THE NIGERIA Union of Journalists (NUJ), Lagos State Council, on Wednesday called for immortalisation of Dr Doyin Abiola, a former Managing Director and Publisher of the defunct National Concord.
The chairman of the council, Mr Adeleye Ajayi, made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Doyin, one of the widows of the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential Election, Chief MKO Abiola, died on Tuesday evening at the age of 82. Doyin was the first Nigerian woman to be an editor of a Nigerian daily.
Ajayi said that Doyin was a veteran journalist who made significant contributions to the growth of Nigeria’s media industry.
“The government should immortalise Dr Abiola based on the roles she played. It might be to name a media centre or any media facility in her name,” he said, adding that the facility should serve as a resource centre or a media institute, where people can go and learn and remember the works of Dr Doyin Abiola.
Ajayi described her as an erudite journalist, a veteran of the newsroom and a frontline woman in journalism, whose contributions to the industry would not be forgotten.
“We mourn Dr Doyinsola Abiola. We have lost an erudite journalist. We have lost a veteran. We have lost a generalissimo of the newsroom. You agree with me that she was one of the frontline women in journalism and she did her utmost best.
“She was the Editor-in-Chief of the defunct Concord, and she played her role meritoriously; so, there is no way the history of Nigerian press or the history of journalism in Nigeria will be without mentioning Doyinsola Abiola. There must be a special place for her,” he said.
The NUJ chairman said that impacts made by the deceased should encourage more female journalists to show interest in print journalism and excel in it.
Also, Dr Adeola Ekine, the immediate past chairperson, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Lagos State chapter, described Doyin as an institution in the journalism industry.
Ekine said that the former publisher of the Concord was able to rise to the peak of her journalism career which, she said, was a male-dominated profession.
“She was really a determined woman and changed the narrative of female journalists in Nigeria. I believe that, for the younger generation of female journalists, Dr Abiola’s life will really be a lesson, because she showed all of us that with hard work, skill and integrity, no barrier is insurmountable.
“We need to learn, we need to grow and challenge the norm, and we should also let our voice be heard clearly, just like the legacy of Dr Doyin Abiola,” she said. (NAN)
