VIDEO: All Roads Lead to Abuja for Daily Times @ 91

All Roads Leads to Abuja for Daily Times @ 91

.Four presidents, 8 govs, others to be honoured

. Tinubu to deliver keynote address

As Nigeria’s heritage newspaper, The Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) honours creme de la creme in Nigeria today, all roads lead to the International Conference Centre (ICC) Abuja for the 91st anniversary of the organisation.

Chairman of the occasion is no other person than the former Executive Governor of Ogun State and former Managing Director of The Daily Times, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, CON.

His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Executive Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is the keynote speaker. Tinubu, who is popularly known as the Jagaban, is a charismatic and outspoken leader.

The categories for the Times Heroes Awards are: Leadership, Politician of the Decade, Woman of the Decade, Company of the Decade, Governance, Life Impact, and Public Service Impact.

Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, is to be honoured with the Times Heroes Leadership and Politics Award, while the Ghanaian President, Nana Akufo-Ado, will also receive the Times Leadership and Politics Award.

Former Nigerian Presidents, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan also clinched the Times Heroes Award for Leadership and Politics.

Times Heroes Politician of the Year Award goes to no other person than the President of the Nigerian Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki.

Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Dankwambo, will take away the Times Heroes Governor of the Decade Award.

The Times Heroes Governance Award goes to the most performing governors in Nigeria: Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode; Rivers State Governor, Nyesome Wike; Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano; Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu; Adamawa State Governor, Bindo Jibrilla; Zamfara State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu; and Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.

Chairman of Pinnacle Communications Ltd, Sir Lucky Omoluwa, grabs the Times Heroes Company of the Year Award.
Mr. Tony Elumelu, Chairman and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation wins the Times Heroes Man of the Decade.

First Bank of Nigeria’s Chairman, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, is awarded with the Times Heroes Woman of the Year award.

Six eminent personalities are to be awarded with the Times Heroes Life Impact Award. They are Thisday Publisher, Nduka Obaigbena; Veteran Nollywood Actor, Pete Edochie; Minister of State Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu; Co-founder of Transparency International, Oby Ezekwesili; Senator Lanre Tejuoso; and the founder and Senior Pastor, House on the Rock Church, Pastor Paul Adefarasin.

Meanwhile, the Board and Management of The Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) will occasion confer posthumous awards on two eminent Nigerians, the late former President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and doyen of Journalism and former Managing Director of DTN, the late Alhaji Babatunde Jose (OFR).

The conferment of the awards to these two distinguished Nigerians follows their individual contributions to the country’s development.

In conferring the award on the late Yar’Adua, Nigeria’s President between May 29, 2007 and May 5, 2010, the Board and Management of the nation’s heritage newspaper said the late President carved a niche for himself as a democrat and selfless leader who gave his all to re-building not only his home state of Katsina, but Nigeria as a whole.

The late Yar’Adua, who was born in his home state of Katsina, North Central Nigeria, on August 11, 1951, and died on May 5, 2010, was also a one-time civilian governor of Katsina State between 1999 and 2007 during which time he enunciated and executed several developmental projects, including road, education, health, housing and agriculture in his desire to increase the living standards of his people.

The late President, who was born into an aristocratic family in Katsina by the older Yar’Adua, a former Minister of Lagos during the First Republic (1960-1966), attended Ruffuka Primary School, in 1958; Katsina Boarding Primary School, Government College, Keffi,1969; Barewa College (1971) and the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, 1972-1975, graduating with a Bsc (Edu), Chemistry.

The late Yar’Adua, who was married to Turai, and was blessed with seven children- five daughters and two sons- had held various managerial positions, including General Manager, Sambo Farms; and Chairman of several boards, including Katsina Investment Limited and Madara Limited, respectively.

Elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), first as a governor and later as a president, Yar’Adua, who was challenged by a protracted illness, was a true democrat who meant well for Nigerians.

Also to be conferred with a posthumous award is the late Alhaji Babatunde Jose, OFR.

Jose was a former and first Nigerian Managing Director of Daily Times Group in 1962. A foremost journalist and indeed one of the respected doyen of the Nigerian journalism, Jose, rose through the ranks to become a colossus in the media industry.

Jose, an astute manager of human and material resources, was born in Lagos on November 13, 1925 to Hamzat and Mrs. Hajarat, both of blessed memory.

He was educated at the Lagos Government School, Yaba, Lagos Methodist School, and St. Saviours’ College, also in Lagos, before becoming a trainee at 16 years of age. At various times, in 1946, when he was transferred to the Editorial Department of The Daily Times, Jose later became a correspondent in the then Eastern and Northern regions, when the Daily Mirror bought a majority shareholding in the Daily Times.

Jose rose again, to become the News Editor of Times, Assistant Editor, and later Managing Director of The Daily Times.

He grew the paper as the best to beat, churning out over 1 million copies, and making sales that ran into millions of Naira.

He was later eased out, following the 1975 coup, and he went into some other endeavours, including training and manpower development of young journalists, one of whom is the distinguished chairman of today’s occasion and former Times man, as well as, former civilian governor of Ogun State, Aremo Olusegun Osoba.

The history of the Nigerian journalism industry cannot be complete without mentioning the critical role of the late Jose.

Alhaji Jose, as he was fondly called by his admirers and colleagues during his highly enviable and distinguished life as a journalist, astute manager of human, financial and other material resources, was an enigma of some sort, a moulder of human resources, uncommon Islamic devotee and a newspaper guru.

Jose, who died on August 2, 2008, was, to his family, friends, media industry and his numerous admirers, a quintessential man, who contributed immensely to, and added greater value to the Nigerian project, especially, from the pre-colonial times till the time he passed on gloriously nine years ago.

Indeed, Jose’s life was so dynamic and worthy of emulation because, at a time when his peers were still tied to the apron string of their parents, he was daring, trying to explore the outside wall of his family circle and his homestead, for greater challenges, which he achieved so remarkably too.

It is little wonder, therefore, that the Board and Management of the Daily Times of Nigeria have found it worthy to accord this eminent Nigerian, a well-deserved post-humous award, as a result of his distinguished service to humanity.

Outside journalism, Jose was a devoted Muslim; a businessman, a board member of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, among other callings.