Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation Sam Omatseye will deliver a lecture at the University of Osun today.
The topic is, “Political Communication in a multimedia age”. This will take place at noon on the Ikire camp.
He will also, in a different session, read from his novel, “My Name is Okoro”, as well as from his latest poetry volume, “Scented Offal”.
He will cap the day with an interaction with the communications students of the university.
Tag: Omatseye
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Omatseye for UNIOSUN lecture
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Adebule hails Omatseye, others at Concord Press reunion
•Dele Giwa’s killer must be tried, says brother
Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs. Idiat Adebule has congratulated the Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation, Sam Omatseye, for his contributions to journalism.
Mrs. Adebule spoke at the weekend during the second edition of the reunion and reception dinner for former workers of Concord Press organised by the Great Concord Press Family (CFN).
The CFN honoured Omatseye as well as former editors, reporters and workers of African Concord, Business Concord, Weekend Concord and Midweek Concord, all owned by the late Bashorun M. K. O. Abiola.
Other recipients include Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, and Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Bayo Onanuga.
Also awarded were a former Special Assistant (Research) to the Delta State Governor, Mr Frank Igwebueze, publisher of Ovation magazine, Bashorun Dele Momodu, Chairman of Brilla FM, Dr. Larry Izamoje, Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Communities and Communication Kehinde Bamigbetan, and Dr. Damola Olajumoke.
A special posthumous award was conferred on the late Dele Giwa, founder of Newswatch magazine, who was murdered with a parcel bomb on October 19, 1986.
Adebule, who was represented by a director in the Deputy Governor’s Office, Prince Kareem Dosunmu, congratulated the organisers for celebrating members who distinguished themselves in their calling.
She added: “The time is now appropriate for those of you who are successful to give back to society and, perhaps, consider initiating a Trust/Welfare Fund to take care of these indigent members.”
Omatseye urged the organisers to broaden the scope of subsequent reunions.
He said: “I feel honoured. I left the paper in 1997, so, for me to be given this award 19 years later, it’s quite an honour. It’s also an opportunity to meet with people one has not met for many years; there’s this sense of gregarious joy.”
Mr Tunde Giwa, who received the award in memory of his elder brother, Dele Giwa, thanked the organisers for the honour.
He told The Nation that the Giwa family suffered following the death of its breadwinner, and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reopen the 30-year-old case.
Giwa said: “The killer, till now, we know him, but he’s untouchable. We’re crying for a reopening of the case because his killer is out there, walking freely. You can’t touch him, but I believe that the present government has integrity.
“President Buhari does not fear anyone and if the government can do what is happening now to judges, I believe it can touch anybody. And that is the only thing that can gladden my heart, when I see the suspected killer in the dock. We’re still hopeful.”
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Omatseye to deliver CDHR annual lecture
hairman, Editorial Board of The Nation Newspapers Mr. Sam Omatseye will tomorrow deliver the keynote address and lecture at the Annual General Conference (AGC) of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).
Omatseye, who was the committee’s first secretary-general, will speak on: “The Concept of Rule of Law and The Notion of Justice for the Survival of The Nigerian State”.
The event will hold at MAN House, Ikeja, Lagos from 10:30am.
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Akinfeleye, Omatseye, Dabiri-Erewa, others honoured at UNILAG
The Press Club of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has honoured the doyen of Mass Communication, Prof Ralph Akinfeleye, and ace columnist Sam Omatseye with Fourth Estate Excellence Awards at the Fifth Ngozi Agbo Memorial Media Lecture.
Also honoured at the event included the Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to President Muhammadu Buhari, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa and The Nation’s Online Editor, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin.
The honorees were recognised for their contribution to the development of campus journalism and journalism in Nigeria. The lecture was in remembrance of the late Mrs Ngozi Agbo, the pioneer Editor of CAMPUSLIFE, a student- and youth section of The Nation. The lecture also featured essay competition and debate after which winners were presented with prizes.
