The chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State Council, Comrade Paul Bazia, Monday, flagged off the membership revalidation exercise in line with the national secretariat directive.
The chairman, while flagging off the exercise at the Ernest Ikoli Press Centre, Moscow Road,Port Harcourt, said it will go a long way to checking the activities of quacks in the journalism profession.
“The national secretariat has already opened a website for the registration and directed all statec ouncils to revalidate members of all the chapels.
Before then, we had earlier set up a committee for that purpose.
“At the end of this exercise, we are expected to forward the data of revalidated members to the national secretariat for onward production of their identity cards,” the chairman said.
He stated that at the end of the revalidation exercise, the already established Taskforce on Quackery will swing into action by clamping down on impersonators, with a view to prosecuting them.
Comrade Bazia pointed out that the NUJ constitution has already spelt out the minimum qualification for journalists as Bsc, BA and HND in Mass Communication or Journalism.
He added that those who studied other disciplines in their first degrees are expected to have Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in relevant disciplines to qualify them to practice as journalists.