PUNCH chairman, Aboderin, elected head of African Media Initiative board

The Board of African Media Initiative (AMI) has elected Wale Aboderin as the new Chairman of the organisation to take over from the maiden chairman, Trevor Ncube.

The organisation made the announcement in a statement made available the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to the statement, Mr. Ncube, who is the Executive Vice-Chairman of South Africa’s Mail and Guardian, has steered the organisation since its inception in 2008.

Mr. Aboderin is a Nigerian businessman and chairman of Punch Newspapers.

The new chairman was in 2012 appointed Chairman of the company’s board of Directors, and his tenure and his tenure is believed to have brought changes to the editorial quality, management and fortunes of PUNCH.

Mr. Aboderin was a trained commercial pilot at the Burnside-Ott Flying School, Florida, United States.

He is founder and owner of Dolphins Basketball Club, a leading African female basketball club, with local and continental honours.

He was chairman of the Lagos State Basketball Association and a former member of the Nigerian Handball Federation.

The new chair promised to champion the AMI cause everywhere and ensure that Africans stop being suspicious about home grown initiatives and support AMI.

“I thankfully accept this role and I believe AMI will help African Media Bridge the communication gap between policymakers and the citizens to allow for a two-way feedback engagement,’’ Mr. Aboderin was quoted as saying.

The statement quoted Eric Chinje, CEO of the African Media Initiative as saying, “with more than two decades of direct involvement in media, Mr Aboderin brings a wealth of experience to the organisation.

“He will surely help AMI refocus its work around the four major pillars of activity around which a new strategy is being developed: strengthening media capacity, content development and promotion; research; and performance incentives for media professionals.’’

AMI is a pan-African organisation that seeks to strengthen the continent’s private and independent media sector with a view to promoting democratic governance, social development and economic growth.

It does so through a set of strategic activities aimed at transforming the media and communications landscape on the continent.

AMI’s overall goal is to promote the development of pluralistic media as a necessary and critical ingredient of democratic governance, as well as economic and human development in Africa.

(NAN)