Obinna Odogwu
Nigeria’s foremost media resource centre, International Press Council (IPC), has announced the reconstitution of its governing board, with three more persons added to its structure, bringing the total to six.
This comes as the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Political Affairs, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, voluntarily stepped down as a member of the body on account of his current political engagements.
The news was contained in a statement by the Executive Director and Secretary to the Board, Mr Lanre Arogundade, at the end of the organisation’s board meeting and annual staff/management retreat in Lagos on September 20 and 21, which was signed and made available to reporters by the IPC’s Programme Manager, Sanmi Falobi.
The three new members of the governing board are Ms Victoria Ibanga, Mrs Funke-Treasure Durodola and Mr Gbemiga Ogunleye. Other members of the board are Mr Edetaen Ojo, Mr Wale Adeoye and Mr Lanre Arogundade.
The statement quoted Arogundade as saying that the board members would be publicly presented during the forthcoming public lecture and airing of a documentary as part of activities lined up to commemorate the 20th year since the Council’s establishment in October 1999.
The details of the anniversary, according the IPC, would be announced soon.
According to the statement, Ms Ibanga, a veteran journalist, is a former Visiting Fellow of Freedom House in the United States and Alumna of Women’s Edition, PRB, United States of America (USA).
She is also a former General Secretary of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, current National Treasurer of the body and the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of Next Edition Online newspaper.
On her part, Mrs Durodola, a multiple award-winning broadcast journalist, is an experienced news anchor, producer and presenter, media trainer and a Fellow of the Thomson Foundation, UK.
She is the author of ‘Pronunciation Guide for Second Language Speakers of the English Language’ and, until her recent retirement, an Assistant Director of Programmes at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Lagos Operations.
Mr Ogunleye, a lawyer, and veteran journalist, is a former Editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Punch Newspapers and a former Director of News and Current Affairs at Television Continental (TVC).
He was the pioneer Head of Corporate Communications of Arik Air and a former Vice President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. Mr Ogunleye is the current Provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), Nigeria’s leading journalism training institution.
The statement further stated that both Mr Edetaen Ojo and Mr. Wale Adeoye retain their positions on the board as Chairman and Member, respectively; while Mr Lanre Arogundade, IPC’s founding Coordinator, was newly designated Executive Director by the board.
“The scholarly, intellectual, professional and gender diversity of the new board demonstrates the commitment and readiness of IPC to continue to deliver on its mandate as Nigeria’s leading media development and press freedom organisation,” the statement quoted Arogundade as saying.