From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Managing Editor, Northern Operations, The Nation Newspaper, Yusuf Alli, has tasked journalists, in the country, to place premium to self development.
Alli stated this, in Abuja, while receiving members of the House of Representatives Press Corps, who visited him on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
The Editor, who stated that self development was one of the ways to earning self-respect in the journalism profession, stressed the need for journalists to put ethics above immediate gains.
According to him, “the most important thing is that whatever you do in life will always live after you in life and that is my appeal to you. Work for legacy. Have you ever seen a rich man or a billionaire that was buried in the cemetery and they wrote on the grave, this is a billionaire?
“You have thrown a challenge at me, that we need to bring up the younger ones. I am a super mentor. I am not always happy that when we call for story ideas, out of about 20 reporters, only one or two will respond while others will even submit anything and that showed that the profession is sick.
“Some reporters are not well dressed. Secondly, many are not well trained or are not trained at all. The third aspect is that the perseverance is not there. They want to survive at all cost. A journalist of one or two years standing would want to build a mansion.”
Earlier, the chairman of the Press Corps Ms. Grace Ike said they were at Alli’s office to felicitate with the occasion of his 60th birthday. Ike recalled that the Editor has been in the vanguard of providing moral support to younger journalists.
“Alhaji Yusuf Alli has no doubt contributed immensely to the development of the country and his achievements in the industry cannot be over emphasized.
“At 60, the younger generation look forward to your leadership style and learn more from your experience gathered in the industry over the years,” she stated.