SYMPATHISERS yesterday visited the Lagos corporate office of Vintage Press Ltd (VPL), publishers of The Nation, to commiserate with the staff on the fire which gutted its photo section on Saturday night. Among the early callers were leaders of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
[/size]The NUJ delegation comprised the National President, Mohammed Garba, Vice President, Zone E, Muktar Gidado, Chairperson, National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Mrs Asabe Baba-Nahaya, Lagos Chairman Deji Elumoye, Secretary Sylva Okereke, former Secretary Adolphus Okoronkwo, Kogi Chairman Ali Atabor, his Kano, Kaduna and Taraba States counterparts, Haruna Abduljalad, Yusuf Ali and Abdullahi Gambo.Inspecting the razed photo section, the visitors expressed dismay over the destruction. The fire, which started after 8 pm, lasted for an hour.The delegation was received by the company’s Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Mr Victor Ifijeh, Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Mr Ade Odunewu, The Nation Chapel Chairman Jude Isiguzo and Secretary Eric Ikhilae, among others.Elumoye said the delegation came to commiserate with the management and staff over the incident. He prayed against a recurrence.The delegation, he said, was in Lagos for a different purpose, but decided to visit the company on hearing of the incident.Garba urged the organisation to ensure that measures are taken to prevent a recurrence. “We are glad that strategic sections of the organisation, including the press, the warehouse and store were not affected. Accept our sympathy. We pray we do not record such unfortunate incident again,” he said.Ifijeh praised the delegation for the visit. He also thanked the company’s workers for their efforts in containing the fire.“We are grateful to the staff for their dedication. But for their efforts, the damage would have been more than this. They were able to effectively contain the fire before the fire fighters came,” he said.Ifijeh said stiffer measures would be taken to improve on the existing safety measures.The effect of the fire dawned on some affected staff yesterday as the Photo Editor, Mr John Ebhota, shed tears on sighting the charred remains of his desk, documents and photographs.He said he was disturbed most by the destruction of documents relating to the treatment of his amputated arm. He was scheduled to travel to Germany for the next phase of his treatment.Other items lost include cameras, compact disc archives, travel documents, drawing materials and equipment, artworks, television sets, mobile telephones, money and car particulars.
TheNation