Lagos, Nigeria, Oct 19, 2016 – Former President of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Hon. Sani Zoro today gave account of how the money realized during the lunching of distressed journalists fund lunched by former Editor In Chief of Daily Times Nigeria Plc, Late Tunji Oseni was spent.
The sum of N30 million was realized during the launch of the programme in October 13, 1992. The Distressed Journalists Endowment Fund was meant to assist journalists who are in distress, especially in an era where journalists were poorly paid with many owed several months of salaries by employers.
However, speaking today at the at an occasion to mark the 30th anniversary of the Late Editor –in –Chief of NewsWatch Magazine, Chief Dele Giwa, put together by the Nigerian Union of Journalists(NUJ), Lagos in conjunction with the Dele Giwa Foundation and the family, Zoro who is now a member of the House of Representative and who was President when the fund was lunched said the money was diverted.
Without being specific, he said he left over N16 million in the account of the union when he handed over to his predecessor, Mr. Ladi Lawal.
“My executive left a total of N16.something million and at the conference in Sokoto, that is what I handed over to my late brother colleague , Ladi Lawal”, he said.
“We left behind a reconstructed National secretariat of the NUJ at Eric More. For those of who are here that building was burnt in a fire incident in 1983, nobody reconstructed it until when we came on board in 1990.
“We left behind an International Institute of Journalism, which teaches ordinary courses and certificating journalists and others and full fledged 48 rooms accommodation in Abuja with classrooms and so on. These are just part of what we did”, he said and called on Journalists to get their facts right before making statements.
