My Experience at Ikorodu News, by Dr Tunde Oseni

By Tunde Oseni

The Nigeria’s pioneer community newspaper Ikorodu News (known as Ikorodu Provident News at inception) was launched on 11 August 1983, the very day I clocked six years on earth. This fact was notknown to me until around April 2000 when I joined the editorial team of this influential publication. At 23, and not yet in the university, due to paucity of funds, utilizing my talents as a reporter-at-training cum editorial assistant was a dream come true. Although I had had a stint in grassroots newspapering at Community Newsreel around 1999, it was my journalism practice at Ikorodu News that eventually laid foundation for my subsequent achievements in life.

To some people, blessings may be counted in finances; but for me, every experience that connects one to a brighter future is a blessing. Today, a PhD holder and University Lecturer, I can trace much of my scholarly temperament and commitment back to my experience at Ikorodu News. So, essentially, those seemingly long nights of filing and writing reports, weaving stories together, thinking and acting on editorial and administrative assignments eventually paved way for a fulfilling future.

If I recollect accurately, one of my very first assignments was to cover a well-attended conference at the LIFE Seminary, Ikorodu, where prominent persons such as Dr Tunji Braithwaite, Dr Christopher Kolade and Mr. Femi Falana were invited to deliver incisive papers on the then controversial debate on the introduction of Sharia Law in some states of Northern Nigeria. I also remember that I did stories on bad roads, dangerous electric poles, dilapidated school buildings, security issues, and cultural festivals among many others. Yes, I also remember that we wrote an editorial calling for unity among Yoruba leaders (when Afenifere and YCE were in rivalry).  Copies of that edition with the front page editorial were sent to many leaders including the late Chief Bola Ige, then Attorney-General of the Federation. His office replied us from Abuja, thanking Ikorodu News.

More importantly, I was frequent at the corridors of power in Ikorodu Local Government secretariat along Beach Road (now TOS Benson Road) and the Lagos State Government secretariat in Ikeja. I was always conducting interviews with kings and chiefs, politicians and lawyers, administrators and analysts and of course, the common men and women on the streets. All these availed me the opportunity to interact with people (high and low) and understand issues from more informed perspectives.

Similarly, I benefited tremendously from the deep knowledge and experience of my employer and mentor, Prince Ganny Awobajo (whom I call ‘Daddy’ not only because he was old enough to father me, but also because he treated me like his son and was in fact, coincidentally, born in the same year as my biological father: 1946). An America-trained pen-pusher, Daddy was (and still is) talented, humble, open-minded, unrelenting, and always determined to bring out the best in his family, work and community.

In the last thirty years, one of the most enduring legacies of Ikorodu News has remained its penchant towards making community impacts. This attribute has stayed with the newspaper for good. This community publication has remained the best in terms of highlighting crucial community issues and sensitizing the grassroots people towards their civil responsibilities while promoting social and cultural renewal.  Despite the increasing costs of production, the publisher and managing editor has remained committed to rolling out the people’s paper every month.

After leaving Ikorodu News, I had proceeded to earn a First Class degree in Political Science at the University of Ibadan, a Masters at the University of Oxford, and a Doctorate at the University of Exeter in United Kingdom, all on scholarships. As a matter of fact, only God knows if these feats would have been possible had I not sharpened my writing, research and presentation skills during those good, solid eighteen months at Ikorodu News. Congratulations to the People’s Paper at thirty!