NEW NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS, NNN, PENSIONERS CRIED OUT
NEW NIGERIAN NEWSPAPERS, NNN, PENSIONERS CRIED OUT
By:
Nurudeen Dauda
11th April ,2018
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In my humble advice, the Federal Government should and or must immediately investigate an allegation labelled against one of its directors in the Federal Ministry of Finance by the Pensioners of NNN and do justice to all and sundry . Please come with me!
NNN was established by the first and only late Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello. "The decision to establish a daily newspaper for Northern Nigeria was driven by the need to truly present to the Nigerian people and the whole world a true picture of the Northern Region: its people, its culture and its politics in a true and balanced manner".That was Sardauna's brief in the inauguration of the paper on the 1st of January, 1966 - (Ahmad Joda, in the year 2000 as cited in Courage and Conviction written by Turi Muhammadu).
"Then, as now, the North enjoyed a very bad press in the hands of the Nigerian newspapers, mainly based in Lagos. Reporting of events was uniformly inaccurate and in a manner seen to be deliberately hostile" -( Ahmad Joda, 2000). It is very sad to note that, after fifty years, the unbalanced reportage by the sections of the media has not abeted, but even got worsen.
Among the last official assignments said to have been performed by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto before his assassination in January 15, 1966 was the launching of the first copies of the New Nigerian Newspapers, NNN, in 1st January, 1966.
The Newspapers remained under the control of Northern State Governments from 1966 to 1975 when the highly centralized Military Administration of the late General Murtala Ramat Muhammad converted the ownerships of all regional properties to the Federal Government.
NNN was returned to the Northern State Governments in 2006, after 31 years . However, the workers battling with the Federal Government for their Pension arrears are those who served within the 31 years of Federal Government's ownship. Permit me to say, the Papers and its workers have not fared well since its return to the Northern States Government in 2006. As far as I know, the papers is only currently running online publications.
The Pensioners alleged that their payment of N2.1billion pension arrears is being blocked by, Director of Cash Management of Federal Ministry of Finance after due approvals the government . They alleged that they are being owed more than 100 months of pensions and 170 of their members have since died waiting for their pension to be paid. (Daily Trust: April 10, 2018).
The pensioners’ leader Idi Sule said: whereas the humane and compassionate administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and his equally compassionate Finance Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun have taken bold steps to correct the injustice meted out to us for over a decade, the Director has brought every wicked bureaucratic red tape to block it. (Daily Trust : April 10, 2018).
Some of us get agitated whenever the issues of Sardaudan's legacies such as: 1. New Nigerian Newspapers, 2. Northern Nigeria publishing Company, 3. Arewa Textile, 4. Institute of Agriculture, Kaba, 5. Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, 6. Nigerian Aviation School, Zaria, 7. Radio Nigeria Kaduna, FRCN; 8. Nigeria Television, Kaduna, NTA; 9. Federal Polytechnic, Kaduna, KADPOLY; 10. Housing Corporation of Northern Nigeria, 11. Federal Training Centre, FTC, Kaduna; 12. Dambatta General Hospital, Kano;
13. Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; 14. Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna; 15. Northern Nigerian Development Company;16. Defunct Bank of the North, 17. Northern Nigeria Flour Mill, 18. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, and 19. Hamdala hotel, Kaduna etc are being tempered with.
I do hope and pray that the Federal Government will do the needful in order to provide justice to all and sundry within the shortest possible time .
May God bless Nigeria!