NIGERIAN union OF JOURNALIst

logo of NUJ

 source: google.com,history of nigerian union of journalist

The NUJ, Nigeria Union of Journalist is a body that was set up to convey and discipline the Nigeria journalism profession. The union was set up under a six-man inaugural Executive Council,  at the premises of St. Paul's School, Breadfruit Street, Lagos.
On March 15, 1955, marked the Zenith of years of a silent revolution for the actualization of a common front by some early nationalists who formed the core of a call for an independent Nigeria, via the power of the pen. In earlier times, such struggle that “Britain must go” had manifested in the expressed opinions, appearing in the now extinct newspapers including the Anglo African, The Eagle, Lagos Weekly Times, The Lagos Chronicles, The Lagos Standard, Lagos Weekly Record, The African Messenger, The Lagos Daily News, West African Pilot and others.
There was a problem in the history of NUJ because between 1961 - 1969 the Union's name was struck out from the list of the registered Trade Unions. This was because the Union had failed  to operate as a trade Union.
Some of the nationalist of independence which gave room for operation of nation
Building and growth, expression of individual include;first Governor General of Nigeria, the late Owelle of Onitsha, the Rt Hon (Dr.) Nnamdi Azikiwe, the first Premier of the defunct Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Alhaji Tafawa Balewa; the late Herbert Macaulay and Chief H. O. Davies who, with the launch of the Yoruba vernacular newspaper “Iwe Irohin ni Ede Yoruba”, founded by the late Rev. Ajayi Crowther in Abeokuta, in 1929, wrote powerfully, in their newspapers, columns on the need for Nigeria's self-rule.
There struggle was due to their exposure to western education, they thought it was to exhibit those things that have been learnt to set a
Voice for themselves,they were determined to push for the struggle for commensurate wages. While in Britain in search of the golden fleece, the likes of Chief Olu Oyesanya then a member of the London Institute of Journalism had formed the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Britain and on his return to Nigeria in 1954, he joined the colonial government as an Information Officer, spearheading the formation of the Nigeria Union of Journalists and became a member of the premier Executive Council and first Secretary, in 1955.












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