PREMIUM TIMES Nigeria Editor-in-Chief / COO Musikilu Mojeed has become the President of the Nigeria Chapter of the International Press Institute (IPI).
A statement issued by the body on Friday noted that Mojeed emerged as unopposed president during a session of the Institute’s General Assembly, which was held physically and virtually in Abuja on Thursday.
At the meeting, the General Manager of Business and Strategy of Media Trust Limited, Daily Trust editors, Ahmed I. Shekarau, was also elected Secretary of IPI Nigeria.
Shekarau won the majority of the votes cast in the elections, defeating the only contender, Qasim Akinreti, who is the Deputy Director of Digital Media for Voice of Nigeria (VON).
The statement issued by the Institute’s global body Executive Board member, Raheem Adedoyin, also announced the emergence, unopposed, of Rafatu Salami, VON’s Deputy Director of Digital Media, as Treasurer.
The statement revealed that the General Assembly “entrusted the newly constituted exco to work to fill the vacant positions of vice president, deputy general secretary, financial secretary and legal advisor, which were not filled yesterday because there were no nominations for them.”
The election was led by a three-member Election Panel, in which the President of the Daily Trust, Kabiru Yusuf; Radio Now founder Kadaria Ahmed and Mr. Adedoyin as members.
The oath of office of the newly constituted exco was administered immediately after the general assembly by a lawyer / notary public, Zainab Musa.
The swearing-in of the executives was witnessed by the global member of the IPI Executive Board, Mr. Adedoyin, and members of the Institute’s Nigerian chapter, including the director of Media Trust Limited, Mannir Dan-Ali; The Chairman of the Editorial Board of Blueprint, Zainab Suleiman Okino; Associate Editor, Chronicle of the XXI century, Catherine Agbo and Mr. Akinreti.
Exalted
In his acceptance speech following his promotion to president, Mojeed, an award-winning journalist who has led the affairs of the globally respected Premium Times brand, expressed his team’s appreciation to all members of IPI Nigeria for the trust placed in they. .
He assured that the new exco will work harder to deepen press freedom and accelerate freedom of expression in Nigeria and the world.
“We will also work to deepen collaboration with newsrooms and other organizations in defending press freedom in Nigeria and elsewhere,” he said, adding that: “We will implement measures and programs that will make ours a voice. stronger as we stand firm for freedom of the media, freedom of expression and the free flow of news and information whenever, wherever and however they are threatened ”.
Mr. Mojeed also said: “Our team will also take a holistic look at the key issues facing our newsrooms today that undermine press freedom in one way or another. The issues include those related to ethics, regulation, sustainability, credibility, and fake news. “
Changes
Messrs. Mojeed and Shekarau yesterday replaced Messrs. Yusuf and Adedoyin, who had piloted the agency’s affairs for years as president and secretary, respectively, and have since been elevated to the organization’s Board of Trustees.
Other members of the IPI Nigeria Board of Trustees are Ms. Ahmed; The CEO of ThisDay Newspapers, Eniola Bello, and the veteran journalist and editor of Newsport Online, Folu Olamiti.
The General Assembly of IPI Nigeria in a session held on August 5 of this year ratified the proposals made for the expansion of its current executive council (Exco), which led to the creation of additional offices in the exco as vice president, undersecretary . and legal advisor.
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Congress also approved the change in the nomenclature of the top leadership position in its Exco, from being president to president, while also adopting a proposal to adopt the name of secretary instead of general secretary for his scribe.
IPI
The International Press Institute (IPI) is a global network of leading media executives, editors and journalists.
Since its inception in 1950, it has made a constant and energetic crusade for media freedom in every corner of the world.
The Nigerian chapter of the Institute has also done the same to some extent, deploying the platform to resist the brutal attacks on press freedom in Nigeria.
Profile
Mr. Mojeed, an award-winning investigative journalist, was the investigative editor at the now-rested NEXT newspaper.
Stanford University International John S. Knight Fellow and Ford Foundation International Fellow at the City University of New York have reported extensively on corruption, human rights, and human trafficking.
He is arguably one of the most respected investigative journalists and media educators in Africa.
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He has won several awards, including the FAIR Editor’s Courage Award and the Wole Soyinka Investigative Reporting Award.
Mr. Mojeed was a member of the board of the Forum for African Investigative Reporters and is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).
He is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
Mr. Mojeed studied Mass Communication at Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic School and Communication Arts at Uyo University.