The guest speaker and award-winning journalist, Pelu Awofeso, speaking on the theme: Media campaign: A tool for activism and citizen journalism, advised students on constructive activism. He urged participants to use social media for personal and professional development.
Otufodunrin, who is the patron of the club, emphasised the place of ethics in reporting, charging the young journalists not to trade the ethics for personal gains.
Prof Akinfeleye said there was need for media practitioners to stand firm as members the fourth estate of the realm, noting that the responsibility of journalists is to preserve the cherished values of the society.
Mrs Joy-Rita Mogbogu, the club staff adviser, said the Press Club would not relent in its responsibility to promote academic excellence and the school image. She said members would continue to uphold the legacy of the late Mrs Agbo.
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Akinfeleye, Omatseye, Dabiri-Erewa, others honoured at UNILAG
The Press Club of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) has honoured the doyen of Mass Communication, Prof Ralph Akinfeleye, and ace columnist Sam Omatseye with Fourth Estate Excellence Awards at the Fifth Ngozi Agbo Memorial Media Lecture.
Also honoured at the event included the Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to President Muhammadu Buhari, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa and The Nation’s Online Editor, Mr Lekan Otufodunrin.
The honorees were recognised for their contribution to the development of campus journalism and journalism in Nigeria. The lecture was in remembrance of the late Mrs Ngozi Agbo, the pioneer Editor of CAMPUSLIFE, a student- and youth section of The Nation. The lecture also featured essay competition and debate after which winners were presented with prizes.
The guest speaker and award-winning journalist, Pelu Awofeso, speaking on the theme: Media campaign: A tool for activism and citizen journalism, advised students on constructive activism. He urged participants to use social media for personal and professional development.
Otufodunrin, who is the patron of the club, emphasised the place of ethics in reporting, charging the young journalists not to trade the ethics for personal gains.
Prof Akinfeleye said there was need for media practitioners to stand firm as members the fourth estate of the realm, noting that the responsibility of journalists is to preserve the cherished values of the society.
Mrs Joy-Rita Mogbogu, the club staff adviser, said the Press Club would not relent in its responsibility to promote academic excellence and the school image. She said members would continue to uphold the legacy of the late Mrs Agbo.
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Learn about Nigerian civil war, Omatseye urges youths
Nigerian youths have been urged to learn the history of the country, especially the circumstances surrounding the Nigerian civil war which took from 1967 to 1970. This was at the reading of ‘My Name Is Okoro’ a new novel by journalist and public commentator Sam Omatseye at the University of Lagos.
Using the name ‘Okoro’ which is answered by the Igbo, Urhobos and Binis in Nigeria, Omatseye highlights travails of minorities caught up in the battle between the Biafran and Nigerian troops.
But citing the trends of recent books such as There Was A Country by Chinua Achebe, Roses and Bullets by Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo and Half Of A Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Adichie amongst others, a student asked why nearly 50 years after, Nigerian writers still focus on the Nigerian civil war.
Responding, Omatseye, a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and chairman editorial board of The Nation newspapers said: “Today, we’re talking about restructuring. The whole issue of the civil war was based on the idea of restructuring. Today, we have IPOB, today, we have MASSOB, today, we have Niger Delta Avengers. It shows that the issues of the civil war have not been resolved.
“In the United States, a book comes out every year. An industry has been created around the United States civil war that every year, books come out on the US civil war, even after 150 years of the end of the war. So, that is how crucial that story is to them.”
According to the author who studied History at the University of Ife he was motivated to write the novel because a lot of the Nigeria/Biafra battle took place outside Igboland, yet many literatures have managed to obliterate the minority. “There is still that gap in the narrative of the civil war. We have not really talked much about it,” he said.
Reviewing the novel, Dr Chris Anyokwu of the department of English,University of Lagos, said: “If there is any new dimension. My Name Is Okoro adds to the Nigeria/Biafra war novel tradition, it is that it is not only the Ndigbo that suffered the pogrom but minorities did as well.”
