Saturday, December 17th, 2021, marked the first year anniversary of the assumption of office by Comrade Festus Alenkhe as Chairman of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ).
In this exclusive interview he tells the secret behind his success story and much more.
Excerpts:
In one year and one week in office you have almost done all that you promised to do in your three year tenure.
When I started I came out with a blueprint of what I intend to do every quarter and every year. But I just found myself doing everything within a year. The opportunity just came and I quickly grabbed it. Now, I sat down again some days ago with my team. I have a think tank team in the background of what to do and all that.
When these ideas come I put them before the executive of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). They’re cleared and thereafter we move on. Don’t forget that our plan of action for three years was approved by Congress sometime ago. I presented my plan of action to say this is what I want to do for these three years. Then a motion was moved and seconded. There was no objection. It was unanimously approved by the Congress of the Council.
Before you knew it we started working and within a short time we had almost exhausted the entire manifesto implementation.
What is your next line of action?
I sat down and I discovered that the roof of the Secretariat is in shambles and I did my investigation. They said that anytime it rains the drop of water usually drips into some of the offices. The intention is to link up with relevant engineers. They will come and look at it and send us a quotation. Then we source for support to get that fixed.
Another thing that I am interested in is that I want Edo journalists to be adequately trained at international level. We want to embark on foreign training for journalists. We have been able to identify some foreign training across the world. What we need to do is to point out some that journalists from Edo State can attend. Thereafter, we seek for support, sponsorship and even scholarship from corporate organisations, affluent individuals as well as government. We will advice them to encourage journalists on the need to be upright in carrying out their duties.
These are some of the things that we are doing at the moment. We want to try as much as possible to sustain what we have achieved. We don’t want to go back to where we are coming from. We need to sustain what we have done.
For example, we need to maintain the cleanliness of our toilets. We place fresh tissue paper in each of the toilets every morning. We ensure that the floor of the toilets are clean. We did car park marking. People now park properly when they come to the Secretariat. We want to be sure that the paintings and other things that we have done are sustained.
We will keep going and before you know it we will be completing our first tenure. We will have a full blown report card to show to Edo journalists to let them know we didn’t just come because I want to line my pocket or because I want to fill my bank account. But I came to work.
Like you know, the Edo State Council of the NUJ leadership that I am occupying today is just like a stepping stone. I don’t want to soil my name. I want to use it to let the world know that when you have the right people in authority so many things can go well.
Who are those that have been supportive of your administration?
I have gotten a lot of support from industrialists, Edo State Government, the Palace of the Oba of Benin, politicians and the likes. Across board I have gotten support. I must particularly say thank you to the state government for the provision of the Ossiomo Power supply to the NUJ Secretariat. The power supply is very regular. To me, that’s quite germaine because we have installed air-conditioners in our offices for instance in the hall where members relax and do their reports. The air-conditioners are working unhindered because of the uninterrupted power supply from Ossiomo Power Plant. If there is no regular power supply the air-conditioners will malfunction.
I believe in the idea that you give to me then I give to you. For the fact that our partnership with the state government is working we say let us take a look at government projects across the three senatorial districts of the state which we have commenced and it is still ongoing. We just paused because of the Yuletide season. As we get to the new year we will continue with the tour. We will be going to Edo North and Central, take a look at government projects and report our findings. It is our constitutional responsibility at local, state and national levels. That’s exactly what we’re doing.
We have done nothing against the constitution of the NUJ. It is even stated in the Nigerian constitution. We are the watchdogs of the society.
What challenge have been quite enormous to you?
You can always experience challenge when you delegate power and you don’t get results. You will be forced to do it yourself so that you can get results. I think that can be found everywhere. Sometimes you delegate power and you feel you need to go and relax. But by the time you come back it is still where you left it. You will now be forced to do it yourself.
My advice is that anybody who is delegating authority must supervise. Don’t just delegate and go to sleep. If you delegate you ask questions, you do a follow up, you supervise even when you’re in your bedroom you use telephone to find out. “That thing I said you should do. Have you done it?”
For instance, now we want to take up the re-roofing of the Secretariat and you ask somebody to go to aluminium company to check. The person is there you didn’t bother to find out if he had checked. As a leader after like one hour you send somebody on an errand you call “have you met the authority in the aluminium company? What did they say? How much is it?”
That’s follow up. But when you leave it and let’s say two days later nobody comes back to give you report. That means you have left the supervision work to the person you delegated and others to finish. Result would not be there. It is proper that when you delegate authority you do a follow up, you supervise.
What are the efforts you are making to ensure compulsory payment of check off dues so as to have funds to do projects?
You know that we have started the Compendium arrangement. We have decided that by the time we are through with the process we will know who a journalist is. Such a journalist is supposed to pay the normal check off dues monthly. Don’t forget that check off dues cannot be used to do any capital project. The only thing that it can be used for is probably to buy pen. The full check off dues does not belong to the state councils. The majority share of it goes to the national secretariat. Ours is just a little percent. It is an issue not just in Edo State but it is national.
I have been to several NEC meetings where the President of the Union, Chief Chris Isiguzo, usually advice state councils to go after chapels and the need for them to bring in their check off dues. As I speak now, some chapels have already paid theirs. There are chapels that pay statutorily. Chapels that belong to state or federal government owned media organisations. Their money is deducted a source. I think there is really no much trouble as far as checkoff dues is concerned. What you should know is that checkoff dues cannot do any capital project.
What I have being doing is that I have being using my personal contacts. As a journalist you must have contacts. You must be very interactive with the who-is-who in the society. You should be able to channel that your good contacts into developing your profession. It is what I have done. I can tell you without boasting that I have used my personal contacts to develop Edo State Council of the NUJ.
For instance, somebody to ask what he can do to support me. I had many of such calls and they came. You will recall that when we were doing these projects they were coming to the Secretariat. We didn’t go to anybody. Please note this. I never went to any individual’s house or office to canvass for support. I just send a message that I am doing a project in the Secretariat. “Can you, please come and have a look?”
Many came. They will come, go round the premises to see for themselves and come up with their support. There is dignity in this profession if you follow the process logically.
Word of advice to journalists
The only thing is when you’re gunning for a position you need to pray to God almighty to give you wisdom. And when you get there pray more for that wisdom to lead you in every decision you take in that organisation. When I was vying for office of Chairman a lot of people didn’t believe in me. But I know where I am coming from. I have been in leadership position in some organisations and I have excelled. I am not praising myself.
The records are there for people to assess. Not just that when I was vying of course I had opposition. It is normal. If I don’t have opposition. I won’t be serious. The opposition I had pushed me to the stage where I am now. They made me to know that I must work. To let them know that it was not what they were thinking… So many persons thought I was just coming to grab. I said no I want to work. Let people come and see what we have done.
We are going to improve on that. I have already set a very high standard in Edo NUJ and we cannot go below that standard. Today, I am happy that journalists can proudly identify themselves unlike what was obtainable in the past when some personalities called us press boys. We are not press boys but press men. Today, journalists are now using their pen.
If you dare us we give it to you raw and hard using the constitutional way of addressing issues. I like to dwell in areas where nobody has touched. That’s the best way to excel.
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