A former Senior Information Officer at the Media and Corporate Affairs of Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, Ayo Ajayi has launched Edutorial www.edutorial.ng , an online education magazine.
The magazine according to Ajayi, a graduate of Journalism and Book Publishing seeks to promote and celebrate the values of education in Nigeria, Africa and beyond. The name of the publication is a fusion of education and editorial.
“ As at 2015 when I started the website, (on a part-time though) I had worked for seven years in the Public Relations Department of an educational institution. Working there gave me the privilege to attend so many meetings (conferences, workshops, seminars, project defence, product presentations, public/inaugural lectures, matriculation/convocation ceremonies, exhibitions, innovation fairs etc.) and participated in organising some of these events too,” Ajayi stated.
“ I had the privilege of meeting great minds, intellectuals, researchers with patents, and great inventors from among elementary pupils to higher institutions, research institutions as well as professional bodies. Unfortunately, most of their brilliant ideas or inventions are only known to a few individuals or their institutions.
“ Also, most of the mainstream/conventional and online media tends to celebrate negative reports about happenings on our campuses and other educational institutions. They will rather celebrate politicians.
“ Organisations that are supposed to fund research projects to products development would rather sponsor entertainment programmes.
All these and more gave me concern that we are not really showcasing the stuff we are made of in this part of the world. A lot of Nigerians and Africans abroad are generally doing great stuff, but they are unsung heroes.
“ So, to me, education is fast losing it to other sectors generally, the entertainment industry in particular. And as a Journalist who has invested 11 years in the education sector, it’s an opportunity for me to promote and celebrate the values of education, even in an entertaining way; guided by ethics of professional and responsible journalism.
“ As mentioned earlier, the website was developed in 2015 and since then it was run on a part-time basis. However, I know that every vision is lifeless until the step of faith is taken. It is the step (action) taken that gives the vision life. And in order not to limit or kill the vision, I have to launch out full scale on March 4th, 2019. That date is prophetic, ‘March 4th’ (or March forward).
“ So by the grace of God, we will grow www.edutorial.ng to become a global reference point as far as education reporting/journalism is a concern.
“ We will give every stakeholder in the education sector the equal opportunity to celebrate their minute achievements.
“ We will show the world that we are not educationally backward in Africa if giving opportunity; Africans are loaded with ideas that would proffer solutions to many of her predicaments.
“ We want to change the narratives and reverse the trend of education tourism to countries less than developed as Nigeria.
“ Finally, we want to help the government and private organisations see the reasons to adequately fund education, as no nation can develop beyond the level of the education of her citizens.”
Ajayi started his journalism career in 1995 with Daily Champion Newspaper and later moved to the defunct National Concord and the Daily Times.
He was the Deputy Editor and Editor of Medi-Link Journal and Health Monitor Magazine respectively.
He had his first online reporting experience in 2006 as a Content Writer for www.setlin.com and www.africanews.com (web-based Magazines) respectively.
