Metro Bayo Onanuga: 10 Things You Need To Know About The New NAN Director-General

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The Federal Government, today, appointed the Chief Executives of six information-related parastatals under the Ministry of Information and Culture.

The appointments were announced in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.

Here are 10 things you need to know Bayo Onanuga, the new Chief Executive officer of NAN

1. He is the managing director, editor-in-chief of TheNEWS Group, owner of PM News, alongside the political adviser of president Muhammadu Buhari, Babafemi Ogudu and Kunle Ajibade.

2. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors and a member of the World Association of Newspapers.

3. He was born in Ijebu-Ode on 20 June, 1957.

4. He attended Ijebu Muslim College, Ijebu-Ode (1970-1974), Federal Government College, Odogbolu (1975-1977) and University of Lagos (1977-1980), where he graduated in Mass Communications, with Second Class (Upper Division) degree.

5. At the university, Onanuga was a John F. Kennedy Scholar, arising from the scholarship, he won for participating in a national essay contest in 1977.

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6. After graduation, Onanuga first worked as Client Service Executive at Practions Partners, before he crossed over to OGTV (1982-1983). In July 1983, he joined the Guardian as sub-editor; January 1985, National Concord as Senior Features Writer and later same year as Senior Correspondent for the weekly magazine, The African Concord.

7. Onanuga became editor of the magazine in 1989. In April 1992, he resigned his appointment over the insistence of his publisher that he apologise over a story on Ibrahim Babangida, the military dictator of that time.

8. Onanuga thereafter led his colleagues, who resigned with him to found TheNEWSGroup in 1993. Onanuga has been the MD/E-I-C since then.

9. As a journalist, Onanuga has won several awards, the most prestigious being the Lord Astor Award for Courage and Commitment to Press Freedom. It was bestowed on him by the 50-nation Commonwealth Press Union in 1994.

10. Onanuga was among many journalists who suffered persecution during the military era in the country and fled into exile in December 1997 to fight the tyrannical rule of the Sani Abacha junta then.
 
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