Welcome remarks of Mr Gbemiga Ogunleye, FNGE, former editor of The Punch, at the presentation of OUR PUNCH YEARS, a book by former staffers of The Punch at NECA House, on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.
50 years in the life of an organisation is not a small achievement.
Therefore, for former members of staff of The Punch, Nigeria’s most widely read newspapers to organise a RE-UNION and put together a compendium of their works to commemorate the occasion, deserve an applause.
Albert Einstein had Punch’s co-founder, Olu Aboderin in mind when he wrote: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited, imagination circles the world.”
It’s truly comforting that the legacies and vision of the late Aboderin continue to live on through The Punch, decades after his demise.
The book we are about to present is not the story of The Punch. The story of The Punch is yet to be told.
The story of The Punch will chronicle its conception, the pangs of birth, the period when the paper was on death row and when the battle to take control of the soul of the paper was fought in the courts.
What we are presenting today is a book on the experiences of 38 former staff of The Punch.
Titled Our Punch Years, the book documents memorable and insightful experiences of accomplished journalists who are still occupying senior positions in private and public endeavours in the media and other sectors.
Lekan Otufodunrin, the book’s editor and the directing mind of this project, said the book, fittingly dedicated to the founding Chairman of Punch Nigeria Limited, Chief Aboderin, is the contribution of the former staff to the 50th anniversary of the company.
“We cherish the years we spent in the company which contributed significantly to our career journeys and have chosen to document our experiences for the posterity and the benefit of anyone who wants to learn from them.”
May I, therefore, charge the Board of The Punch to commission in earnest the writing of the story of The Punch.
Fortunately for us, a co-founder of the paper, Mr Sam Amuka, popularly known as Uncle Sam is still around. And Mr. Ademola Osinubi, the immediate past managing director and editor-in-chief of the newspaper who can be rightly described as the encyclopedia of the newspaper will not balk at the idea.
It will be a great service not only to the media industry but to the academia.
Undoubtedly, each of us who worked in The Punch had a different story about our days in the organisation: some good, some not-so-good.
Who was it that said: ‘No relationship is all sunshine.’ The fact that we embarked on this book project is an indication of the abiding love and affection we still have for The Punch, the newspaper that trained many of us prepared us for our future endeavours and launched some of us from the newsroom to the Boardroom.
Permit me to read an extract of my letter of disengagement from The Punch 18 years ago.
Titled: LEAVING BUT NOT PARTING!
I had written: “This is to give notice of my intention to disengage from the services of the company. I am doing so with mixed feelings because I have enjoyed the period of my employment with the company. I had the fortune of working in a company which rewards hard work, initiative and commitment to duty. Your philosophy of giving editors a free hand to do their job gave me the confidence to reposition the paper. “
So, our gathering this morning is proof that although we have left The Punch we have not parted with the newspaper. Fortunately for us, The Punch remains a shining light in the newspaper industry. It has not deviated from the cardinal roles of the media in the society.
These include: holding the government to account, providing information to the people and being the voice to the voiceless. As if to evidence these, the paper only last Sunday won the newspaper of the year award for the umpteenth time and its editor won the editor of the year award.
We are proud of these achievements and will continue to identify with the newspaper.
