Journalists float cooperative society for empowerment

In an effort to boost collaboration and empowerment in the media industry, a group of professionals has formed a cooperative society.

The Lagos State-based cooperative society is known as Innovative Media Partners (Surulere) Cooperative Multipurpose Society.

This was made known in a statement by the Secretary of the society, Nkanu Egbe, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Saturday in Lagos.

Egbe said the cooperative was inaugurated by the Lagos State Ministry of Commerce, Cooperatives, Trade and Investment on Friday.

He described the inauguration as a new dawn for the Nigeria media industry.

He said: “The event, directed by Mrs Naseerat Dosunmu, leading a team from the ministry, culminated from the Second Nigerian Media Leaders’ Summit held in May and convened by Mr Taiwo Obe, Founder/Director of The Journalism Clinic.”

According to Egbe, Dosunmu outlined the key provisions of the cooperative’s bylaws, emphasising the importance of transparency, accountability, and democratic governance.

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He quoted Dosunmu as saying that the initiative demonstrated the power of collective action and would empower members of the society as well as contribute to the growth of the media industry.

Egbe highlighted the objectives of the society to include providing access to shared tools and facilities to boost production, and organising workshops, seminars, and mentorship programmes to develop members’ capacities.

He said the cooperative society would champion joint projects of interest to the members as well as create a strong network to facilitate knowledge sharing among media professionals.

He added: “A crucial step in the inauguration was the election and swearing-in (by Dosunmu) of the cooperative’s executives, who will steer its affairs for the next two years in the first instance.

“The executives are: Mr Dotun Oladipo, President; Mr Nkanu Egbe, Secretary; and Ms Dolapo Otegbayi, Treasurer.”

Egbe said that in his acceptance speech, Oladipo, the Managing Editor of The Eagle Online, promised that the executives would do their best to realise the objectives of the cooperative society.