Less than 10 days to the inauguration of his administration, the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, may have made his first official appointment by naming the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of The Sun newspapers, Mr. Femi Adesina, as his Special Adviser (SA) on Media and Publicity.
Adesina’s appointment, though yet to be formally announced, is said to have been concluded but merely waiting for some formality before the official announcement.
Already, the management of The Sun Newspaper, it was gathered, is concluding plans to re-organise its management structure following Adesina’s impending departure.
Adesina was recently re-elected as the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) for another term of two years.
The NGE president was returned unopposed at the 2015 bi-ennial convention of the Guild which held in Lagos by his colleagues, most of whom described his tenure as the “best the Guild has ever had.”
With his new appointment, Adesina also becomes the second person to be so appointed while serving as the president of the Guild of Editors. The first person was the late Mrs. Remi Oyo, who was the SA, Media and Publicity to former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
A prolific writer and tested journalist, Adesina started his career at the Vanguard Newspapers as a features writer before later moving to the defunct National Concord Newspapers. He is a pioneer staff of The Sun newspaper where he became the editor, and later the managing director and editor-in-chief, a position he will be quitting for the new assignment.
As the president, Guild of Editors, Adesina fought for the rights and protection of journalists at every event or fora. In one of such events was a lecture organised by the Bank of Industry (BoI) where he advised the bank to find ways of encouraging media practitioners by giving them loans for the purpose of establishing businesses after retirement, pointing out that the media industry cannot afford to have more ‘veteran’ journalists.
Adesina in his presentation at the event titled: ‘‘The Media and BOI: Working Together’’ admonished Bol to patronise media houses, saying that they are not charitable organisations.
‘‘When you therefore have businesses, patronise them. If they are good enough for your press releases and other editorial items, they must also be good enough for your advertisements. Build a mutually rewarding relationship, including rendering investment support, as the journalists may require,” he said.
A seasoned and renowned journalist with over 28 years of experience in the industry, Adesina took The Sun to a new height. Under his leadership, the newspaper won several reputable awards.
In 2007, he was named the Editor of the Year by the Nigeria Media Merit Award.
-Thisday
