Premium Times reconstitutes Ombudsman board for public oversight of its Journalism

Premium Times reconstitutes Ombudsman board for public oversight of its Journalism

Nigeria’s leading investigative and pro-democracy newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES, has reconstituted its ombudsman board, six years after the oversight organ was first created.

The body, first named on May 3 2017, has now been restructured into a compact three-member panel down from its initial seven-person format.

The committee, consisting of excellent media professionals, scholars and veteran journalists, is charged with reviewing complaints from members of the news medium’s audiences from around the world.

A statement by the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, gave the names of the new members of the ombudsman committee as Gbemiga Ogunleye, Ruqayyah Aliyu Yusuf and Udeme Nana.

Mr Ogunleye was editor and deputy managing director at PUNCH Newspapers. He was also director of news at Television Continental, a former provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism and currently a lawyer at Jiti Ogunye Chambers in Lagos. He will function as the chairperson of the board.

Dr Yusuf is a journalist, trainer and mass communication lecturer at Bayero University, Kano. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the University of Maiduguri and her master’s and doctorate degrees from Bayero University, Kano.

Dr Ruqayyah Aliyu Yusuf
Ruqayyah Aliyu Yusuf
Dr Nana obtained a bachelor’s degree in mass communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, as well as a master’s and a doctorate in the same discipline from the University of Uyo. He also holds an MBA in marketing from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Udeme Nana
Udeme Nana
He was a features writer and head of the business desk at The Pioneer Newspapers, a former senior special assistant (public affairs) to the Akwa Ibom State Governor and chief lecturer at the Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic, where he currently works. He is the founder and coordinator of the popular Uyo Book Club.

“We expect this Board to help strengthen our journalism and those of other media platforms in our country,” Mr Mojeed said in the statement announcing the reconstitution of the Ombudsman Board.

PREMIUM TIMES is an independent Nigerian investigative newspaper reputed for exposing official corruption, human rights abuses, government inefficiency, and impunity in the country and the world.

Established in 2011, the paper is known for offering the deepest investigative stories and analyses about Nigeria.

The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON), and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) had in early April inaugurated a nine-member board of the National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC), otherwise known as the National Ombudsman.

The body is expected to strengthen public confidence in the media by promptly resolving issues bordering on ethical breaches in media content.

While inaugurating the NMCC, Kabiru Yusuf, NPAN chairperson, encouraged every media organisation in the country to institute a local Ombudsman Board.

“The National Ombudsman will serve as an appellate body for the local Ombudsman as well as a court of first instance,” Mr Yusuf said.