Members of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) led by the newly elected Northern Regional Executives have paid courtesy calls on heads of public institutions in the region.
The two-day exercise started on Tuesday, July 19 where the GJA entourage visited the offices of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), Tamale Metropolitan Assembly and the Northern Regional Command of Ghana Police Service on day one.
The GJA team also interacted with the Regional National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Lands Commission and climaxed the meetings with the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu at the Regional Coordinating Council.
The GJA Regional Chairman, Mr. Yakubu Abdul Majeed, explained the purpose of familiarization tour was to introduce the new executives and members of the association to the relevant stakeholders in the region and to strengthen the existing working relationship between journalists in the area and these institutions.
He said the new GJA administration is determined to work assiduously with all public institutions and other stakeholders to ensure an accelerated development in the region to the expected levels.
The Chairman noted this therefore calls for a strong collaboration and partnership between the GJA and the actors in the state and non-state agencies.
“There are several areas we can partner to accelerate the development of this area, many people call journalists the fourth estate of the realm which I disagree, I regard journalists and journalism as the heartbeat of society and without journalists there won’t be good governance, without journalists there would never be peace and development – so journalists are the nerves of governance and development” he emphasized.
He further assured that the doors of the GJA are always to all development partners in the region to highlight on very critical matters of development in the region.
The Mayor of Tamale, Hon Sule Salifu, in his remarks when the GJA team visited the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly, called for capacity building individuals in the media space particular on most radio airwaves in the metropolis.
He observed the conduct of some individuals endanger the serenity of the media industry as well as peace in the metropolis.
“I enjoyed a lot of support from the media since my days as Regional Secretary of my party, Communications Director and even now and I think that it is only proper that we thank ourselves for cordially working together. I want to assure you that the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly is always ready to support the GJA to ensure you work efficiently and effectively, so that, all of us would’ve been contributing to the development of the area” he added.
NEDCo Plea
At the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo), Ing Noble Dormenu, on behalf of the Managing Director implored members of the Ghana Journalists Association to help the company educate the public to honor their obligations by paying electricity bills.
He stated NEDCo loses GHS 8.5million every month in the northern region representing about 45 per cent of its revenue to power theft, something he bemoan affects their operations.
The GJA Chairman gave an assurance that the Ghana Journalists Association will continue offer support to the company to sensitize consumers of their rights and obligations.
Mr. Abdul Majeed also seized the opportunity to appeal to management of NEDCo to support the GJA organized capacity building workshop for journalists in the area.
