Lagos SWAN Members To Begin Payment Of Annual Professional Dues

Lagos SWAN chairman, Olatutu Oladunni (right) displays a customised jersey of Lagos SWAN during a congress recently.

The Chairman of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) Lagos chapter, Olatutu Oladunni, after several consultations with members and leaders of the State Chapter, has called on members to pay up their professional annual dues that will be starting this year 2023.

Olatutu Oladunni, shared her thoughts on the payment with members of her executive council and also consulted some members on the essence of this payment after she had explained the level of the rot she met on the ground from the previous administrations.

She made it clear that payment of N36,000 will be a yearly due for members of the association in Lagos with reference to members’ welfare and insurance really put into consideration at all times. To make the payment easy for members, the chairman suggests payment can be made twice.

According to the chairman, the annual due would consist of payments for Insurance, HMO medical accessibility, Welfare Package (Salah and Christmas), Administrative maintenance and Cooperative service.

She said other credible corporate items like annual calendar that will incorporate all Lagos SWAN activities in recent times and images of registered members alongside theur significant roles will be unveiled, also is corporate gifts like diary notepads and of course our Lagos SWAN customised kit. This makes us as members a standard professional who operates on a coordinated structure as I believe it is important for us to begin to celebrate ourselves so the public can appreciate our inputs in the society.

Olatutu Oladunni disclosed that the SWAN Lagos Chapter members deserve to be cared for, most especially the elders of the chapter, and it will not be nice seeing our own rotting away in poverty after leaving the profession. She went further to explain that the insurance will serve as a relief during emergencies for members if adequately done rightly.

She called on members to join hands to redefine the purpose of being a member of a professional body; a noble association like SWAN and do things rightly and professionally.

“I don’t see the reason a body like Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) in Lagos State could not be run as a full fledge professional body like the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and a host of others where members pay dues for the growth of the professional bodies,” she said.

According to her, being a member of Lagos SWAN should expose any member to a lot of benefits beyond just getting mere media slots or leaning on sports administrators for survival, adding that members should start planning for their retirement right from the beginning and also the unexpected.

Olatutu Oladunni explained that the N36,000 annual dues will go a long way at a time when things are not too rosy in the country.

“I strongly believe that payment of this annual due will also make us committed members of the association and our brothers’ keepers at all times,” said Oladunni, the publisher of DAILY NEWS POST MAGAZINE

She also made it known that the executives are putting their heads together to organise several trainings for members and see their growth in their chosen career.

Olatutu Oladunni noted that the Lagos SWAN secretariat inside the National Stadium in Surulere needs to be put in good and attractive shape as the building has not been properly managed well in the past.

“The property needs serious renovation. Though we have been doing a lot in and around the building since we assumed office, many more are yet to be done,” she said.