The chief executive officer of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) Mr Laoye Jaiyeola, has paid a condolence visit to the family of Senator Anyim Ude in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, over the death of their patriarch, renowned broadcaster Anyim Ude.
Jaiyeola commiserated with the son of the late senator, Mr Nnanna Ude. Late Ude was a board director of the NESG. He died on May 15, 2023, according to a statement by the NESG.
Elder Ude was born on the 1st of June, 1941, in Amuzu-Ubegu, Iyioji, Akaeze, in the Ivo local government area of Ebonyi State. He was a veteran journalist, broadcaster, community leader, technocrat and administrator with vast experience and a solid track record in the Nigerian public service spanning 51 years. He has a testimonial of integrity, service, and excellence.
Senator Ude entered the public service of former Eastern Nigeria as a clerk in 1960 but later joined the Eastern Nigeria Information Service (printers and publishers of ‘Nigerian Outlook’) in May 1965 as a reporter. At the end of the Nigerian civil war in 1970, he trained as a journalist and broadcaster in Nigeria and overseas. He later worked in the East Central State Broadcasting Service (ECBS), Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Imo Broadcasting Service (IBS) and Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN).
Ude was the first general manager of Radio Nigeria, Owerri (1981 – 1985); the first Director-General of Imo Broadcasting Corporation (1985–1991); the first Director-General of Broadcasting Corporation of Abia State (1991–1996); and the first Chief Executive of Ebonyi Broadcasting Service.
Ude served for 16 and a half years as the chief executive of several broadcasting establishments, thus remaining the longest-serving chief executive in Nigeria’s broadcasting industry. He was appointed the first commissioner for Commerce, Industry & Tourism, Ebonyi State (1997–1999).
He held several special appointments between 1984 and 2003, and they included Director of Golden Guinea Breweries, Umuahia (1984– 1987); member of the special advisory committee to the federal government on electronic media operations (1989–1993); member of central working committee of the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) (1987 – 1997); chairman, zone’ E’ of BON comprising the eastern states; and chairman, governing council of the Federal College of Education (technical), Umunze in Anambra State (2000 – 2003).
He was the president-general of Old Afikpo Union (OAU), comprising today’s Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone.
An alumnus of the famous Hope Waddell Training Institute in Calabar, he was ordained as a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria in December 1987. He was also a member of the advisory council to the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria.
His wife, Mrs Grace Anyim Ude is a retired permanent secretary of the Ebonyi State government. He was the proud father of six children and a grandfather of nine grandchildren.