A highpoint of the reading was when Mr Olawale Edun, chairman of Vintage Press, publishers of The Nation newspapers, bought the novel for every student present, to which he got a wild cheer.
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Ambode, Falana, Omatseye harp on importance of preserving national archives
LAGOS State GovernorAkinwunmi Ambode, Lagos lawyer Femi Falana and Chairman, Editorial Board of the Nation Newspapers, Mr. Sam Omatseye yesterday harped on the need for Nigeria to begin to pay greater attention to preserving national archives.
They spoke at an event to commemorate this year’s Archives Day, with the theme: “Corruption and Security Challenges in Nigeria-The Place of Records and Archives Management”.
They unanimously agreed that some of the problems besieging the country could have been addressed easily, if there were adequate record of past occurrences.
Ambode, in his goodwill message, said the event was apt since it has become necessary to raise awareness on the necessity to conserve historical artefacts for posterity.
The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said Lagosians were noted for their colourful historical background and trado-cultural practices, which have served as a veritable tool for the state’s rich tourism and hospitality potentials for local and foreign investors.
He said his administration, through the Lagos State Records and Archives Bureau (LASRAB), was diligently gathering traditional and cultural artefacts and records to tell the story of Lagos for the benefit of future generations.
The governor said the State Museum of Traditional History located in Ifako Ijaye Local Government is a repository of the historical records and artefacts of the “Awori” and a convergent point for families and interested people, especially at festive seasons.
On his part, Falana said no country can make meaningful progress if it has a dearth of records, just as he stressed that Nigeria’s fight against corruption and insecurity was being hampered by lack of adequate information.
“What is going in the Niger Delta now is the height of intelligence failure in any country. After the crisis in that region and the emergence of the militants and the crisis that led to the amnesty programme, we would have expected that for a country that keeps records, as was the case in those days. For instance, in those days, when a prisoner is released, where he goes to, he will be monitored.
“It is pathetic that our security officials are more interested in reckless abuse of human rights rather than gathering information and intelligence.
“In Nigeria today, it is not easy to get copy of any judgment. There is no court in Nigeria that can give you a copy of judgment of 15 years ago. We have an archive in the Lagos High Court; and to get a document from the archive would require one paying specially. They will tell you that you should give them three months. And after the time elapses, they will tell you that they cannot find the document. With this act, vital records are lost,” Falana said.
Omatseye, in his presentation, said record-keeping in will continue to make no meaning unless the country develops historical consciousness.
The award-winning columnist, who was one of the panellists at the event, said despite the sufferings that the people of the Eastern region where subjected to during the civil war, there was no proper documentation of the details at the museum in that region for the younger generation to learn from.
“Archiving is important; but it is meaningless without a sense of value,” he added.
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Omatseye files appeals against conviction
Former Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Director General Raymond Temisan Omatseye has appealed against the five years jail term a Federal High Court sitting at Ikoyi, Lagos slammed on him.
Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, pointing to approval above Omatseye’s threshold of N2.5million, sentenced him to five years imprisonment without an option of fine.
She also sacked the ex-NIMASA director general from NIMASA.
Arguing that his client was being persecuted and not prosecuted, Omatseye’s lawyer Mr. Edoka Onyeke said contract splitting exists in the law, “but approval above threshold does not exist”.
Ofili-Ajumogobia, in her judgment, noted that Omatseye, who faced a 27-count bordering on bid rigging and contract splitting worth N271 million while he was the boss of the maritime regulatory agency, was on suspension.
The lawyer alleged that the judge, who had been transferred to the Kwara State jurisdiction of the court, threw out a January 23, 2013, letter from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), which cleared Omatseye of any wrong doing while in the agency.
