Lagos Council holds NUJ DAY

The Lagos Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists holds its first NUJ Day on Thursday (today).
The day, according to the Chairman of the Council, Dr. Qasim Akinreti, is to celebrate the day the NUJ came into being.
The Nigeria Union of Journalists was founded on March 15, 1955 in Lagos, the then Capital City of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Union had its fold some early “Nationalists” with the fire of patriotism and nationalism burning in them and their writings.
They included the first Governor General of Nigeria and Owelle of Onitsha, late Rt. Hon. Nnamdi Azikiwe; the first Premier of the defunct Western Region, late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; the late Herbert Macaulay; and Chief H. O. Davies, who with the launch of the Yoruba vernacular newspaper, “Iwe Irohin ni Ede Yoruba,” founded by the late Rev. Ajayi Crowther in Abeokuta in 1929, wrote powerfully, in their newspapers, columns on the need for Nigeria’s self-rule.
The NUJ’s birth was linked to the struggle for the independence of Nigeria.
The struggle, it would be recalled, gave birth to many protest groups, all yearning for the country’s Independence from the British.
The groups came in various shades.
The Union said in a statement on Wednesday: “Like yesterday, the Union and the profession generally are still struggling for a new liberation from the oppression, corruption and tyranny of ownership of media organizations.
“As we celebrate, the leadership of NUJ, Lagos council wishes to assure its members that it will continue to work for the upliftment of the Journalism profession
“We have taken far reaching steps to restore the integrity of the union, promote welfare of members, charting ways to improve investments and take professionalism to the next level. We call for the cooperation of members to help us achieve these goals.”