Alhassan Yahya and Abimbola Oyetunde are making history as the first North/South unification ticket in the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) election, set to take place on November 27, 2024, in Owerri, Imo State.
This ticket is significant not only because it represents a unified front but also because it promotes gender equality, with Abimbola Oyetunde, a woman, running alongside Alhassan Yahya.
Abimbola Oyetunde has already won the deputy presidential position unopposed, leaving the delegates to elect Alhassan Yahya as the president.
Yahya’s campaign promises include running an all-inclusive, open, transparent, and accountable leadership, prioritizing the welfare and safety of journalists, press freedom, and developing the national secretariat in Abuja through collaboration with entrepreneurs and public/private entities for infrastructural development of the vast land in the NUJ National secretariat for profitability.
Yahya also promised to pursue Special Intervention Fund for media industry by the Federal Government and other subnational governments. Developing a 10-year development plan for the Union; consolidating on laudable programmes of his predecessors and improving on them where necessary and collaborating with international donor agencies and NUJ affiliates like NAWOJ and SWAN and other relevant bodies to reset the standard of media practice, are some other key areas of focus of his administration when elected as President.
He also promised to pursue better wages for journalists in the country through the reintroduction of Media Enhancement Bill; pursue full implementation of weigh-in allowance; NUJ insurance Scheme; and the restructuring of the International Institute of Journalism for optimal performance and establishment of NUJ online Radio which will be hosted on u-tube and to be manned by IIJ students alongside a Community Radio.
The Lagos State Council of the NUJ alongside 17 other State Councils including three zones (Zones B; C and E respectively) of the Union have already endorsed Yahya and Oyetunde as the sole presidential and deputy presidential candidates.
Their campaign, tagged “Forward Together: Greater Union!”, aims to propel the NUJ to the next phase of accomplishments and transformational leadership.
