\u2022By Qasim Akinreti Ph. D<\/b><\/p>\n
I am a member of the old school club,\u00a0 <\/span>always listening to traditional music of Ebenezer Obey, Sunny Ade, Yusuf Olatunji, and Baba Gani Eto- Haruna Ishola Evergreen songs. <\/span><\/p>\n However my university room mate, belong the new generation music lover. And so I was forced to listen to a lyric “…..on midas touch, everything I touch turns to Gold…..”. Please kindly help me with the name of the musician.<\/span><\/p>\n My uncle from Ogbonoya compound in\u00a0 <\/span>Ile Ife , Senior Colleague and former Editor Vanguard Newspapers, President Nigerian Guild of Editors and currently , Provost Nigerian Institute of Journalism , NIJ,Lagos,Mr. Gbenga Adefaye must have\u00a0 <\/span>listened to the new generation music always. <\/span><\/p>\n Egbon Gbenga Adefaye chose to live among journalists at the famous Journalists Estate Arepo, Phase Two, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway. His modest house is called “The Amazing Grace.” He became the chairman of the estate residence association and\u00a0 <\/span>contributed immensely to change the entire landscape of the estate.\u00a0 <\/span>Journalists’ estate phase 2 is an exclusive preserve of elite journalists and\u00a0 <\/span>the novel- riche. A drive to this estate will tell\u00a0 <\/span>the full story. <\/span><\/p>\n Gbenga, as\u00a0 <\/span>fondly called among his peers , rose to the pinnacle of Journalism as Editor -in-\u00a0 <\/span>Chief,\u00a0 <\/span>Vanguard Newspapers and made multimedia Journalism, the niche of Vanguard Newspapers. <\/span><\/p>\n When he became the president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, he established a journalism leadership fellowship endowment at the Pan Atlantic University, School of Media and Communication, Lagos.\u00a0 <\/span>The centre produced two scholarly books on media leadership personalities with the active support of\u00a0 <\/span>Elder Richard Ikiebe.\u00a0 <\/span>The publications are references on journalism practice and practitioners.\u00a0 <\/span>Ever since, no publication of its standard has been published in the Nigerian media. <\/span><\/p>\n The Elders group of our great profession – Journalism,\u00a0 <\/span>led by Chief Segun Osoba and Sam Amuka send Mr Gbenga\u00a0 <\/span>Adefaye to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism,NIJ Lagos to do a turn around of the school in all ramifications. <\/span><\/p>\n I was a postgraduate student at NIJ in 1992- 1993, and became adjunct faculty in 2008 through\u00a0 <\/span>the efforts of\u00a0 <\/span>the former\u00a0 <\/span>Provost , Dr Elizabeth Njem and Mr Okey Nwachukwu, former Executive Director News,Voice of Nigeria , VON. Till 2023, the\u00a0 <\/span>NIJ edifice remained a\u00a0 <\/span>U-shaped , bungalow, two storey building, and a library. <\/span><\/p>\n Within the first year of Adefaye in office,\u00a0 <\/span>the institution community radio became a reality.\u00a0 <\/span>Students broadcast news and programmes live.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The computer\u00a0 <\/span>and graphics rooms\u00a0 <\/span>were given a face-lift. <\/span><\/p>\n Then, a special convocation was held for Sir Kessington Adebutu at the impressive MUSON Centre. As a journalist and\u00a0 <\/span>academic, i was jolted with the concept of a special convocation for a monotechnic , not a university.\u00a0 <\/span>Adefaye, with the assistance of school management, made it happen .<\/span><\/p>\n The multi billionaire and philanthropist, popularly known as “Baba Ijebu,” promised\u00a0 <\/span>to build a multipurpose media centre at NIJ in Ogba,Lagos. <\/span><\/p>\n Thankfully, I returned to Lagos from VON headquarters\u00a0 <\/span>Abuja and was invited for the\u00a0 <\/span>groundbreaking ceremony as an alumnus and former adjunct faculty. <\/span><\/p>\n The architectural details of the media centre were\u00a0 <\/span>master piece. And then,\u00a0 <\/span>the surprise…. the completion date was\u00a0 <\/span>announced : September 2024. Whao!!!!<\/span><\/p>\n At intervals, I\u00a0 <\/span>visited\u00a0 <\/span>NIJ and Co-host Journalism Truama Education Research Group programmes with NIJ.This gave me the opportunity to see the progress of Baba Ijebu’s gift to Nigerian Journalists. <\/span><\/p>\n Last week, I received an invitation letter to a luncheon as an alumnus towards the inauguration of the Kessington Adebutu Multipurpose Media Centre. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n What a remarkable feat!!.<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, everything my Uncle, Senior Colleague, former Editor Vanguard Newspapers,President Nigerian Guild of Editors, and current Provost Nigerian Institute of Journalism touched has turned to Gold. <\/span><\/p>\n In our local ife palance; BABA RE AGBE o!!!!!.<\/span><\/p>\n Next assignment, Mr Gbenga\u00a0 <\/span>Adefaye is the total transformation of Ile Ife Development Board <\/span>\ud83d\udc4c<\/span> \ud83d\udc4f<\/span>\ud83d\ude4c<\/span>. Almighty God will continue to strengthen you in wisdom and good health <\/span>\ud83d\ude4f<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n I am a member of the old school club, always listening to traditional music of Ebenezer Obey, Sunny Ade, Yusuf Olatunji, and Baba Gani Eto- Haruna Ishola Evergreen songs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[9168,9167],"class_list":["post-20148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-midas-touch","tag-nij"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20148"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20150,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20148\/revisions\/20150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n-Qasim Akinreti,Ph.D Deputy Director Digital Media Voice of Nigeria.\u00a0 <\/span>Former Chairman Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ Lagos State Council 2017-2020.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"