Onyeke added that the letter, addressed to former President Goodluck Jonathan and signed by former BPP Director General Emeka Ezeh, informed the president that after a scrutiny of the case, the bureau was of the view that the 27-count were breaches brought under sections of the Procurement Act that deals with administrative breaches rather than real offences under the Act that could attract conviction or sanctions from the regular courts.
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Kudos for Omatseye at launch of book on Jonathan years
The consequences of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s maladministration as predicted few years ago by the Chairman, The Nation Editorial Board, Sam Omatseye, in his column were reflected upon yesterday in Lagos at the public presentation of a book: A Chronicle Foretold, written by the award-winning journalist.
One of the eminent personalities, who spoke at the event and Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola said the author was not the only writer who warned Nigerians about the consequences of what the last administration was doing.
“What we are here to present contains what others have warned us about. Sam was not the only one that warned us about the chronicles we are witnessing today. We must learn from the lessons of the season,” he said.
Fashola, who noted that he shares same literary pleasures with the author, added that “his prose and references are what we share”.
“I am here because unfailingly I read his column every Monday. After that, I am done with the papers. I am also here because of fidelity.
“In 2007, when my candidature was announced, I prepared for a debate. Sam was the one, who vehemently took me on debate as opponent. He helped me to prepare for my journey into the Government House. In 2007, he did the same thing. He was my Ajanlekoko,” the minister said.
Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El Rufai, who spoke on Birth pangs of a new era, said his administration discovered that only one per cent of his people spent the lion share of the state’s commonwealth.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mr. Barnabas Bala, explained that Kaduna State operates a citizenship status as against the indigene status, which discriminates against settlers.
He added that he met a huge workforce, especially political appointees, which were reduced from about 100 to 10 to save resources for the needs of the people.
Publisher, Vanguard Newspaper Mr Sam Amuka-Pemu, who hailed the author’s courage, described Omatseye as a celebrated writer and “grammar boy”, who writes about interesting time in the nation’s history.
The Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, described Omatseye as a brave writer, who has taken great risk.
To Senator Anthony Adefuye, the author “is a fearless writer and trouble maker”, who always draws his spear through the heart of those he wants to hurt.
In his review, Mr. Kunle Ajibade, who tagged his review Integrating Our Unfolding Times, said the book is an illuminated collection of 77 pieces of the author’s columns in The Nation.
“In this book, he is less of a prophet as some of his predictions have come to pass,” he said. Ajibade described the book as the accuracy of Omatseye’s predictions, which is not only about Nigeria but about the author and other countries.
At the launch were All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was represented by Mr. Bayo Onanuga; Lagos State Governor Akinwuni Ambode (represented by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Education Mr. Fela Bank-Olemoh); former Ogun State Governor Olusegun Osoba and newspaper administrator Prince Henry Odukomaiya.
Others are Vintage Press (publishers of The Nation) Managing Director Mr. Victor Ifijeh; Managing Director, The Sun Mr. Eric Osagie; representatives of Sokoto, Borno and Oyo states governors as well as many others.
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Omatseye to present book on Jonathan years
The Nation Editorial Board Chairman Sam Omatseye will tomorrow present his latest book, A Chronicle Foretold, at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos.
The event, which will kick off by 10am, has as its theme, ‘The birth pangs of a new era.’
Published by Sunshot Associates, Lagos, the essays in the book foresaw Nigerians’ dashed promises under Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s Presidency and some brilliant works by some governors and public officers.
“I wrote that the Jonathan era would signpost a wave of squandermania, corruption and failure,” said Omatseye, whose column, In Touch, is published every Monday on the backpage of The Nation.
“While others congratulated him, I drew our attention to what I knew would happen. It was not a special insight, but a simple vivisection of the times and Johnathan’s background and the crowd that surrounded him. I was proved right. Hence I call this collection of essays published in The Nation newspaper, A Chronicle Foretold.”
Omatseye’s other published works include poetry books Dear Baby Ramatu, Lion Wind and Other Poems, a play, The Seige, and two novels – Crocodile Girl and My name is Okoro.