Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has lamented the poor remunerations of journalists in Nigeria noting that while media owners make more money, journalists are poorly paid.
“Remunerations were generally poor in the country, but that of journalists is unique, “Osinbajo said while declaring open a seminar titled, “Journalists and Retirement Plan,” organised by the State House Press Corps at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said publishers refuse to pay them well despite making money.
The Vice President said his salary and that of President Muhammadu Buhari are not “fantastic”.
He added that while he “earns about N1.5m as Vice-President, Buhari earns about N1.75m,” which, he said “are not fantastic wages anyway.”
“Generally speaking, people are poorly paid, so there is a need to look at why people are poorly paid.
“Public sector earnings must be looked at and what should be paid and what is right for people to earn should be determined,” he said.
The Vice President noted that to avoid the pains of working and going home without benefits all employees, not only of the media, should be compelled to join the government’s contributory pension scheme.
Osinbajo stated that the theme of the retreat was apt, especially for those in the informal sector due to uncertainties surrounding retirement.
According to him remunerations of media practitioners are poor because some employers have the penchant to cheat the workers and also because the private sector does not recognize minimum wage.
He said there was the need to enforce some kind of adherence to minimum wage law by all employers rather than for civil servants alone.
Osinbajo also noted that media men were denied their salaries because the profession did not have entry point thus allowing non-professionals to overwhelm it.
“Anybody can basically enter into journalism,’’ he said and advised the professionals to combat quackery.
“Generally speaking, people are poorly paid; professional associations should be strong lobbies for good pay and their engagement should be more robust,’’ he said.
He called on media practitioners to seek self-improvement in and outside the profession to become sector experts and withstand the challenges after practice.
Citing some pay challenges confronting other professionals, he noted that there was great disparity between what people earn and what they spend adding that the disparity should be corrected immediately.
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