Taiwo Obe

In 2014, under the umbrella of the EverythingJournalism Group and The Journalism Clinic —both of which I run — and with sponsorship by the UBA Group, I convened the “Summit for Functional Social Networking for Nigerian Journalists.” Its aim was to make Nigerian journalists, old and young, aware that they were lagging behind in the digital age. I used an analogy then: Nigerian journalists were standing at a bus stop where buses no longer stopped. Attended by digital natives and aliens, I attest that the summit won many converts. Alleluia.

In 2019, The Journalism Clinic convened its 1st Media Leaders’ Summit, for Nigerian newsroom managers to explore how to reshape the industry for revenue and relevance in the digital age. At the back of my mind, I sought that our media houses should transform their newsrooms to deliver content worth paying for, to paraphrase Juan Senor, president of the Innovation Media Consulting Group, which I am Nigeria Director of. I cannot swear that much has changed in this direction.

Which leads me to our two-day gathering, the 2nd edition of the Nigerian Media Leaders’ Summit, starting today, 6 May 2024, in pursuit of products that, if strategically developed, would make our media sustainably profitable.

There is a sense in which it seems that these events were planned to come five years apart. No, it is sheer coincidence. We concluded at the first Media Leaders’ Summit in 2019 that we should convene yearly thereafter. Then, Covid-19 happened, and the world did not return to normal-normal until two years or so later. They call this period the “new normal” and it has its own unique characteristics.

When I was persuaded that it was time for this summit, I began to reach out to this star-studded cast of resource persons, at least half of whom I have only met online, and each of them agreed most enthusiastically to share their expertise and experience with our media leaders. May I crave your indulgence to ask them to stand up for your appreciative applause.

I then sought the buy-in of the President of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Mallam Kabiru Yusuf, who, despite an important company event this week, decided to be here, at least today. Late last year, NPAN hosted what its members considered a hugely successful retreat, and I was privileged to be a resource person there. In response to my email to him, Mallam Kabiru said: “TO, good resource people. We surely need such stints of learning and reflection. But resources are lean, depending on your terms, it may be a tough sale.” I responded: “I am a no-barrier person. All I need is your blessing in writing. An NPAN cooperative seal is good for me.” His exclamatory response: “You have it!”
We added the logo to the flyer, which I sent to Mallam Kabiru, and the sponsorship drive began pronto.

Power of relationships

Ladies and gentlemen, our convergence here is a triumph of cordial relationships and a principle simply called Ask.
Soon after we added the NPAN logo to the flyer, I sent it, the flyer, that is, via WhatsApp, to Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, whom I have had a cordial relationship with, since the mid-1980s when he was the editor of The Guardian Express, and I was the editor of The Guardian Sunday Supplement, both in the stable of the Guardian Newspapers, Nigeria.

I told him I would be starting a marketing drive shortly and that he should not share the flyer with anyone because it was still a draft.

A master of one-liners, he responded with “Noted. Nice.” The “nice” was what registered in my right brain and I quickly interpreted it to mean “this is worth backing.” A visit and many exchanges of calls and messages later, including one where Mr. Omotoso, whom I call Gbenguse-Bàbá, said “TO, go and calm down,” in the manner that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said it at one of his presidential campaigns, and, at the end of the day, we got the full backing of the Lagos State Government. My right brain is quite often right.

I have, through my company, TaijoWonukabe Limited, had a business relationship, since 1999, with Nigeria LNG Ltd. One of those in the External Relations Division since then is today the Division’s General Manager. I am talking about Mr. Andy Odeh. When I hinted him about this summit, he said I should consider it done, adding: “Talk to your people.” He was referring to Anne-Marie Palmer-Ikuku, Manager, Corporate Communications; Aremo Yemi Adeyemi, Head, Media Relations and Corporate Communications and Elkanah Chawai, Media and Publicity Advisor. Adeyemi and Chawai are here with us. They must have spoken well for us, as we got NLNG’s backing.

I have known this banker (name withheld, as we say in our reports), who is now one of the helmsmen at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), since the 1980s. When I shared the flyer with him, I asked him to advise me on how the CBN could sponsor it as the media are essential to democratic sustenance. He was then out of the country, and he promised to look into it on his return. He did, and the officials in Corporate Communications reached out to me that the apex bank would support, not sponsor, the Summit. I am fine with either, as long as there is an alert. Yes.

The Managing Director of UAC Foods, Mr. Oluyemi Oloyede, is my connection on LinkedIn. We have never met. I shared the flyer with him and asked for his company’s sponsorship. He came back to me saying: “Thanks very much. We are not looking in that direction at the moment. The marketing and sponsorships teams are very busy. We will explore next time.” The third day, I sent another inbox message to him: “By the way, we don’t mind products for our goodie bags. Many thanks.” That was fine with him. And, me too. That is why we have UAC Foods’ products as freebies.

