Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Trending
    • JUST IN: I’m Going To Contest For President In 2027, Peter Obi Declares
    • FG Fines Multichoice N766m For Violating Data Protection Act
    • We Haven’t Received Any Court Reinstatement Order On Natasha – Senate
    • ‘Crush Them All’, Tinubu Orders Military To Confront Terrorists, Bandits
    • Emir Bayero Pays Condolence Visit To Dantata Family
    • 21 Killed In Zaria–Kano Road Accident
    • Police Declare Two Rivers Officials Wanted Over Attack On LG Administrator
    • FG Puts Presidential Jet For Sale In Switzerland After Nigeria Acquires Airbus A330
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    • HOME
    • NEWS

      JUST IN: I’m Going To Contest For President In 2027, Peter Obi Declares

      July 6, 2025

      FG Fines Multichoice N766m For Violating Data Protection Act

      July 6, 2025

      We Haven’t Received Any Court Reinstatement Order On Natasha – Senate

      July 6, 2025

      ‘Crush Them All’, Tinubu Orders Military To Confront Terrorists, Bandits

      July 6, 2025

      Emir Bayero Pays Condolence Visit To Dantata Family

      July 6, 2025
    • COLUMN

      Don’t Kill Yourself Because He’s Cheating – By Funke Egbemode

      July 6, 2025

      Opposition Coalition: New Wine In Old Wineskins? – By Jonathan Nda-Isaiah

      July 5, 2025

      Danger Of The Single Story (DSS) – By Azu Ishiekwene

      July 3, 2025

      PDP: A Party On Death-Bed – By Kazeem Akintunde

      June 30, 2025

      Fear And Fragility: How Safe Are Nigerians? – By Dr Dakuku Peterside

      June 30, 2025
    • EDUCATION

      13 Countries Offering Free Or Low-Cost PhD Programmes For Non-Citizens

      January 25, 2025

      NECO: Abia, Imo Top Performing States In Two Years, Katsina, Zamfara Come Last

      October 3, 2024

      NBTE Accredits 17 Programmes At Federal Polytechnic Kabo

      August 20, 2024

      15 Most Expensive Universities In Nigeria

      May 19, 2024

      FULL LIST: Tinubu Appoints Former SGF Yayale, Ex-Governor Yuguda, Muhammad Abacha, Jega In Universities’ Governing Councils

      May 18, 2024
    • INTERNATIONAL

      Israel Sending Negotiating Team To Qatar For Gaza Ceasefire Talks

      July 6, 2025

      Texas Flood Kills 24 As Rescuers Search For Children Missing From Girls’ Camp

      July 6, 2025

      UN Says 613 Gaza Killings Recorded At Aid Sites, Near Humanitarian Convoys

      July 5, 2025

      Dozens Feared Hurt In Fuel Station Blast Across Rome

      July 5, 2025

      Israel Kills More Than 300 In Gaza In 48 Hours As Focus Intensifies On GHF

      July 3, 2025
    • JUDICIARY

      FULL LIST: Judicial Council Recommends Appointment Of 11 Supreme Court Justices

      December 6, 2023

      Supreme Court: Judicial Council Screens 22 Nominees, Candidates Face DSS, Others

      November 29, 2023

      FULL LIST: Judicial Commission Nominates 22 Justices For Elevation To Supreme Court

      November 16, 2023

      Seven Key Issues Resolved By Seven Supreme Court Judges

      October 26, 2023

      FULL LIST: CJN To Swear In Falana’s Wife, 57 Others As SANs November 27

      October 12, 2023
    • POLITICS

      What Peter Obi May Lose If He Joins Coalition As VP Candidate

      May 25, 2025

      Atiku Moves To Unseat Wike’s Damagum As PDP Chairman, Backs Suswam As Replacement

      April 15, 2024

      Edo’s Senator Matthew Uroghide, Others Defect To APC

      April 13, 2024

      Finally, Wike Opens Up On Rift With Peter Odili

      April 2, 2024

      El-Rufa’i’s Debt Burden: APC Suspends Women Leader For Criticising Kaduna Gov

      March 31, 2024
    • SPORTS

      Best Of African Women’s Football On Display As WAFCON Kicks Off

      July 6, 2025

      Mbappe Scores As Real Madrid Beat Dortmund To Set-Up PSG Semi-Final

      July 6, 2025

      Super Eagles’ Captain, Ahmed Musa Named General Manager Of Kano Pillars

      July 5, 2025

      Rashford, Garnacho, Sancho, Two Others Inform Man United Of Exit

      July 5, 2025

      Kaduna SDP Chieftain, Bashir Zakariya Dies In Auto Crash

      July 3, 2025
    • MORE
      • AFRICA
      • ANALYSIS
      • BUSINESS
      • ENTERTAINMENT
      • FEATURED
      • LENS SPEAK
      • INFO – TECH
      • INTERVIEW
      • NIGERIA DECIDES
      • OPINION
      • Personality Profile
      • Picture of the month
      • Science
      • Special Project
      • Videos
      • Weekend Sports
    NEWS POINT NIGERIANEWS POINT NIGERIA
    UBA 720X90
    Home - Bayo Onanuga In The Eyes Of A Mentee – By Desmond Utomwen

    Bayo Onanuga In The Eyes Of A Mentee – By Desmond Utomwen

    By Desmond UtomwenJune 22, 2024
    a5b1dc1b db92 4c75 86d2 fb355070df96
    Bayo Onanuga and Desmond Utowen

    MY first face-to-face meeting with Mr Bayo Onanuga was in 2005 in Lagos.
    He asked: “Who are you, how may I help you?”
    “I am Desmond, sir.”
    “Oh, the man from Abuja, you’re so young?”
    “Thank you, sir,” I responded as he waved me to a seat.
    I told him that I was asked to come to Lagos and he said yes, he was aware.
    “Information got to us that you were about to kill a story…”

    My eyes were as wide as saucers. I did not know what killing a story meant. From his explanation, I was stunned that such a thing could happen. In any case, was a story that was already on the streets “killable”?. It was rather strange to me that somebody could level such an allegation against me!

