Chief Ajibola Ogunshola
The
Centre for Values in Leadership has honoured a former Chairman of Punch
Nigeria Limited, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, for his outstanding
contributions to the country’s media industry.
At the 27th edition of the ‘Leader
Without Title’ colloquium organised by the CVL and held at the Centre
for Values in Leadership building, Victoria Island, Lagos on Tuesday,
Ogunshola attributed his success in media management to the resolve to
detach himself from the newspaper’s editorial content.
The theme of the colloquium was: ‘The Media as the Fourth Estate of the Realm’.
Ogunshola
recalled three instances when the newspaper published reports that
affected his close friends, including an ex-governor of Ogun State,
Chief Segun Osoba.
As painful as it was, he said he could
not intervene to stop the reports as he had chosen not to dictate to the
editors on professional issues.
“To members of the general public, the
belief was that the chairman of the newspaper reads the stories before
printing. Hence, he should be held responsible for any story against
them. Unknown to them, I read PUNCH newspapers in the morning like other
readers without any prior knowledge of the stories that were
published,” he explained.
Since he was not involved in the
editorial process, Ogunshola said he also refrained from apologising on
behalf of the newspaper.
He stressed that he never tendered any
personal apology to any aggrieved party as that would imply taking
personal responsibility for the content of the newspapers.
“I took a firm decision not to personally apologise for stories carried by The PUNCH.
My advice to complainants was to get their media officers to write the
company. For those whose voices were not very strong, I asked them to
write the company and copy me,” he said.
He added, “I retained a firm handle on
the company. One of the first things I did was insisting that all money
belonging to the company must be paid into the company’s account after
which cheques were issued for expenses incurred.
“I was concerned in promoting high
quality in terms of language style, my policy of non-interference in the
editorial content suited journalists. It also suited me well because I
did not have to devote time to that aspect.”
The panellists at the colloquium included the Chairman, Punch Nigeria Limited, Mr. Wale Aboderin; Publisher, Manufacturing Today Newspaper,
Mr. Stanley Egbochuku; General Manager, Vanguard Media Limited, Mr.
Gbenga Adefaye; and a former Managing Director, Concord Press Limited,
Dr. Doyin Abiola.
The Founder, Centre for Values in
Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi, commended Ogunshola for his contributions
to the media industry despite his background in insurance.
He described the colloquium as a vehicle
to showcase those who made a difference in the society despite not
having titles like governors and presidents.
Utomi said the colloquium was introduced to help the media industry in ensuring a stable social order.
“We live in a culture that is in state
of collapse. I am encouraged by my constant engagement with the
generation next. This generation needs to understand that there was a
time when Nigeria produced men of decency and integrity whose
achievements were functions of merit,” he said.
Adefaye, while reflecting on the effect
of external interference on the growth of newspapers, said, “The reality
is that states cannot run the media. When Chief Ogunshola was the
President of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, he tried
to enshrine ethical standards but diverse ownership interests tried to
frustrate his efforts. Many charlatans continue to invade the media.”
To this end, Adefaye advised that media
owners and editors would need to do more on internal control, saying
this would earn them respect.
While responding to the challenges of
managing media organisations in the country, Aboderin recalled that
former President Goodluck Jonathan invited him for talks over perceived
media attacks against his government.
Aboderin, who said PUNCH would stand for
the truth no matter the level of external pressure, said Jonathan
complained about negative reports about his government in the PUNCH
titles.
He said, “A few years ago, somebody said
former President Jonathan wanted to see me, I said no. Two weeks later,
the request came again. Then, I told them if I must see the President, I
would give them two conditions: One was that the President must allow
me to speak the truth and he must not offer me anything.
“When I met the President, he was not happy about the negative reports about his government in The PUNCH.
I told Mr. President that if one button misses on his shirt, people
will see it. I told him that the missing button is the common man. I
said Mr. President, you have many advisers, if you don’t change, you
will not come back.”
Abiola said, “The media should not
conform. The media is still very important. The media should reinvent
itself. Once you get too close to government, you start thinking and
behaving like them.”
On whether the media still plays its
role as the fourth estate of the realm, the Dean, School of Media and
Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, Prof. Richard Ikiebe,
noted that although the media remained an important factor in
development, he regretted that the media was making itself irrelevant.
“This is not only in Nigeria but every other part of the world. The media is not acting the way it should,” he said.
Egbochukwu said despite the advent of
the social media and the decline in advertisement, newspapers would not
go into extinction.
“The newspaper business will continue to lead. It will not go extinct. We, however, need to grow our circulation,” he said.
A friend of Ogunshola, Dr. Michael Omolayole, lauded his success in the media.
“I celebrate Chief Ogunshola as a
mathematician who has done well for himself and his organisation.
Mathematicians are known to be cranky. Ogunshola is a mathematician who
is excellent and not cranky,” Omolayole said.
Others at the colloquium were Prof.
Bashir Akande; directors of Punch Nigeria Limited, Dr. Lekan Are and
Lola Aboderin; Founder, Vanguard Media, Chief Sam Amuka-Pemu; Prof. Niyi
Oshuntokun, Prof. Niyi Akinnaso; and Founder, Kudirat Initiative for
Democracy, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, among others.
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