The 17th All Nigeria Editors’ Conference 2021, held October 21 – 22, 2021, in Abuja, has come and gone.
But, the successes and impart recorded by the event still lingers in the minds of reporters, editors, media houses and concerned stakeholders across the globe.
The conference with the theme: “Media in Times of Crises: Resolving Conflict, Achieving Consensus, “attracted media practitioners, politicians, captains of industry, technocrats and journalists and others.
Isa Mustapha, President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, in his speech, reminded the participants that for ‘60 years running, the Guild has never had any bad image’.
Mustapha called on members of the Guild and other participants to ‘avoid anything that will bring disrepute to the group’s image’.
One of the major highlights of the 2021 NGE conference was the induction as fellows of eight frontline journalists at the event.
The brand new NGE fellows are Steve Oluseyi Ayorinde, Francis Ndubuisi Nwosu, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Press Council; Fred Fabor; Chief Goddy Ikeh; Mukhtar Magaji, Dr. Halima Kamilu, Tony Iyare and Funke Egbemode.
Based on the profile of the new fellows, it’s obvious that the Guild did a fantastic job in screening and eventually inducting these frontline journalists.
Their track records show that they are tested, tried and have passed through the crucible and are worthy of the honour bestowed on them.
Steve Oluseyi Ayorinde is a journalist, media consultant, film, radio, stage and television critic and author.
Born July 9, 1970, in Ibadan, Oyo State, Ayorinde, is the immediate past Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture in Lagos State. He served the Nigerian Guild of Editors as Assistant Secretary-General, Vice-President (West) and later Deputy President.
This quiet, easy-going and smooth-talking journalist, began his journalism career 24 years ago with The Guardian Newspapers and later joined the then Comet newspaper, where he edited arts, entertainment and media beats from 1999–2003.
He was later hired by The Punch, Nigeria’s largest circulation newspaper and made the Arts Editor, later re-deployed to the United Kingdom, as a correspondent for the paper and returned to Nigeria to become first a member of the editorial board and later the editor.
At The Punch, he ran the “Something Before the Weekend”, column every Thursday for years, before he left the paper and moved over to National Mirror, as the editor, and rose through the ranks to become the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, 2010 to2013.
Ayorinde attended Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Lagos, Akoka and later, the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, where he obtained his Master’s Degree in Globalization and Communications.
Ayorinde, a polyglot, a widely-travelled journalist is also a European Union Fellow at the Foundation Journalists-in-Europe, 1997–98, an alumnus of the State Department’s International Visitors’ program, IVP, United States, the Goethe Institute, Berlin, and the University of Siena for Foreigners, Italy.
Egbemode Funke Adenike
Fondly call Madam-per-excellence by some of her colleagues, Funke Egbemode, presently Commissioner For Information & Civil Orientation in the State of Osun is former President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
She was managing director and editor-in-chief of Daily Telegraph Publishing Ltd, publishers of the New Telegraph Newspapers.
Born in Osun State, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife and a post-graduate diploma in journalism from the Nigeria Institute of Journalism in Lagos.
Egbemode started her career as a staff writer in the now-defunct Prime People magazine. She joined The Punch Newspapers in 1993 until 2000 when she was appointed editor of The Post Express on Saturday. Since then she has been associate editor of ThisDay and editor of the Saturday Independent. She is the immediate past editor of The Sunday Sun.
In 2006, she was nominated by the United States Information Service (USIS) to cover the U.S. mid-term elections. Egbemode has also served in the public sector as assistant press secretary at the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) and as a special adviser (Media) to the speaker of the House of Representatives. She has also been a board member of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
Francis N. Nwosu
This is yet another media guru, who knows the terrain too well. He is presently the executive secretary, Nigerian Press Council and former deputy director, planning, research & statistics for News Agency of Nigeria
Nwosu graduated from Advanced School of Mass Communications, University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, and also obtained BA (Hons) History/Political Science from the University of Yaounde, Cameroun.
For eight months, was the deputy editor-in-chief of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Abuja office, where he was the head of the features desk.
He has worked as a reporter, sub-editor, editor and desk head for years with NAN at the Abuja, Jos and other states in north-central Nigeria, for years.
Fred Fabor
Frederick Fabor is the General Manager of NDtv. He studied at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State and University of Jos, Plateau State.
Fabor, the former vice-president,(East), Nigerian Guild of Editors and former national deputy president, Nigeria Union of Journalists, was the editor of Bayelsa State Newspaper Corporation, Yenagoa.
Chief Goddy Ikeh
In 38 years, Goddy Ikeh, who began his journalism career with the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) in 1981, retired in 2009, knows the nitty-gritty of news writing, editing, and reporting at the local, national and global levels.
He graduated from the University of Ibadan, worked as a stringer for the OPEC News Agency (OPECNA), PAN – African News Agency (PANA), Bloomberg News, and the Star Group of Newspapers, South Africa.
He attended several meetings of the African Development Bank (AFDB), World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the Vienna, Austria based OPEC and OPEC fund, as a reporter.
In Nigeria, he was appointed press secretary by three finance ministers. He is the CEO of Forthworth Communication Agency, an outfit in partnership with the World Service Trust of the BBC on the budget monitoring programme.
Also, Ikeh is the regional editor, African Press Agency (APA), Dakar, Senegal and editorial consultant, Real News Magazine, Lagos, Nigeria.
Tony Iyare
Tony Iyare is a communications & development consultant. A product of the University of Ife. He has worked for decades in various media houses within and outside the country, where he was the head of various desks.
Presently, he is the special adviser, media affairs to Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki.
Dr. Halima Kamilu