Rivers NUJ Inaugurates Credential Committee For Exco Election

By Chris Konkwo

The Rivers State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has inaugurated a Seven Member Credential Committee for the forthcoming triennial Delegates Conference.

The Committee which is headed by Mr Vincent Needom from the Information Chapel has Chris Konkwo, Editor-in-Chief of National Network newspaper as the Secretary.

Other members of the Committee include Mrs Ilaye Jumbo, Clarice Azuatalam of the Federated Correspondents Chapel, Lilybox Imicubi of Radio Rivers, Kinika Mpi of the Tide and Damiette-West of the Hard Truth.

Presenting the list of the SEC approved seven member committee to the general congress Thursday, January 26, 2012 the outgoing State chairman of the NUJ, Opaka Dokubo said the choice was informed by the competence, desire and ability of the individual members to work for the union based on track records.

But due to stiff opposition to the membership of the committee by a section of the NUJ members, and after a prolonged heated argument over the criteria used to pick the nominees, the final selection was collapsed into voting which saw all members as earlier approved by SEC duly elected.

While inaugurating the committee after the voting exercise, Opaka Dokubo charged the members to be focused, objective and fair in their assignment, pointing out that the quality of the next crop of NUJ leadership in the State would largely depend on the committee's seriousness, commitment and sense of judgment which underscore the importance of the assignment.

The State NUJ boss however expressed optimism  that with the co-operation of the members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the Committee would deliver creditably.

In his response, the chairman of the Committee, Mr Vincent Needom thanked the outgoing NUJ leadership for finding them worthy of the appointment and trust.

He promised that though not an easy task, the Committee will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that every aspirant is given fair assessment which when put together is hoped to produce a quality leadership the council deserves.

Mr Needom however appealed to all the members of the NUJ to put their differences and biases about the membership of the Credential Committee behind and contribute to the collective health and wealth of the State council, reassuring that this year's triennial delegates conference will be the best and fairest in the history of NUJ elections in the State.

It would be recalled that the tenure of the incumbent NUJ leadership in the State elapsed a couple of months ago but had not been able to put the machinery in place for a change of baton due to the lackadaisical attitude of practising journalists in the State to meetings.###