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NUJ, NAWOJ to provide 800 houses to journalists

By Margaret Mwantok
18 July 2016   |   3:19 am
On arriving Abaren village, one would think that a festival was taking place; the large gathering of happy people, the beautiful and colourful dancers basking...
Group Managing Director, Primewaterview Holdings Limited, Morola Babalola; Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalist, Lagos state chapter, Comrade Deji Elumoye; National President of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Ifeyinwa Omowole; Chairman, Primewaterview Holdings Limited, Prince Adetunji Ogunlusi and Engineer Richard Lauck at the groundbreaking exercise for the construction of 800 housing units for practising journalist at Abaren village, Mowe, Ogun State

Group Managing Director, Primewaterview Holdings Limited, Morola Babalola; Chairman, Nigerian Union of Journalist, Lagos state chapter, Comrade Deji Elumoye; National President of Nigeria Association of Women Journalists, Ifeyinwa Omowole; Chairman, Primewaterview Holdings Limited, Prince Adetunji Ogunlusi and Engineer Richard Lauck at the groundbreaking exercise for the construction of 800 housing units for practising journalist at Abaren village, Mowe, Ogun State

On arriving Abaren village, one would think that a festival was taking place; the large gathering of happy people, the beautiful and colourful dancers basking in the euphoria of the change they foresee would soon take place in the community. And, of course, all thanks to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in collaboration with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), as they flagged off the ground-breaking programme for the construction of 800 housing units for practicing journalists. It held in Abaren village, Mowe, Ogun State, last week.

According to NUJ Chairman, Lagos chapter, Mr. Deji Elumoye, NUJ’s concern was to make sure that an average journalist has a roof over his head, saying, “The issue of housing has been paramount in the hand of NUJ leadership, and today NUJ has taken this to another level. We appreciate NAWOJ for this project. We have been on the project for a year and it got to a point where some of the subscribers became disenchanted, but we told them to be hopeful”.

He stated that most of the subscribers are Lagos-based journalists, and that with the official flag-off of the project, the first set of 200 houses would be completed in six months.

While shedding more light on the project, Elumoye said that all things being equal, all the 800 houses would be delivered within 36 calendar months, adding, “There is going to be a big generator system that would power the whole estate; there is going to be about 45 adjoining roads, and those roads beside the estate would be named after our senior colleagues, both living and dead, including those fully involved in the activities of the NUJ. There would also be a big school that would take care of the educational needs of the children. There will be a hospital, police post, a shopping mall, playground and more inside the estate. It is going to be a three bedroom en-suite with a car park to take four cars, and a space big enough to build a boys’ quarters”.

To NAWOJ National President, Ifeyinwa Omowole who is the idea behind the project, “This project is my dream and vision, but to actualise your vision, you cannot do it alone. So, I thank God for the people who encouraged it, and I thank God specifically for the NUJ because I had a dream to provide housing but I didn’t have the land”.

She said NUJ had the land and offered it to be used for the purpose. “This is just the beginning of providing houses for journalists because the job does not have second hand value; we work and make people; we make people who are either embezzling money or making their marks by what we write. Sometimes, they don’t even know what to say and we say it on their behalf and at the end of the day, we don’t have where to lay our heads. I thought of how to make it different, and for me, housing is key because once you take housing out of your budget, the rest is history”.

She said the programme would be extended to other states, as the next move would be to Taraba and Abuja.

According to her, “This ceremony we are having today is like an awareness creation thing for the community because this is a rural community and you know what it is when they begin to see strangers. We are going to change the roofing of the primary school, provide clean water for the community. We write about oil companies that don’t do Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); we are going to show the world how to do CSR”.

A real estate industry and contractors of the project, Primewaterview Holdings Limited, is not left out in the CSR service as it provided school bags and books to all the students present. According to its chairman, Prince Adetunji Ogunlusi, said NUJ’s support was key to his company coming to Abaren, noting, “Working with you will be a milestone because one cannot disrespect people of the press. Electricity would be brought to the community not only the estate; we would deploy renewable energy”.

Group Managing Director of the company, Mrs. Morola Babalola, said, “We were brought into this project by NAWOJ president, and I assure this community that we are going to create jobs for them as we start fully”.

The head of the community, Chief Solomon Akinyemi, said, “We started this primary school with our own effort; we really appreciate NUJ for what it is doing for our community”.

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