NGE welcome trust fund…says it’s long overdue

The long awaited Nigerian Guild of Editors Trust Fund, designed to address the professional /welfare needs of media houses and editors in Nigeria is to be lunched in the first quarter of next year.

This came at the heals of the resolution by participants at the All Nigeria Editors Conference (ANEC), which took place in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

At the ANEC in Akwa Ibom State, publishers, media executives and editors harped on the need by the Guild to initiate strategic move that will focus on the professional/welfare needs of media houses and editors in Nigeria – among other efforts to help them to continue to discharge their constitutional and social responsibility to the society without compromising their ethical standards.

To this end, Guild at its annual conference in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, set up a committee headed by its Vice-President (East), Mr. Sheddy Ozoene, to liaise with media stakeholders and coordinate the launch of the outfit scheduled for next year.

In a statement issued on Monday by the President of the NGE, Mr Eze Anaba and the General Secretary, Dr Iyobosa Uwugiaren, the professional body of editors and media executives, stated that the initiative is a response to the increasing professional/welfare challenges faced by the highest echelon of Nigerian journalists in performing their duties.

‘’The trust fund, which is expected to be launched in the first quarters of 2024, will also address the daunting economic challenges that the media executives and editors are faced with during and after office. The fund will benefit the Guild’s members in the print, electronic and online media.

‘’  It will be a collaborative effort among all the stakeholders in the media, including the public sector – aimed at addressing key challenges that affect the professionals, who are the ultimate gatekeepers in their media organisations’’, the Guild added.

According to the statement, ‘’The trust fund will create the much-desired impact in the journalism profession in the country as the editors and media executives will be exposed to empowerment programmes and innovations in the media industry, retraining and networking opportunities with colleagues from around the world.’’

The Guild added that the trust fund, which will be managed by trustees made up of eminent personalities from within and outside the media, will be a fallback cushion for media executives and editors in critical situations, and a source of addressing their welfare needs as well as funding for key media projects that will impact Nigeria’s democracy, good governance and national development.