For about 10 years, he was a force to reckon with in the newsroom of The Guardian on Sunday and for 20 years, Seth Akintoye made his mark at The Punch. In a memoir, ‘Twists and turns of life’, Akintoye, who will turn 65 in August, records his memorable years and also brutally examines the media, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU
He did not become a journalist until after working in other environments. Seth Akintoye, who last year retired from The Punch after two decades, was first a teacher and later a banker after graduating from the Victory College, Ikare, Ondo State. After realising the importance of furthering his studies, Akintoye enrolled for a National Diploma (ND) in Mass Communications at the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State in 1981 when he was 25. After the programme, he went to the Ogun State Polytechnic, Ojere for his Higher National Diploma (HND).
His journey has been some form of a miracle because from the start of his life he has been in one challenge or the other. The first was after his birth and his legs were twisted. He had to carry Plaster of Paris (PoP) on his legs for months to correct the defect. Later in the 70s, doctors found out that his right kidney was ectopic and he had to be on medication to avoid kidney stones, trauma and kidney failure. Over four decades after he was diagnosed with this condition and so much cash was blown, he will be 65 in August.
After his HND, Akintoye freelanced at Radio Lagos, where he had interned after his ND. He was paid a pittance and the pittance was even reduced later. After this, he got a job with a media organisation that did not last. Rutam House, the home of The Guardian, soon welcomed him with a bear hug. He was attached to the Sunday paper. The excitement waned with years when despite his contributions he was not promoted, even when his editor recommended. He began to see the environment as toxic, especially given the fact that many colleagues were working as ‘test candidates’ without pay, among many other anomalies. In his ninth year, he was invited by Azubuike Ishiekwene, who was Editor of Saturday Punch, to join the group of newspapers founded by the late Olu Aboderin. Thus ended his journey at the Rutam House, but it would take another four years and a protest letter from him for the company to pay his severance benefits of a little over N10,000. Akintoye’s account of his years at the Rutam House portrays an organisation where the owners’ cash flow was more important than staff welfare.
Akintoye also dwells on the COVID-19 pandemic, which has dealt a heavy blow on economies all over the world. His concern is the media industry in Nigeria, which even before the pandemic needed oxygen to breathe properly.
“The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) that started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, further dealt a terrible blow on the newspaper industry in Nigeria. There were lockdowns in major cities in the country for weeks. People could not come out of their homes, and many organisations were shut down. In fact, circulation figures of many newspapers went down to a ridiculous level, going below 10, 000 copies per day. Advert revenue also plummeted. Many newspapers asked about 50 per cent of their workforce to proceed on compulsory leave. Pagination also shrank from 48 in good times to 32 during the crisis.
“The said tabloid embarked on restructuring and reengineering in line with the realities of the times.Other tabloids had similar unpleasant stories to tell. Many workers were laid off. In fact, the Nigeria Union of Journalists in a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari called for help, saying the newspaper industry was convulsing,” Akintoye wrote.
He quoted a memo from the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of a popular tabloid: “This pandemic has dealt our business telling and severe blows.Our circulation and advertisement revenues dipped dangerously, compounding the operational and revenue challenges birthed by the migration of a majority of print newspaper readers and adverts to digital platforms.”
The pandemic’s blow on the media also touched Akintoye. One day he was summoned to a meeting chaired by the newspaper’s Managing Director, Mr. Demola Osinubi. Its Executive Director, Publications, Mr. Joseph Adeyeye, was also in attendance. He was told to tender his resignation because the company needed to shed weight. At 64 and one year away from the company’s official retirement age, he told the MD it would be unfair if he resigned instead of retiring. Osinubi saw sense in his argument and he was allowed early retirement with all the benefits.
This book is not just Akintoye’s story. In some sense, it is the story of the Nigerian media and what it is getting wrong. The author throws heavy blows on the media industry, which he feels has lost grounds. One of the problems he identified is the eclipse of the sub-desk, a hitherto integral part of every newsroom. He believes this is the reason behind newspapers being filled with errors. He adds that even in the United States and Europe, where English is their first language, the sub-desks are still retained. He fears that after his generation, quality journalism is in jeopardy.
“As part of the efforts to cut cost, operations in some newspapers had been collapsed even before the pandemic with one editor serving two titles, while there was no more distinction between correspondents who worked for the daily papers and those who worked for the weekend papers. Traditionally, weekend papers were known for exclusives, hence they had their crop of efficient correspondents who devoted totally to this cause. But the economic realities changed all this,” the author wrote.
He added: “Before the advent of the coronavirus pandemic that perhaps dealt a severe blow on the newspaper industry in the country, several newspaper houses had experimented with a new model of journalism that eliminated the sub desk, hoping to cut cost and save money by so doing. But the measure turned out to be cutting off your nose to spite your face. Standard and quality were seriously compromised, especially with the decay in the education sector, where university graduates find it difficult, if not impossible, to write a sentence correctly in English. Because journalism is done in a hurry, the founders of the profession created the sub-desk to clear the mess brought about by speed of production and incompetence. I still find a long list of copy editors and sub-editors on the mastheads of the Economy, Time magazines and other standard publications from Europe and America. These are the owners of the English language. But here in Nigeria, where English is the second language and where the education sector has degenerated in the last three decades into a ridiculous level, managers think a sub-desk is an unnecessary luxury.”
He is also puzzled about the secrecy attached to sales and circulation figures, a development, which has left advertisers with no adequate data to decide where best to run their campaigns.
Twists and Turns of Life’ also records two major events in the recent history of the Nigerian media. The first is the pulling out of some heavyweights from The Guardian to start The Comet after some changes were made against them. Akintoye gives the details as known to him. The other concerns the removal of Mr. Steve Ayorinde as the Editor of ‘The Punch’ and the ‘roforofo’ fight between him and Ishiekwene, the newspaper’s then Executive Director, Publication. Akintoye gives some insight from what he observed as an insider.
Written in easy to access language, Akintoye comes across as a brutal writer who heaps praises where necessary and deals dirty slaps if he is convinced they are deserved. His narrative is propelled by the need to lay bare the facts eschewing sentiments. He delivers a book with lessons for all in the media, but is anyone listening? We seem to have gone past caring.
