Press Release
Veteran journalists commend Gov Eno for accelarated gratuity payment
●Call for pensioners inclusion in Enomber
The League of Veteran Journalists in Akwa Ibom State has commended Governor Umo Eno for accelerated pace of gratuity and regular pension payments.
The chairman of the League, Noble Veteran Sunday Antai, made the commendation at the League’s end-of-year get-together held at the Press Centre of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Uyo, over the weekend.
He also requested the inclusion of pensioners in the governor’s December largesse christened Enomber, arguing that this would empower the senior citizens to better enjoy the Yuletide and new year seasons.
Antai also commended the governor for instituting a health insurance scheme for the elderly, and called for the training of more geriatricians to manage the elderly’s arm of the scheme.
He noted that there was a printer bought for the Akwa Ibom Newspaper Corporation (AKNC) about 10 years ago, which was lying waste, and called for the governor’s intervention in the matter.
The League called on the state government to equip and use more of the state-owned electronic media in promoting its activities than patronising their outside counterparts.
A statement issued on Sunday by the League’s Publicity Secretary, Noble Veteran Akanimo Sampson, added, “We are of the view that the government should equip and fund the state broadcasting corporation to compete favourably with its counterparts outside the state.”
While the veteran journalists also commended the leadership of the state council of the NUJ for its activities thus far, they advised the it to avail itself of the broad professional assets of the veterans to mentor the younger journalists practising in Akwa Ibom.
The chairman of the occasion, Akparawa Micheal Bush, encouraged the youths to respect elders at all times, especially at public events, commending the veterans for staying together always despite the challenges, especially age-related ones, facing them.
He supported the call for the state government to pay closer attention to the needs of the elderly and pledged to work with the League for the good of Akwa Ibom.
A retired don of the University of Uyo, who was the guest lecturer, Prof. Des Wilson, challenged journalists to keep to the rules of their profession, charging them to be courteous, comprehensive, accurate, courageous, and compact in their reportage.
He encouraged the League to set up a panel to work out modalities for who should be addressed as a veteran, saying, “the panel should determine the age for who should be accepted as a veteran.”
The event attracted mostly the elders of the journalism profession like Noble Veterans Nene Joel, Koffi Sunday, Obiota Ekanem, Mary Asuquo, Udo Johnson, Anietie Idok, Enobong Akpan, as well as two former state chairmen of the NUJ, Comrades Ikpong Essien Udom and Ephraim Etti.
Also, former Information Commissioner and General Manager of the Nigerian TelevisionAuthority (NTA), Uyo, Mrs. Christy Obot, herself a member of the League, graced the occasion.
