The Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, former gubernatorial candidate in Kwara State, Otunba Oyabambi, former chairman of Ekiti local government area, Yinka Dallas were among the prominent personalities who received awards at the 50th anniversary, Dinner and Award Night of the Kwara Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists which held at Kwara Hotels in Ilorin on Thursday.
Others, including Fresh Insight Newspaper boss, AbdulRasheed Akogun, Asa Local government area chairmanship aspirant, Hon. Sulaimon Lekan Gadaff, Hon Tajudeen Olesin also received awards at the event.
Meanwhile, speaking during the award presentation, Abdulrasheed Akogun, who was the Chairman compendium committee charged journalists to desist from shaving others’ hairs while leaving theirs bushy by also reporting themselves.
He bemoaned a situation where journalists documents every other person’s events, except theirs, adding that it is a major disservice to the onerous task and thankless job the journalists are doing.
He said, “when Alfred Sloan the American born serial businessman said, There has to be this pioneer, the individual who has the courage, ambition to overcome obstacles, that always develop when one tries to do something worthwhile, especially when it is new and different, he most probably had the Kwara NUJ Compendium committee in mind.
“It was in the course of unflinching dedication to the task before us that we realized that ours will be the first State Council in the NUJ history to publish a comprehensive membership compendium and thus we’ve ended up making history that will not only be a reference point in Kwara NUJ Council but the entire federation.
“I must, while rounding up, use this opportunity to beseech us, the members of the fourth estate of the realm, saddled with the responsibility of documenting society’s happenings, to stop shaving other people’s hairs while leaving ours bushy.
“The task the Compendium Committee was given exposed our collective failure to properly document and report ourselves! We struggled to harvest records of past activities of the Council, which is one of the founding fathers of the NUJ in the Country. This is, to say the least highly detestable, and concerted efforts must henceforth be put in place by successive Kwara NUJ Council Executives to immediately right the wrongs and guard against future relapse.
“On our part, we have laid the foundation, which can and must be built upon towards ensuring that the rich history and strides of the Kwara NUJ council are well documented and preserved.”
