The Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) was founded on March 15, 1955, in Lagos. Presently, NUJ operates 37 state councils, six zones, and numerous chapels, along with affiliate bodies like the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, NAWOJ, Nigerian Guild of Editors, and Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN.
As a media professional association it also advances the safety and welfare of Nigerian journalists.
The Lagos chapter has invested and still investing in the association and journalists, including owning property in Victoria Island, Somolu and Ikeja. The association secured hectares of land in Arepo and Abaren in Ogun State, giving opportunity to journalists to own land and build houses of their own.
The success of the NUJ Estate phase one, Arapo led to it acquiring the phase in Abaren. This cooperative program has assisted hundreds of journalists in Lagos State to own their homes.
Part of my agenda was a visit to Abaren Estate in Ofada/Mowe/Ibadan expressway axis. Having heard a lot about development in the Abaren Estate in a group that I belonged to, I decided to visit on Wednesday, June 18.
My driver from Sparklight Estate, OPIC drove the 41kilometres to Mowe, along Lagos/Ibadan expressway like he was escaping a police pursuit. The remainder 6kilometres drive from Mowe to Abaren was on muddy, half constructed and earthy road.
The driver had no choice this time but to maneuver slowly until we got to the village closest to the estate where he parked. The journey to the estate continued on a bike. The guide advised we abandon the bike and to complete the remainder of the trip on foot due to the flooded terrain caused by several days of heavy rain.
Currently, the NUJ Estate, Abaren is a vast undeveloped land. Bordered by Mowe and Ofada, it is a boiling space about to erupt into an unimaginable town in between two towns. With the ongoing few constructions in the estate I see a land flowing with milk and honey being nurtured to become the Reserved Area (GRA) of that neighborhood.
I believed that the Ogun State government must have seen the potentials and economic benefits of the area with the ongoing road construction to Abaren.
This is commendable and I look forward to being part of the commissioning of the road very soon when it is completed by the administration of Governor Prince Dapo Abiodun.
Well done Governor! All the factories springing up in that axis need their workers to live close to work. Ogun State has the character of what New Jersey is to New York .