Lekan Otufodunrin, media career development specialist shares his memorable experience as an intern in the defunct National Concord newspaper in this facebook post first published in July 2012
Compulsory internship was not a requirement for Mass Communication students in my days at the University of Lagos (1982-1985). I was, however, lucky to get a vacation job at the headquarters of the defunct National Concord newspapers in Lagos in 1983 while on holidays after the first year of our then three-year course.
The internship helped me to practice all the theories of especially news and features writing I had been taught. On my first day at work, I would have been sent to cover an earth tremor in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State because there was no staff reporter on duty when the News Editor was alerted about the development. Then, there were no mobile phones to contact reporters to head to the scene of breaking news.
I had been briefed about what to look out for and assigned a driver for the sudden journey when Dele Olojede, Africa’s first Pulitzer Award winner, a senior correspondent with the paper showed up and he took over the assignment but I still had the opportunity of being accompanying him on the trip.
I didn’t get a joint byline for the story of the tremour which led the paper the next day, but I got more than enough bylines, including a lead story, for an intern before I completed my about four months memorable stay.
I cannot forget the day a story I wrote along with another intern led the paper. When I saw the copy at the newsstand, I bought one though I would still have been given another copy at the office. I was so excited that I almost told some of the free readers that I was one of the writers of the lead story in The Concord newspaper they were reading.
Last Monday, July 25, I was reminded of my internship days, when I was one of the guests of honour at the exhibition by students of Nigeria Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos to mark the students week. As I moved round to see the exhibition of the publications of some of the students during their internships in various media organisations and print advertising copies, I was very impressed by how many bylines some of them had. The print advert copies were as good as some of the ones by major advertising companies in the country.
One of Nigeria’s CNN African Journalists award winners, Toyosi Ogunseye of The Punch who was also one of the guests of honour attested to the high quality of the work on display by the students. Kudos to the students who made their school proud of what they achieved during the internship.
When I look back at how far I have come in journalism, I can’t forget how the internship at National Concord gave me the opportunity to start writing in national newspapers, including The Guardian before I graduated. When I went for a job interview at The Punch in 1987 and was asked to bring a story from the court. It was not a big deal for me. I wrote some court stories while at National Concord and still had some contacts among judicial reporters.
I also didn’t need to be told to go to late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s house in Apapa which was not far from our house in Ajegunle to get condolence messages, when I learnt he was dead. The report earned me my first job at The Punch as Ogun State Correspondent without any formal interview in 1987!
Many thanks to those who edited my amateur news reports in the early days of the internship. I remain grateful to particularly Papa Femi Onayemi, who went through my stories line by line and taught me how to write a publishable story. Pa Onayemi is one of my facebook friends.
If you are a journalism student reading this or you know anyone who is an intern or would still be one, my advice is that internship could be a lifetime opportunity to learn the basics of any profession. It is an opportunity to learn lecturers would not teach in school.
Kudos to NIJ students. Thanks for reminding me of the early days of the journalism of my life.
