Journalists Should Be Better Paid – They Fight For Everybody And No One Is Fighting For Them – Ajaero

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, has advocated better pay and better welfare for journalists in the country.

He said apart from better salaries, journalists should also enjoy insurance cover and pension.

The NLC president made the call during a courtesy visit to the President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Chris Isiguzo, in Abuja.

Ajaero described journalists as a group of professionals fighting for everyone, but who, unfortunately, have nobody fighting for them.

He said he recommends the review of the minimum wage for journalists every two years adding that it is unfortunate some of them are begging for their salaries to be paid.

The labour leader pointed out the critical role of journalists in nation-building as people who do not have the luxury of enjoying weekends, public holidays or festive seasons because they have to constantly be at work.

“The welfare of journalists is being underplayed. While journalists are a group of professionals fighting for everyone, nobody is for them, they are not even for themselves.

“Journalists do not have weekends, public holidays or festive seasons. They work and report activities of people that are enjoying weekends, public holidays and festivities.

“Even when a journalist is sacked or not paid for one year, other journalists will not write a story on such injustice.

“I am advocating for a consultative machinery that we should hold every two years, to have a negotiation with all media employers in the county to fix minimum wage for journalists.

“Also, there should be a pension that all journalists should enjoy after retiring from the job. Insurance cover is another thing that Journalists should enjoy to make them work better,” the NLC President said.

While acknowledging the difficult terrains in which publishers work, he stressed the importance of timely payment of salaries for workers, adding that non-payment should be treated as a criminal offence.