By Chinonye Anyatonwu.
The Maritime Journalists Association of Nigeria (MAJAN) has concluded plans for the Powerful Pen Media Chapel election slated for Wednesday, July 7, 2021.
The chapel election, which will take place at the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders’ (NAGAFF) headquarters in Apapa, Lagos, will be supervised by the Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
All necessary arrangements are ready including screening of members for the election to take place smoothly, even as the Lagos NUJ team has been officially invited to monitor the exercise. It is on record that at present, MAJAN is the only Association of Maritime Journalists in Nigeria that has a chapel recognised by NUJ.
The Chapel through its monthly Congress and other programmes has carried out consistent advocacy for a better maritime industry.
This year, the Powerful Pen Media Chapel has organised over five different programmes, where reputable stakeholders in the maritime industry spoke on crucial issues in the sector.
Such programmes include the special congress on Apapa perennial traffic gridlock, Nigeria’s readiness for the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) agreement, National Maritime Summit at the Rock View Hotel, review of the maritime sector and measures needed for the sustainability of NIMASA’s Deep Blue project, among others.
It would be recalled that after the Powerful Pen Chapel special congress, held on January 14, 2021, on Apapa traffic that the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) introduced an electronic call-up system in February to tackle the Apapa traffic crisis.
It is also on record that the chapel was the first group to organise a programme on NIMASA’s Deep Blue project, where a communiqué was issued even before President Muhammadu Buhari launched the assets in Lagos.
With its media chapel, MAJAN, as a group, has added value to the maritime industry through responsible reportage and will make history again, as its members prepare for its election. All thanks to the amiable President of MAJAN, Ray Ugochukwu, a renowned journalist, whose ingenuity and experience have taken the chapel to greater heights.
