At least, Delta NUJ gets secretariat

Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu who made this known, said the new Press Centre at the Government House would also be commissioned for use.

Aniagwu said the inauguration of the projects was another testimony that the Okowa-led administration was not slowing down in the delivery of dividends of governance to the people despite the current political season.

Our correspondent learnt that efforts to build the NUJ secretariat since the state was created in 1991 had been sabotaged by political factors in the past.

Specifically, the union suffered political oppression as it was relocated from one plot of land to another by state actors who ostensibly wanted the land earlier allocated because it was in choice areas.

But in the last four of the immediate past administration of Emmanuel Uduaghan, Mr. Femi Adesina, the then President of Nigeria Guild of Editor (NGE) was invited to lay the foundation stone for the building of the secretariat in its present location.

The occasion was part of activities of the union’s press week in 2013 with Norbert Chiazor as sitting chairman of the state NUJ at the time.

Although construction work actually began, it soon ran into troubled waters as a result of litigation over the ownership of the land.

Construction work was also stalled due to transitional issues, as the Chiazor led executive of the union handed over to a new executive with Mike Ikeogwu as chairman in 2017.

There was the issue of financial accountability on the part of union officials involved in the execution of the project.

But the protracted litigation was the major reason for halting construction work to avoid contempt of court until the state government intervened to resolve the matter before it was completed.

Meanwhile, the state leadership of NUJ has commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa for delivering the secretariat within his tenure.

The union’s appreciation was contained in a statement jointly signed by Mike Ikeogwu and Patrick Ochei, chairman and secretary, respectively.

“We are indeed pleased with the Government of Delta State under the able leadership of Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa for this gesture which has become a living legacy to us.

“Without trying to be forward until the D-Day when the magnificent edifice will be opened to the world, we want to most sincerely acknowledge the tastefully built Press Centre with state of the art furnishing as one that will indeed, stand out among Press Centres in the whole of Nigeria,” it stated.

The statement urged every practicing and registered journalist in the state to be part of the inauguration ceremony.