As part of a recent restructuring exercise across the company’s divisions, the board of PUNCH Nigeria Limited has announced changes in the leadership of its editorial division.
In the changes announced by the management on Friday, the Business Editor of The PUNCH, Oyetunji Abioye, was appointed the new editor of The PUNCH, in acting capacity.
The company also announced Samson Folarin, the Features Editor of the paper’s Weekend Titles (Saturday PUNCH & Sunday PUNCH) as acting Editor, Weekend Titles.
The current editor of The PUNCH, Adedayo Oketola, and Editor of the newspaper’s Weekend Titles, Sola Fabiyi, will hand over to their successors on Monday, July 22, 2024.
The company equally approved the appointment of the Editor, PUNCH SportsExtra, ‘Tana Aiyejina, to take over from Olaniyi Odebode, the Deputy Editor, The PUNCH, in acting capacity.
The company acknowledged the contributions of Odebode, who served in various capacities in PUNCH during his 31 years stint in PUNCH and wished him well.
Tessy Igomu, the current Editor, Healthwise, is to take over from Yusuff Moshood as the Deputy Editor, Weekend Titles, in acting capacity.
Moshood has been redeployed to PUNCH Digital as the Deputy Editor.
Reacting, Abioye pledged to continue to uphold PUNCH’s time-tested journalistic and corporate values. He expressed confidence that these values would enable him to effectively harness the opportunities presented by the current challenges in the media industry
“As one who has been in the system for years, I’m not a stranger to the responsibilities I’m expected to discharge. The lessons and the experience garnered over the years will readily be a compass to guide me through this journey,” Abioye stated on Friday.
A widely travelled and well-respected business journalist, he has reported and written extensively on general news, aviation, finance, money and energy.
During his time as a field journalist, Abioye, who broke several major stories in the aviation and finance sectors, earned a well-deserved reputation as a resourceful and self-driven reporter with a special knack for exclusive stories.
Abioye also had a distinguished career as a reporter, winning major awards including the Nigerian Media Merit Award Aviation Reporter of the Year (2015), National Association of Air Traffic Engineers Aviation Reporter of the Year (2013), and emerging as a runner-up in the Money Market Reporter of the Year category of the Diamond Award for Media Excellence.
A graduate of Economics of Babcock University joined PUNCH in 2007 as a correspondent and rose through the ranks to become the News Editor of Saturday PUNCH. He was appointed the Group Business Editor of The PUNCH, in 2021.
He is an alumnus of the United States Government-sponsored International Visitors Leadership Programme (Financial Journalism) held in Pennsylvania, Chicago and New York; the United Kingdom Department For International Development-Sponsored Media Training; Bloomberg Media Initiative for Africa; CitiBank Media Training; and the Pan Atlantic School of Communications Media Training.
Folarin, the new acting editor of the Weekend Titles, (Saturday PUNCH & Sunday PUNCH) is a graduate of Mass Communication of the University of Lagos.
He joined PUNCH as a correspondent in 2013. He was, at different times, the Metro Editor of The PUNCH; Contributing Member, PUNCH Editorial Board; and Features Editor, Weekend Titles.
Folarin is a well-garlanded investigative journalist whose career has reflected a very strong passion for human rights.
He was awarded the Investigative Reporter of the Year by the Nigeria Media Merit Award in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and was voted Print Journalist of the Year in 2019 by the NMMA. He also won the Print Category of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism in 2019 and 2020. Folarin won the maiden edition of the Lagos Reporting Category at the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence in 2014.
-THE PUNCH