When I had harvested all those goodies and saw that it would look somehow without support from a media company. So, I sent a message to the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Punch Nigeria Limited, Joseph Adeyeye, stating exactly that, and asked him for a segment sponsorship. “No problems, Sir. Send a formal proposal/request.” I made an almost similar request to Simon Kolawole, whose publication, The Cable, just clocked 10 years. Same response. They kept their promises.

Have you read the little book in your cute tote bags about the origins of the Academy Suites, yes, this hotel. Please do, if you haven’t. It is a truly inspiring one. I met the Founder, Dr Abib Olamitoye, a medical practitioner who switched from hospitals to hospitality, at their pioneer facility in Ibadan where I had stayed over and over. We became acquaintances. I came to this Abeokuta one to hibernate for a phenomenal book on the history of the petroleum industry from 1889-2022 that I am editing for a client who is also my friend, Chief Adedayo Ojo, MD, Caritas PR, and I loved it here. So, when I had to choose a budget-friendly venue, I had no hesitation choosing here. You already could guess what I did next: I asked Dr Olamitoye what he would be supporting us with, even as I knew that no discounts are given on rooms and food here. A smart negotiator, he threw it back at me. “Kindly confirm what you think I have the capacity to support you with.” Hahahaha.

My abridged response: “No. 1, and the most important for me, is EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE. I don’t want anyone to complain about anything. I have stayed in the hotel for about five days and I can say that I enjoyed my stay there. Otherwise, I won’t dare bring such a critical section of the Nigerian public to the place.

If you are able to, you might wish to give us the use of the hall free of charge for the two days. I know how it is now for the hospitality industry to run their facilities, so I would not put any further pressure on you.”
What we got: half price for each day.
I asked.

I asked Juan Senor, who would have loved to be in Nigeria for his presentation but for his tight schedule, for a reduction in his speaking fees, essentially because of our forex challenges. He not only agreed, he also promised that every delegate would get free PDFs of the high-in-demand Innovation Media reports. Some books he shipped by courier seemed to have been stuck in some country. Hope we won’t have to call INTERPOL.

I have been asking this gentleman, Ogbenyi Egbe – his twin brother is here – for the past 27 years to create magical graphics and he has never disappointed. He created all the graphics for this Summit – the logo, flyer, notepad, backdrop, etc – even through an indisposition of many months. May I ask that you send your prayerful and loving thoughts his way.

I asked Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, a long-time correspondent for many newspapers in this state before founding Penpushing Media Limited, to be the local coordinator for this Summit, and he has done a good job of it, including getting the State Government to provide shuttle buses for us and arranging a sightseeing tour on Wednesday morning before departure for those who are interested.

One day, I discovered that an Artificial Intelligence agent can be developed to record the proceedings of an event such as this and everyone could send prompts for highlights of speakers’ topics. I reached out to one of my Gen-Z friends, Samuel Oyefusi, after the person who had developed a similar app stopped responding to my queries, asking him if he could recommend a developer to me. Yes, this was right up the alley of his buddy. That was how Jerome Ufuoma Uloho, a young software engineer, was introduced to me. He delivered. When we were having some hitches with downloads, I asked him to hop on the morning train from Lagos to Abeokuta, yesterday (Sunday 4 May) and fix the damn thing, pardon my Egba language. He did and we have our AI agent. Hurrah.

Now, to our Chairman, Chief Olusegun Osoba: when I sent him the flyer and a short note asking him for his fatherly support, he simply said “OK.” I spoke to him some days later, as a reminder, and he promised to be here. And: he is, live and direct, as they say.
The message I seek to convey to you, in case I’ve not made myself clear, dear delegates, is that you must cultivate and foster relationships. And: Don’t be afraid to ask.

I am going to ask you to make your presence at the Summit meaningful to yourself and your organisations.
We are here for serious business, and I hope that you would go away with solutions to some of the challenges you might currently be facing in your different operations. You probably have heard that Readers Digest UK has wound up its business, 86 years after starting operations. Even the seemingly venerable ones are vulnerable. There is no magic bullet anywhere, but we must not stop trying everything.

That is why we must make this one a serious outing.
On behalf of The Journalism Clinic, I hereby express immense gratitude to you all – supporters, partners, resource persons, delegates, facilitators, and service providers too. Together, you have ensured that the 2nd Nigerian Media Leaders’ Summit is a reality.
Let’s get down to serious business.

*Opening Remarks by Taiwo Obe, Founder/Director, The Journalism Clinic, at the 2nd Nigerian Media Leaders’ Summit, 6-7 May 2024, at the Academy Suites, Abeokuta.