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| Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi swearing in Ogbuagu Anikwe as Commissioner for Ministry of Information. Enugu State |
Politics
Opportunity met
preparation and would lead to success in Enugu State when during the past week
Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi appointed a professional in the first ranks, Ogbuagu
Anikwe, to run the Ministry of Information.
Anikwe is the proverbial
square peg for the square hole. He has apposite education, expertise,
experience and exposure to serve Enugu State in the exalted seat of
commissioner. He also has one of the most important attributes for leadership:
a high quotient in emotional and social intelligence.
My testimony of 32-years
of interaction is that Robert Ogbuagu Anikwe is the kind of professional most
suitable to manage public communication in these complex times. He understands
the necessity for communication, information, education and citizen
mobilisation for values and positive ends.
Over a 30-year period, he
had a well-rounded experience as a reporter, line editor, editor, general
manager and chief executive/editor-in-chief of influential national media
(newspaper, online, and radio). He has formal training and specialization in
public policy analysis and human resource management (from the University of
Lagos), as well as media and marketing communications from the Pan-Atlantic
University (PAU), Lagos.
Anikwe is at home with the
socio-political environment of reforms projects in Nigeria, serving on various
World Bank communication efforts at Federal Inland Revenue Service and the
Ministry of Power as well as on the World Bank Economic Reforms and Governance
Project in Ondo State and Kogi State. Ondo and Kogi states? Yes, because it was
merit-driven.
Leadership comes naturally
to Bob Anikwe. He led his class in Mass Communication when the Institute of
Management and Technology, Enugu ranked as one of the foremost citadels for
communication training. IMT had on its faculty icons such as Onwuchekwa Jemie,
and David Edeani, both now professors as well as the first female to earn a
professorship in Mass Communication in Nigeria, Stella Okunna, and the late
Prof Ike Nwosu. He gained production experience on the copy desk of the
Satellite when it ranked as one of the foremost papers in the land. In our
field, production gives a more rounded exposure and understanding of why, when,
where, what and how.
He obtained a Masters in
Public Administration from the University of Lagos, another masters in Media
and Communication from Pan Atlantic University and is concluding his PhD also
at the Pan Atlantic University.
He was leader of our
Platoon 8 at the NYSC camp in Owo. We lived together as corps members in Akure,
joyfully serving Mr J.T. Aiyegbayo for whom we both produced guidance books for
primary schools in Mathematics (Anikwe) and English (Nwakanma). It did not take
long for the management of The Guardian
to recognise the capabilities of this journalist with an all-round perspective
in the process and they made him News Editor, The Guardian on Sunday and News
Editor of The Guardian.
He would later enter the
pantheon as Editor of the venerable Daily Times in the turnaround period of
Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo team. Thence to a rescue mission as Chief Operating Officer
of The Post Express.
Ogbuagu has experience in
strategic and public communication. He was in the team of the Office of
Government Communication in the Presidency. He served to design and define a
communication structure for the Federal Inland Revenue Service under the
auspices of the World Bank. He was later in the Technical team on Communication
for the Ministry of Power as Bart Nnaji worked to outline policy and processes
for power.
His cross cutting
experience includes managing radio as General Manager of Hot FM, Abuja and
Owerri. He last served as chairman of the Editorial Board at BusinessDay with
responsibility for business development in the Media2.0 era.
My friend Ogbuagu is
usually understated, of a quiet demeanour and deep. No noise, no affectations,
no show off. No time for the obsession with hedonism. He is
a committed family man, husband to Umeshie and father to a clan of brilliant
offspring!He is dependable and disciplined.
He led our cultural
rebranding in our Akure days. Filled with the energy and idealism of youth in
NYSC, we made our received English names secondary to our
indigenous ones. Robert or Bob changed to Ogbuagu and Idroped Ben for Chidorum.
He articulated our stand in an Op-Ed in The
Guardian, when appearing on that
platform was an honour.
Enugu State and Igboland
need professionals who can apply communication strategically for mobilisation,
engagement, socialisation, integration, entertainment and cultural promotion. It needs one who understands that the remit of the
Ministry of Communication is not merely press agentry or speaking for the
Governor but putting in place structures, processes and actions to provide
effective two-way communication between the State and all its stakeholders. Anikwe
understands development and policy communication as well as its market-oriented
variant and the nuances.
There are
many challenges, including confusion among citizens on what to believe, the
challenge to the legitimacy of governments in the region, external threats and
internal division. If any man can cut through the clutter and verbiage, it is
the cerebral Obuagu Robert Anikwe. There is excitement, acclamation and great
expectations. Go, forth, my brother. Deliver, as usual.
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