Support Bala Mohammed Bauchi NUJ urges members

The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Bauchi State Council, on Monday, urged journalists to support Gov. Bala Mohammed’s administration, to fast track rapid social and economic development of the state.

The Chairman of the Council, Malam Umar Saidu, made the call while receiving the report of a committee set up by the Union to study issues affecting the operations of the state-owned media organisations.

Saidu said the governor had demonstrated greater political commitment towards repositioning the state through the provision of viable infrastructure development projects for the betterment of the people of the state.

“Objective, fair and balanced reportage will no doubt serve as catalyst to further encourage the government to perform optimally, while the opposite of this could bring retrogression and confusion,” he said.

He assured the readiness of the Council to submit the report of the committee to the government for considerations and implementation.

Earlier, Malam Inuwa Bello, Chairman of the committee, said the committee completed its assignment within three weeks.

Bello said that the committee identified shortage of staff, obsolete equipment and lack of proper funding as some of challenges militating against effective operation of the state-owned radio and television organisations.

He said that the committee discovered that the radio and television stations were being manned by casual staff who do not have the prerequisite training and capacity to serve in the organisations.

“Some of the identified problems in the organisations needed urgent and immediate intervention while others require long term intervention.

“The organisations needed to be digitise to beat the 2023 deadline set out by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC),” he said.