The dou of Mr Gbenga Onayiga and Mrs Oyetunde Bimbo of Vision Centre for Communication and Development Advocacy (VICCDA) have said that retired Nigerian journalists can boast the productive sector of the nation’s economy if they take it upon themselves to contribute to the nation’s economic health and their own betterment.
Speaking at the One -Day Interactive event tagged: “The Journalist: Life After Retirement” which held at LTV compound Alausa-Ikeja the duo maintained that journalists should plan for their retirement while still working on the job, saying that that would help them develop other income streams while still on the job.
The Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State Council, Mr Adeleye Ajayi, took the opportunity created by the event to thank the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for approving a bale-out fund for the pension of journalists who retired between 2015 and 2020,in Lagos State service even as he urged him to ensure that the funds were released to them.
According to him the funds approved since March 2022 is yet to be released to them even as some of the pensioners have passed on waiting for the pension payment.
Mr Onayiga who happens to be the Chairman of VICCDA harped on opportunities in the Public Relation, Advertising. Agriculture, Education and other value chains; advised the Nigerian Union Of Journalist members to choose an area that is passionate and knowledgeable to them.
Speaking about himself he said that he invested in education because he came from a family of teachers thus his choice of investing in the education value chain, even as he advised the journalists to become members of Co-operative Societies so that it would not be too difficult to raise funds for their investment drive.
He, therefore, urged working journalists present to ensure that they have built a home for themselves before their retirement, saying that they should not be deterred by how far their land is from city centres.
Mrs Oyetunde in her own contribution said that it would benefit journalists with landed properties to go into farming as its a low hanging fruit which they can easily tap into, adding that they can also go into online journalism being trained professionals that that area could be very profitable for them.
The dou praised the Lagos NUJ Chairman for his efforts to ensure that his members acquire landed properties and expressed the hope that other journalism councils will emulate the good thing that is happening in Lagos NUJ.
