IPI Nigeria celebrates Nigerian journalist recently reelected into global executive board

The International Press Institute (IPI) Nigeria on Thursday organised a dinner in honour of one of its board members, Raheem Adedoyin, recently re-elected into the executive board of the IPI International during the World Congress and General Assembly of the organisation in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mr Adedoyin represents Nigeria and Africa on the IPI board, headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

In his address, the IPI Nigeria President and Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu Mojeed, said the occasion was to celebrate Mr Adedoyin’s dedication to the organisation, which he noted has been instrumental in shaping the global conversation on press freedom and journalism.

He described Mr Adedoyin as a champion of press freedom, a mentor to many, and a shining example of excellence in journalism.

“We journalists hardly celebrate ourselves. We are very good about writing about other people celebrating other people, but we hardly gather to celebrate with each other. So this is a very unusual event that we all find time to come here,” Mr Mojeed said.

“It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to this special dinner in honour of our distinguished IPI global board member, Raheem Adedoyin. We gather tonight to celebrate Raheem’s remarkable achievements and contributions to the world of journalism. His tireless efforts to promote press freedom, foster excellence in reporting and support journalists worldwide are a testament to his unwavering commitment to our noble profession.”

Dignitaries at IPI event

In separate comments, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, IPI Nigeria and Chairperson, Media Trust Nigeria Limited, Kabiru Yusuf, and a member of IPI Nigeria Board of Trustees, Folu Olamiti, appreciated Mr Adedoyin’s commitment to the organisation when he served as secretary for 12 years.

Mr Olamiti also commended the IPI Nigeria President, Mr Mojeed, for steering the organisation to the path of greatness.

He noted that IPI Nigeria is one of the best African organisations pushing for press freedom and commended Mr Mojeed and his team.

He said: “When IPI was going through crises, there were so many people coming in and out to say let us have the elders take over the organisation. But Kabiru and others stood up and said let us have the younger ones… We then decided to have the younger ones take over. It was a bold move…These younger ones have actually done well to take IPI to the limelight.”

Mr Adedoyin speaks

In his speech, the honoree, Mr Adedoyin, reaffirmed his commitment to continued meaningful representation of Nigeria and Africa on the IPI executive board.

He said he had been committed to fighting the ‘euro-centric’ nature of the organisation, which he believed neglected much of Africa’s needs and concerns.

“Each time we are at the world meeting, I always say I can’t see what you are putting on the table for Africa. I’m here to represent African interests. We are always having issues,” he said.

He noted his persistence almost led to his removal from the board but for the support of Mr Yusuf, the chairperson IPI Nigeria Board of Trustees, and IPI Nigeria President, Mr Mojeed.

He commended Mr Mojeed’s leadership of IPI Nigeria, noting the renewed efficiency and results.

He said: “What IPI International has not been able to do, IPI Nigeria is doing. And we have become the favourites whenever we have meetings. Nigeria has become the shiniest. We’ve been organising trainings conducting advocacy, and whenever we see cases of press freedom violations, we try to tackle them.

“But on this note, I want caution, a little bit of caution. IPI is not an activist organisation. In fact, we do our jobs better when we use internal mechanisms to resolve issues that bother us.”

Mr Adedoyin also took attendees through memory lane of how he joined the IPI 29 years ago through Mr Olamiti during a trip in 1995.

“I got to IPI through Mr Olamiti. I think we were going to Japan and other places. He (Mr Olamiti) said you have to register to become a member before you can enjoy the benefit,” he said, adding that he would later serve as the organisation’s secretary for 12 years while running the organisation with Mr Yusuf.

Appreciations

Mr Adedoyin appreciated the organisers and speakers who extolled his virtues.

He spoke glowingly about Messrs Yusuf and Olamiti as well as Mohammed Idris, the minister of information and national orientation, who also graced the occasion, describing them all as his mentors.

He said Nigeria’s successful hosting of the IPI World Congress in 2018 was due to great efforts by Mr Yusuf and his newspaper, Daily Trust.

“Everybody talks about how well we did when Nigeria hosted a successful congress in 2018. To be honest, (I give it to) Kabiru and Daily Trust. Daily Trust was the secretariat. I was literally sleeping there. For six months, for the first time in my life, I did not leave Abuja. I even missed Ileya (Eid-el-Kabir festival) for the first time in my adulthood,” he said.

Mr Adedoyin also narrated how Mr Idris, then the chairperson of Blueprint Newspapers, came to his rescue when he was “going to become a refugee”.

“I was just squatting at one hotel, and he just came and said Malam Raheem, and he provided N500,000 for me to go and get accommodation,” he said.

He also explained that the three men, Messrs Yusuf, Idris and Olamiti, were instrumental to his nomination and reelection into the IPI global executive board.

He said: “You know, Kabir (Yusuf) is a democrat. We had agreed that I was going to be nominated. On the day we were to do it, he just kept mute. I was expecting him to say, ‘gentlemen, we have nominated Raheem,’ but he didn’t.

“He wanted the congress to actually nominate me, which was good. And who did the nomination? It was the honourable minister. Who seconded the nomination? It was Sir Folu Olamiti.”

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Attendees

The dinner was attended by senior government officials, including the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Onilu; the Executive Secretary of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), Biodun Ajiboye; the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Tunde Rahman; Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi.

The dinner was also graced by media executives, including the General Manager, Business and Strategy of Media Trust Limited, Ahmed Shekarau, who doubles as the secretary for IPI Nigeria; the Executive Director of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), Dayo Aiyetan; and the Chairperson of Blueprint Newspapers Editorial Board, Zainab Okino.

Dignitaries at IPI event

Others were the Chief Executive Officer of People’s Daily newspaper, Hamid Bello; the Publisher of Nature News; Aliu Akoshile; the Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Ali Ali, and the Head of the Postgraduate School of Baze University, Abuja, Abiodun Adeniyi, a professor.

The honoree also graced the occasion with his wife and daughter, Zainab Adedoyin, an ex-BBNaija housemate popularly known as JMK.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe