Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
As the economic effects of COVID-19 pandemic bites harder, the Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc, has extended its support to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Oyo State Council, through donation of some food items to support members of the union.
The donated items include bags of rice, garri, packs of vegetable oil, packs of semolina, packs of noodles, packs of maltina products, washing soaps and hand sanitisers.
The Corporate Affairs Manager, West of the company, Mr. Tayo Adelaja, presented the items to the union through the Community Support Programme of the company held at the NUJ Press Centre, Iyaganku, Ibadan.
The items were received from the company by the executive council of NUJ in Oyo State, under the chairmanship of Ademola Babalola, who commended Nigerian Breweries for the gesture.
According to Adelaja, the visit was part of the organisation’s efforts in reaching out to their immediate communities with a view to cushioning the economic effects of COVID-19, adding: “The whole world is challenged, of course, we know. We were very excited at the turn of 2020, which is the beginning of a new decade. There comes this world challenge. This pandemic is here.
“One major consequence is that a lot of people have lost their jobs. For those, who have not even lost their jobs, a lot are not being paid when they should be paid. Some that are being paid, they are at best paid half salaries. A lot of things have gone wrong totally that we don’t even know how long it is going to take for everything to come back.
“That is why our management in its wisdom decided that what can we do than to look at our immediate community and see the little things we can do for them to have little impact as a business. That is what brought us here.
He said that the organisation did not bring the items to the NUJ because they read somewhere that its members were hungry, saying it was just a little gesture, pledging the company’s readiness to support some programmes of the union.
“There is no establishment that can actually exist without the media. We look forward to a synergy. We look forward to a very good working relationship with the NUJ. I can assure you that our relation will be strengthened much more better than what revolves before now,” he said.
The Oyo NUJ boss, Babalola, in his reaction, said: “Since we assumed office seven months ago, we have commenced various developmental projects across the press centre. You can also see a number of such renovations, reconstructions and upgrading of our facilities as the rebranding of our secretariat takes off in grand style
“The essence of the ongoing projects is for us to also be in tandem with the reality of what is going on across corporate organisations nationwide. We also believe that being the pacesetter state NUJ, we must not be left behind in the wind of changes blowing across corporate entities nationwide.”
Babalola also enjoined the company to ensure its presence was felt by the union through execution of projects at the press cencen, saying: “I want to assure you on behalf of my colleagues across the state that in Oyo NUJ today are professionals, who know their onions and are ready to partner Nigerian Breweries to deliver on your mandate to the public.”