    Trouble started for me after we came out with a cover, The Greedy Police Boss, in 2005 in TheNEWS Magazine. I was still young then and in my formative years in journalism.

    UBA

    I went to Police Force Headquarters in Abuja to continue with my normal work as one of the correspondents. I wouldn’t know who knew me there and called my boss in Lagos that I was in Force Headquarters. The next thing I got was a call from one of my Senior Editors, he asked me where I was and I said I was at work.

    He then said that I should take the next available flight to Lagos. I didn’t know what was happening, so, I took a flight to Lagos. On getting to Lagos, I met Mr. Onanuga. I think he understood better, he saw the innocence in me. He then asked what I was doing at the Force Headquarters and I told him that was my beat and I was there on my normal routine.

    WIDGET ADS

    “Ha! You should not have gone there,” he advised.

    He then gave some lectures, he said I should not have gone there because we had just done “a very hot story” on the Police Inspector General, Tafa Balogun and with that, what I should have done was to hibernate for a while because those guys would have been so angry and in anger, they could be looking for a scapegoat. He however said that he would not blame me because I was still very young and new. He said people that did gorilla journalism would understand better. (Of course, I wasn’t part of the gorilla journalism that was the practice during the Military Rule for which the likes of Mr. Onanuga were heroes and legends). He said I should have hibernated because those guys could be angered and at that moment they could have been looking for a fall guy.

    Thomas Sankara African Leadership Prize

    Finally, he said: “I believe you”.
    He then started advising me. After the advice, he started chatting with me, that he’s been seeing my stories, he liked my doggedness, the way I went after stories. He said there was a particular interview I did that he so much liked, that was the interview I did with Kema Chikwe, who was the Minister of Aviation then.

    Mr. Onanuga then went further to assign me to cover the National Assembly for him. Right there, I made a request that I would need a letter requesting accreditation to the National Assembly and he gave me one. That kind of increased my confidence in doing the job.

    Nigerian TAX Reform - Federal Goverment

    Mr. Onanuga would come down to your level to relate with you. He is a very calm person and a great teacher with so much patience. He knows how to impact knowledge, and bring out the best in you. The first impression you may have of him from the outside is that of a very tough person. I had that. The very first time I saw him, I wondered what kind of tough person he is.

    There was a time Mr. Onanuga and I travelled to Kaduna and we lodged at NAF Hotel. He advised me a lot about the profession. He advised me not to blackmail anybody to make money. He also told me how difficult it is for a journalist to have too many friends, that it would become a liability for the journalist.

    He counselled: “When you have too many friends; particularly those with baggage, they will expect so much from you, it will influence your story judgment and what you do as a journalist. That is when people will start mounting pressure on you to kill or to do certain reports. You must be very firm in doing your job and must not maliciously write against anybody because the job is not to maliciously attack anybody, but to speak the fact, even if people do not agree with you at that moment, they will agree in years to come. This is because the truth will always overcome lies, they will realize that you were truthful with your report.

    National Orientation Agency Page UP
    National Orientation Agency - Down

    Yes, Mr. Onanuga is a stickler to professional ethics and he combines compassion and efficiency and I’m glad he mentored me. Of course, I cut my teeth under Mr. Onanuga, I learnt so much from him; I came into the profession as a greenhorn. He is an editor’s editor and can turn the most egregious piece of writing into mellifluous prose. As one of his editors , Ademola Adegbamigbe wrote, “Then, he would call you to his office (he would never dress a member of his staff down in the presence of others), tell you what you did not get right, and then let you know how you could improve. He possesses a clear professional vision, sees ahead of his contemporaries, and, thus, takes proactive steps to avert disaster.”

    – Utomwen writes from Abuja.

    Onanuga Utowen Opinion
    Share. Facebook Twitter WhatsApp LinkedIn Telegram Email

    Related Posts

    Ribadu: Of Progress And Agents Of Distraction – By Khalid Mahmud

    July 6, 2025

    WAES: From $208bn Trade To Economic Rebirth In West Africa – By Omoniyi Joshua

    July 5, 2025

    West Africa Must Trade Its Way To Prosperity – By O’tega Ogra

    July 3, 2025

    Tinubu’s Reforms Fueling A New Wave Of Subnational Development – By Sunday Dare

    July 3, 2025
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Latest Posts

    JUST IN: I’m Going To Contest For President In 2027, Peter Obi Declares

    July 6, 2025

    FG Fines Multichoice N766m For Violating Data Protection Act

    July 6, 2025

    We Haven’t Received Any Court Reinstatement Order On Natasha – Senate

    July 6, 2025

    ‘Crush Them All’, Tinubu Orders Military To Confront Terrorists, Bandits

    July 6, 2025

    Emir Bayero Pays Condolence Visit To Dantata Family

    July 6, 2025
    Advertisement
    WIDGET ADS
    News Point NG
    © 2025 NEWS POINT NIGERIA Developed by ENGRMKS & CO.
    • Home
    • About us
    • Disclaimer
    • Our Advert Rates
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Join Us On WhatsApp