Hate him or love him, the Editor-in-Chief/Chairman of ‘ThisDay’ Newspapers and Arise Television, Prince Nduka Obaigbena, occupies an indisputable position in the history of the Nigerian media. As a ground-breaking entrepreneur who spearheaded stunning innovations that changed the face of the print media, his place in Nigerian media has become indubitable. The Duke from the Owa Kingdom has not only ran against the tide and set new standards, he remains a defining symbol possessing stronger intellectual coercion platforms molding public opinion.
The young child that would later be named Nduka was born in Ibadan, on July 14, 1959 into the royal family of Owa Kingdom in Delta State. He attended the Edo College in Benin City and, thereafter, proceeded to the University of Benin for his degree programme. He was also the Graduate School of Business at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He also attended University of Cape Town for an Advanced Management Programme.
When he founded ‘ThisDay’ newspapers in 1995, there was no doubt that his experience as owner of the then rested THISWEEK would provide invaluable lessons on how to survive on the high stormy seas of the print media. Realising that financial challenge remains the albatross of the media; the owner of the rested weekly magazine was determined to walk the thorny road of pulling through a successful print media that was still dominated by those sticking to ancient rules of ‘cut and paste” journalism.
In 1998, he introduced electronic filing of stories by reporters after he turned the back page of his newspaper into columnists’ views against the normal sports news. He also introduced special inserts like ‘ThisDay Style’ which attracted men and women of glamour for public attention. He is also known to have successfully run the newspaper even without owning a printing machine.
I had the privilege of meeting the Duke himself sometime in the third or last quarter of 1999 when I arrived Lagos for a media job hunt. Rev Fr., now Bishop, Matthew Hassan Kukah, then Secretary of the Catholic Secretariat, had graciously written a letter to Mr. Ide Eguabor, then a red neck at ‘ThisDay’ for possible assistance. To pave the way for my planned employment, Eguabor directed me to Mr. Emmanuel Efeni, then acting editor of the Sunday title.
Efeni disinterestedly sized me up and asked if I really wanted a media job. I replied in the affirmative.
“Do you know the Bar Beach in Lagos?”
“Yes”.
“Tomorrow is Wednesday. Be there at the beach and file a report on what normally takes place from the evening to the morning hours. I expect the report to be filed by Friday. Let me see if it will publishable”, he ordered than advised.
As I left his office, I was determined not to let him or myself down. When my report, entitled, ‘Sunrise At dusk’, was published, without changes to the title, I was so excited and thought I was closer to my dream of securing a job with the newspaper.
“When can I start the job? I asked excitedly.
“Not before filing reports for at least two months, if you are lucky”.
I was crestfallen.
“Your next report should be a visit to any brothel of your choice. Have a conversation with any of the prostitutes and file in the report for next week,” the editor ordered as he made to dismiss me to attend an editorial meeting.
I told him that was not my area of interest. I was more comfortable writing on politics than social events. Someone would later advise me to meet the Chairman for his intervention. After several weeks, I finally met Prince Obaigbena and narrated my ordeal. He expressed sympathy and advised me to wait for the general test for applicants to be employed later in the year. ‘The Examiner’ newspaper, founded by the late Chief Pini Jason, would later engage me in September 1999 and post me to Abuja as Senior Correspondent.
The founder of ‘ThisDay’ newspapers is a media elephant whose roles can only be measured by those who have come in contact with him. My perception of him reveals him as a media personality who carries the imprimatur of how to succeed in the murky waters of the nation’s media. While some may be too quick to condemn him over alleged refusal to pay journalists working for him, it is indisputable that most of his reporters and editors are the most prosperous. Of course, I have come across some of his workers that are not happy with him over owed salaries; but the truth is that the problems of unpaid wages in the media is not exclusive to ‘ThisDay’.
Assessing the consummate status of the Duke within the area of salary payment may seem unjust, as he is known to deploy to take care of his workers. He possesses a large heart that seeks the prosperity of his workers. More than any publisher, The Duke has liberalised his media outfits and converted them into a veritable platform of marketing diverse ideals for national consensus building, thus making his workers relevant in all the sectors.
The Delta-born prince is knowledgeable in the art of survival. He hinges his survival on the collective survival of his workers. He knows where it bleeds, and sometimes took charge in reshuffling beats of reporters, especially in Abuja. Running a successful media in Nigeria cannot be sustained without some forms of madness that entails running against the rules.
Unlike most of his colleagues who sometimes hypocritically dwell on issues of media ethics, the man, who is popularly known as the Duke of the Nigerian Media, has over the years become the apotheosis of good heartedness in promoting media excellence. Perhaps, that is the reason he is emulated by his fellow publishers. It is also strange that many of his former workers, even after serving in one political position or the other, are joyfully willing to return to the beat after their tour of duty.
After nearly four decades in the media business, Prince Obaigbena has become an indisputable Hannibal status whose footprints have emancipated many media practitioners from the hole of poverty. His stature as a media icon was demonstrated when he turned down an appointment to serve as Special Adviser (Media) to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2007. Instead, he requested one of his title editors to serve in that capacity.
The Delta-born media mogul is one of the forerunners of the liberal disposition of the Nigerian print media. Apart from providing print and broadcast platforms for reporters to practise and excel, the founder of ThisDay/Arise Television is noted for many intervention in securing media related jobs for many of his staff in many states and organisations, thus promoting his media brands and assembling fierce loyalists who have continued to promote the interest of his media platforms.
More than anything, the Prince from Delta remains unforgettable in developing the career and welfare of his workers. He does not only see the media purely from the angle of public good; elevating the status of journalists from the economic backwaters remains one of his frontline objectives. He is famed to be the first to generously provide cars and other incentives to reporters to do their jobs.
While some of his fellow publishers were mostly content creating car plazas for their outfits, Prince Obaigbena can’t sit and watch his workers wretchedly pound the streets in the performance of their jobs.
I always remember a story told to me by one of his staffers on how the publisher once defended himself on the matter of non-payment of salaries when leaders of protesting workers confronted him. Walking the leaders to the corridors of his office in the Penthouse, he pointed to nearly hundred of cars parked in the premises, and spilling across the street, cars driven by reporters and editors.
He then asked them, ‘If I am not paying you salaries, how come many of you own these cars?’
That ended the meeting.
As the Prince of the Nigerian Media celebrated his 63th birthday on July 14, 2022, there is no fitting words than the one provided by the Group Politics Editor of ‘The Punch’, Friday Olokor, who quoted the prominent French- American, Stephen Grellet, while celebrating the Duke, on the essence of living the good life: “I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
Prince Obaigbena is living true to Grellet’s words. Here is wishing abundant good health to the incomparable Nigeria’s media juggernaut as he walked past another milestone in service to his country and humanity.
