Addressing
ThisdayAlumniAssociationAnnualDinnerfirst connotes an event: annual dinner, the maiden edition of which took place on Saturday, 16th December, 2023 in Abuja. The Thisday Alumni Association (TAA) comprises former Members of Staff of ThisDay Newspapers. The use of ‘alumni’, of Latin origin, implies that the alumnae and alums were either former nurslings, pupils, students, graduates, or associates, etc. of ThisDay Newspapers, published by Leaders and Company Ltd. and chaired by Prince Nduka Obaigbena.
Explicated differently, Thisday Newspapers constitute a special media school of thought. When Albeit Einstein said the purpose of education is not simply about gathering and accumulating facts and knowledge but essentially about training the mind to think rationally. And true enough, thinking without fear or favour was, and still is, the hallmark of ThisDay journalists. It is this particular factor that largely explains the jots of camaraderie of the TAA members. More interestingly, it is this same factor that also explains the choice of many ThisDay staff for political appointments at both the state and federal levels. The appointments of Olusegun Adeniyi, Kola Ologbondiyan, Waziri Adio, Yusuf Olaniyonu, Paul Nwabuiku, Ijeoma Nwogwugwu and many others were noteworthy.
For example, while Olusegun Adeniyi served as Presidential Spokesman to President Umaru Yar ’Adua, Paul Nwabuikwu served as Special Adviser on Media to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Okonjo Iweala. Waziri Adio was the immediate past Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). He also served as adviser to the Senate President on Communications. Simon Kolawole was the recipient of the World Economic Forum’s prestigious honour, the ‘Young Global Leader’ for the year 2012. In fact, many members of staff of the ThisDay newspapers, especially the former editors like Victor Ifijeh, Dr Amanze Obi, are stars on their own right where they currently find themselves. One major rationale for the progress of ThisDay journalists is the fact that they were initially educationally well-baked and Nduka Obaigbena has special eagle eyes to fish them out for recruitment within a new framework of media thinking. The establishment of an annual dinner as a new instrument of inter-personal relationships clearly illustrates this.
Beyond Tinubu’s 4-Ds
Without any whiff of doubt, the TAA is a projection of the ThisDay media school of thought beyond the frontiers of newspaper editorials and production. Reflecting over dinners cannot but be a very welcome development for various reasons. First, with the conception of an alumni association, the message is that the umbilical cord tying the ThisDay as an organisation, and the alumni association together will henceforth be strengthened. It will not be broken.
Secondly, the TAA has the potential to become a major instrument of Citizen Diplomacy as espoused by former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief Ojo Maduekwe. When official diplomacy is unnecessarily challenged by unforeseen irritants, citizen diplomacy is what governments often resort to. Citizen diplomacy, by its name, is citizen-centric. It is generally considered as Track-two Diplomacy because it deals with unofficial and officious contacts between and among government officials, and between them and non-state actors. Citizen diplomacy complements official diplomacy which is considered as Track One diplomacy. It is within the framework of Track-two Diplomacy that the TAA can play more prominent roles in Nigeria’s foreign relations as Nigeria’s ambassadors with ‘small letter “a”’ to borrow the words of Ambassador Nkemjinka Wadibia-Anyanwu, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Without any shadow of gainsaying, journalists with the mind of critical thinking who also abound in many media houses in Nigeria, should be specially organised into citizen diplomatic frameworks to reflect and help Government in the conduct and management of national questions. This is why the establishment of the TAA is of particular importance and should be nationally commended.
Thirdly, a distinction is often made between international relations which deal essentially with inter-state activities, and international life in which state and non-state actors are involved. International life is what we have called this column. It is Vie Internationale in French, the first language of diplomacy before English language was introduced as the second language of diplomacy at the end of World War I. Track-one diplomacy is associated with international relations while Track-two diplomacy is associated with international life. The TAA, therefore, cannot but be a potent instrument of Nigeria’s diplomacy in the foreseeable future, especially in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT)’s diplomacy of the 4-Ds.
Fourthly, as media professionals, Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution as amended requires the media, in its sense of press, radio, television and other agencies, not only to uphold the fundamental objectives of the Constitution but also to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people. It is on this basis that the TAA should seek to beam its light on Tinubuplomacy of the 4-Ds particularly in responding