TMCnet News
Jimoh... Fifty Cheers for PR Expert(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) AIT is not often that media people are celebrated in Nigeria even though the footprints they leave impacts enormously on the development of the country. I suspect it is because our veterans in the media are modest people who don't want the news to be about them, preferring rather to work in the background. As a journalist is taught immediately upon entering the profession, you are not the news but the people and institutions you cover and publicize. But every once in a while, despite their protest, we have to doff our hats for our media veterans and celebrate their achievements, especially when they reach very important milestones. It is on this premise that we have cause to celebrate this media personality, thoroughbred journalist, public relations practitioner, political scientists and seasoned administrator in the genre of Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, who just turned 50 on October 18, 2014. He just bagged his PhD despite a very busy schedule running the media and publicity department of one of the most vibrant and successful agencies in Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). In the past, he had graduated as the best student of political science and the best student in the entire Faculty of Social Science of the University of Ibadan in 1987, later going for his masters in the same field at the University of Lagos. He also just recently rose from the headship of NAFDAC's media department to become the first ever Director of Special Duties of the agency, responsible for overseeing the affairs of eight units under the very busy office of the Director-General. Dr. Jimoh's initial dream was to become a professor of political science, but unknown to him fate had in store for him the great service he was to render to Nigeria through NAFDAC, changing the trajectory of his dream first to journalism, where he distinguished himself, and later to public relations where he set some groundbreaking records that has made him one of the giants of public relations in Nigeria. His membership of professional institutions in Nigeria covers the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Advertizing Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and the Nigerian Association of Political Scientists. This man who has been making journalists proud has been the brain behind the publicity and media campaigns that over the years have been deployed in fighting the criminals and drug counterfeiters that have held Nigeria ransom. Starting out as the pioneer Head of Media in NAFDAC at a very youthful age when the expectation was very high on the agency to do something fast to address the issue of fake drugs flooding Nigeria, Dr. Jimoh worked closely with Prof. Gabriel Osuide, the first DG OF NAFDAC to lay the foundation for the growth of what will basically become one of the foremost health institutions in Nigeria. At the expiration of Prof. Osuide's tenure and the appointment of late Prof. Dora Akunyili as the NAFDAC DG, this journalist would come out with some of the key media strategies that will be applied in spreading the anti-counterfeiting messages of NAFDAC to the public. Again, Dr. Jimoh has contributed to the groundbreaking and unprecedented success recorded by Dr. Paul Orhii in making NAFDAC one of the top 20 Medicines Regulatory Agencies in the world. He and his colleagues brave the dangers and continued to expose the evil machinations of the drug counterfeiters even in the face of threats to his life and safety. Dr. Jimoh believes that exposing the ill-gotten wealth of counterfeiters is one of the veritable weapons of anti-counterfeiting war. Dr. Jimoh's remarkable success in carving a niche for NAFDAC as the visible, well publicized and positively projected government parastatal in the country did not come as a surprise. He started his career as a journalist with the Kano state Government-owned Triumph newspaper when it was one of the most influential newspapers shaping public opinion in Nigeria. After leaving Triumph to work in the protocol unit in the Federal Ministry of Health in 1993, he has kept his attachment and engagement in the media alive by being active at professional associations, contributing to media discussions and conferences. Thus, it was only natural that when NAFDAC was established in 1993 and a seasoned journalist was needed to act as the information and media driver for the infant agency, Dr. Jimoh was the natural choice to be deployed from the parent ministry to carry out this function. Starting as a Senior Public Relations Officer, he would perform his role with distinction and rose through the ranks to become Director, Special Duties in January, 2013, thanks to the incumbent Director-General of NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii who elevated this multi-talented icon to enviable height. As a veteran of the media he continues to be consulted by professionals in the field, both young and old, to share his knowledge and insights. This is a role that has made him an inspiration worthy of emulation. As he turns 50, let us all raise our glasses to wish him many more years of service to his fatherland. Badomosi Ayeni is a public commentator based in Lagos Copyright The Guardian. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |