Mr. Odita Sunday, the Chief Executive Officer and Editor-in-Chief of RazorNews Group has paid glowing tribute to his former boss and immediate past Nigerian Ambassador to Togo, Ambassador Debo Adesina, describing him as a “Journalism Cicero” and an outstanding mentor whose wisdom and professionalism continue to inspire generations of journalists.
Odita Sunday Celebrates His Former Boss and Mentor
Odita, who worked under Ambassador Adesina during his days at The Guardian Newspapers, lauded his former boss for his exemplary leadership, intellectual depth, and commitment to nurturing young journalists. He recounted how Ambassador Adesina played a pivotal role in shaping his career path and facilitating his employment in Nigeria’s flagship print media decades ago.
In appreciation, Odita presented a beautifully crafted plaque to the revered diplomat, describing the gesture as a token of gratitude to a man who “combined brilliance, discipline, and humaneness in his approach to journalism and leadership.”
According to him, “Ambassador Adesina remains one of the finest journalists Nigeria has ever produced, an editor, mentor, and statesman whose contributions to the media landscape are indelible.”
The brief but emotional presentation, held in Lagos, drew nostalgic reflections from both men on their shared experiences in journalism and the enduring values of integrity, hard work, and excellence that define the profession.
The diplomat was the former Editor-in-Chief of The Guardian.
His Excellency Debo Adesina is the immediate past Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the Republic of Togo.
Before his foray into public service, he was one of the most decorated journalists in Nigeria. He was the Editor-in-Chief and Chief Operating Officer of The Guardian, the most influential group of newspapers in Nigeria. He graduated with honours in journalism from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and also studied at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Boston, USA.
He was named, in 1992, Editor of The African Guardian magazine at the age of 27, becoming the youngest person to be at the helm of a major publication at that time. He went on to become the Deputy Editor of The Guardian (Daily) and the pioneer Editor of The Guardian on Saturday, a weekly that broke sales records within its first year. He was appointed substantive Editor of the flagship, The Guardian, in 1999, a position he held for more than 12 years.
On his watch, The Guardian became the most commercially successful newspaper group while maintaining its editorial integrity and independence. It thus became a perennial winner of the Newspaper of the Year Award from both the Nigerian Media Merit Award Foundation and the Diamond Award for Media Excellence, including the Newspaper of the Decade on the two occasions that honour was given (in 2001 and 2011). The group of newspapers produced, on Adesina’s watch, winners of some journalism’s most prestigious honours globally, including the CNN Journalist of the Year Awards.
Adesina himself won, a record seven times, the Editor of the Year Award from the prestigious Foundations and was nominated Outstanding Young Person of the Year, among many other honours. He later served on the Board of Judges of the CNN African Journalist of the Year laurels.
He was awarded the Young Global Leader honour by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in 2007. With that, he was named one of a select group of young persons from different professional backgrounds around the world with the task of charting a new course for global development.
In 2008, he was appointed Federal Commissioner in the Fiscal Responsibility Commission by then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua of Nigeria. He later gave up the position to concentrate on his journalism practice.
On assumption of duty as Nigeria’s Ambassador on May 3, 2021 and formal presentation of his Letters of Credence to President Faure Gnassingbe of the Togolese Republic, on July 23, 2021, he set for the Nigerian Embassy a goal he termed ‘Building Prosperity on Both Sides’ and worked to boost trade and political cooperation between Nigeria and Togo, encouraging investors to explore business opportunities and create employment for the young minds in both countries as well as in the rest of West Africa.
His guiding principle as ambassador was undiluted pan-Africanism, and he gained recognition in the diplomatic community for actively working on his position that “our borders are not supposed to be guardrails against each other.” Rather, “they are artificial lines of convenience and order, not barriers to our joint progress and prosperity.” Nigeria, he enunciated, as an envoy, “has a divine assignment to continue to lead the battle for the edification of Africa and the veneration of the Black Race.” He was very active in the efforts to end terrorism in both Togo and Nigeria whose northern regions were under the siege of insurgents.
He set up the Nigeria-Togo Business Council and the novel Nigeria-Togo Ideas Forum, which became a platform for the intelligentsia in both countries to collaborate, come up with ideas that are of benefit to both countries, and place same at the disposal of their leaders.
He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, a member of the World Editors’ Forum and many other international organisations.
