Sports and Youths Minister, Solomon Dalung has advocated laws that will guarantee solid reward system for key actors like Journalists who made great contribution to the nation’s democracy in particular and its development in general.
The minister, who spoke to news men at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after condoling with the journalists for the loss of Channels Television’s Correspondent in the Presidency, Chukwuma Onuekwusi, said: “I am of the opinion that we must look at our laws and entrench a very solid reward system to guarantee contributions of key actors like journalists.”
Dalung regretted that Nigeria as a country, does not take care of journalists.
“Looking at the role journalists play even in entrenching this democracy, I don’t think and believe that they had actually been accommodated within the structure with which they sought to build.
“I believe that the absence of journalists in the present democratic experiment is also one of the major factors with which we have not appreciated them much.
“Anybody who participated in the struggle for democracy in this country would know the role journalists play. Many lost their lives in the struggle but unfortunately, when democracy finally came, what has actually become of journalism is the Wheel-Biro Theory.”
The minister said that the wheel-biro is a very important tool that has no garage, and that it is kept in the sun and under the rain but when there is the need for bags of garri or rice to be conveyed, “you rush, dust it and use it and return it to where you keep it.
“It is unfortunate! We need to begin to appreciate contributions in this country before we will take our bearing properly. Our reward system is fundamentally faulty.”
Dalung said that what is usually left of journalism is that they build a lot of enemies in terms of trying to file reports.
He said that for a journalist to be objective and report events, he would have to build a profile of enemies in a country where people do not appreciate being truthful.
“At the end of the day, when you phased out as Chukwuma has done, we are only now left with story telling. The State House Press Corps here and the Nigeria Union of Journalists will now be left as the final constituency to be responsible for him, his family and his little kids. How long can they go?”
The sports minister described late Chukwuma Onuekwusi a very great man, gentle man, a friend, somebody whom he personally appreciated so much. He said that the news of his death was a devastating blow to him as he had never exhibited signs or symptoms of sickness. “So, I couldn’t comprehend actually what could have been the circumstances that led to his demise. I was even imagining it could have been accident. But, indeed, it wasn’t. It is a great loss not only to the State House Press Corps but to Nigeria in general.
“We have lost a rear gem and I believe that the vacuum his exit created might not be occupied too easily.
“It is my sincere and honest prayers that the Lord God, the custodian of human destiny and source will grant him paradise.” [myad]
