nigeria.

He spoke about the issue of regulation of the media profession especially the manner online media organs spring up and the hatchet job some of them try to do.

Isiguzo said the NUJ was proposing the setting up of the National Ombudsman for the media to regulate the practice as well as look into issues of poor remuneration that is bedeviling the sector.

He said that NUJ has also proposed an accompanying Bill of Rights to protect the rights, welfare and interests of practicing journalists.