Maxwell Oditta: One death too many

Maxwell Oditta, my dear editor and friend, I’m still devastated by the news of your untimely death on Saturday, July 2, 2016. It’s unbelievable. This is one death too many. This is one death, just like that of many hundreds of journalists in Nigeria, that might have been prevented, had some of the publishers/’punishers’ been alive to their responsibility towards their employees.

Journalists in Nigeria are the worst treated of human beings. Why? They are hated, but, tolerated by the government in power; reviled by the public; cajoled by the so-called publishers/‘punishers’ to blackmail their perceived enemies, despite these, they, still, play a vital role to make the society see itself through their news gathering and dissemination.

Nigerian journalists always experience failed promises on the part of these so-called publishers, who take delight in seeing their employees suffer as a result of unpaid salaries and abominable working conditions, while they spend money as if it’s going out fashion on trivial things like girlfriends and wild parties!

This is one death, just like many others, that could have been prevented IF the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) had taken a FIRM stand to really take this issue of workplace conditions up with irresponsible publishers, who, for their selfishness, refuse to pay living wages to their staff, some even refuse to pay the meagre salary regularly. Even, if necessary, such publishers should be dragged to the law court! It’s on record that some publishers owe their staff upward of 24 months in salary, yet such publishers have the audacity to encourage their staff to criticise state governors that owe workers about five months’ salary. That’s hypocrisy of the highest order!

If you are a practising journalist in Nigeria, it is time you cry out loud and fight for your right in terms of better conditions of service. Maxwell Oditta, like many other diligent journalists, who have died, was being owed upward of between 12-24 months in salary arrears by their publishers. I pray this will always prick the conscience, if any, of these callous publishers.

Oditta, 57 at the time of death, was a colleague of mine at the defunct Moment Newspapers, where the publisher, Moffat Ekoriko, still owes the former staff. As at this moment, a dud cheque issued by him is still available, according to his former staff  who now works with another newspaper. Another publisher, Rita Ngozi Moses, of the defunct NewnameNewspapers, would, allegedly, recruit unsuspecting journalists, who, after producing an edition of her titles, would, reportedly, be issued dud cheques. She was reported at the Lagos State Police Command, but the ‘Nigerian Factor’ has not seen her facing prosecution.

Many untold stories abound concerning the plight of journalists in Nigeria. But, unfortunately, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) seemed to be overwhelmed with the situation, but one prays that the Waheed Odusile administration would find a way out of the situation and make those callous publishers pay their debts to journalists. Even the self-established media houses still owe their staff salaries presently.

Oditta, a diabetic patient, while working for Jimoh Ibrahim’sNewswatch Times, was only paid two months’ salary out of his 12-month arrears, as the Head of Political Desk, he was said to have been a victim of newsroom politics, which led to his sack, when the paper was shut down and eventual death. This guy needed a regular income to have money to buy his expensive drugs, but, a so-called publisher, alleged to be a chronic debtor to his employees, never bothered to know that some people, like Maxwell Oditta, still depend on that meagre salary to survive, but, he refused to pay as at when due. This is a man who wants to succeed the hardworking Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as Governor of  Ondo  State in November 2016! I pity the civil servants!

Oditta exemplifies the dilemma of many Nigerian journalists, who work hard for the non-journalist rich publisher, who slave them to eventual death. Some have been assassinated while doing the publisher’s bidding, some have died through road accidents, at the burial, the publisher promises to take care of the widow and children, but, a few months after the burial, you never hear from the publisher or his ‘lap dogs’ again, that, is the lot of many dead journalists! The case of Oditta is one death too many. It is, indeed, a clarion call to the NUJ, led by Alhaji Waheed Odusile, to seek help from the human rights groups to fight the “work-for-months-without pay’’ syndrome in the industry.

Oditta’s death should never be in vain because nobody knows who will be the next victim  of “unpaid-but-dead journalist”. After several months of working for a so-called billionaire publisher, who squanders money meant for his staff, promoting his ego, Oditta got peanuts — two months’ salary, which he used in paying his house rent for another year. If such callous act by so-called egotistical publishers is left unchallenged by the NUJ and relevant groups, then journalism and journalists are doomed.

Apart from Newswatch Times, where he worked until his death, Oditta worked as a journalist some other media houses and they still owe him. At Daily Independent Newspapers, he complained about how much he was being owed. Frustration made him to resign but from there. The sad thing about journalists is that they criticize the politicians constructively but fighting for their own welfare collectively seems not always possible. But the truth is that nobody can fight for us except themselves.

One good step to stop publishers who don’t have the passion to pay journalists yet they employ them is by legislation. The National Assembly should see it as a matter of  urgency to enact a law to penalize such publishers.

Oditta’s soul cries for justice and the rest of us, who are still living today, must ensure that such untimely death does not occur again. And to the last media house where he worked and is still owing him 10months’ salary, the Bible says in Jeremiah 22:13;

“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
And his chambers by injustice,
Who uses his neighbor’s service without wages
And gives him nothing for his work, (NKJV)

Another version reads:

“And the Lord says,
“What sorrow awaits Jehoiakim,
who builds his palace with forced labor.
He builds injustice into its walls,
for he makes his neighbors work for nothing.
He does not pay them for their labor. (NLT).

Adieu brother, you will laugh last, even in death!