Lagos:  Mr Gbenga Adefaye, President, Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) on Friday advocated more training and better remunerations for practicing journalists to enhance their service delivery, efficiency and professionalism.

Adefaye, who spoke in Lagos, stressed that such training should be on a continuous basis.

“Even people who have basic exposures in other disciplines but employed as journalists should be entitled to specific training in journalism and ethics.

“So the best way to achieve professionalism is through constant training of journalists,’’ he said.

The NGE president also expressed support for exchange programmes between journalists working in government-owned media organisations and those in privately-owned media outfits.

“If it is to expose, equip and kit them, I support exchange programmes between journalists in the government-owned media and those in the private sector.

“If such a programme is to enrich the beneficiaries, it would be a welcome development if owners of the media organisations will be freely disposed to it,’’ Adefaye said.

Adefaye also said that journalists deserved better remunerations,  irrespective of whether they were working for government or private outfits.

“Because they perform unusual business, run unusual schedules and work longer hours, they deserve to be paid specially and be treated fairly well.

“They should be paid better than the ordinary civil servants who work between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.,’’ he said.

He explained that the government owed it a duty to create a better working environment for the private media owners to emulate.

“By and large, journalists in this country, with the way they work, the kind of handicap they face, deserve a better pay,’’ he said.

According to the NGE president, an employer loses authority and moral control if it failed to pay his staff salaries and wages as at when due.

Adefaye also said that the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) should be at the forefront for the actualisation of the Media Salary Structure (MSS).

“The agitation for increased welfare package mostly is the responsibility of the NUJ,’’ he explained. (NAN)