Punch Newspaper Appoints New Editors

The management of PUNCH Nigeria Limited, publishers of Nigeria’s most widely read newspaper titles, has announced new senior editorial appointments with effect from January 3, 2012.

The appointments are part of an ongoing reengineering drive to consolidate the newspaper’s position as Nigeria’s foremost daily and launch its next phase of development.

Editor of  The PUNCH, Mr. Adeyeye Joseph, was appointed by promotion as Controller, Publications. Joseph was succeeded by Mr. Martin Ayankola, formerly the Business Editor of The Punch.

The Editor of Saturday Punch, Mr. Obafemi Obadare, and the Editor of Sunday Punch, Mr. Chiawo Nwankwo, were redeployed to the Editorial Board of the newspaper. The newspaper’s former Online and New Media Editor, Mr. Emeka Madunagu, was appointed the Acting Editor of Saturday Punch, while Sunday PUNCH’sNews and Politics Editor, Ms. Toyosi Ogunseye, was appointed the Acting Editor of the Sunday paper.

 The new title editors were appointed after a month-long exercise in which all the newspaper’s assistant editors were subjected to a written test, marked by a panel of three, and a rigorous oral interview exercise. The in-house selection process was thorough and rigorous.

 In his new assignment, Joseph will supervise the newspaper’s three titles, the editorial board, the online division, editorial production and computer departments. He is expected to develop and drive the company’s digital strategy and generate ideas to strengthen the competitiveness of the company’s titles.

Joseph started his journalism career in THISDAY where he worked in all its titles – Glitterati, THISDAY the Sunday Newspaper, Saturday Thisday and THISDAY – over a period of six years.  He reported crime, development, society and wrote politics and human interest feature stories.

He moved to PUNCH in 2005 as Chief Correspondent, News and Special Feature. After a year, he was promoted Feature Editor of Sunday PUNCH, served briefly, and was promoted as Education, Science and Health Editor of The PUNCH.

He was appointed Editor, Saturday Punch in 2007 and Editor of The PUNCH in February 2010.

Under Joseph, The PUNCH recorded innovations and won several awards.

In 2011, PUNCH won a total of eleven awards at both the Nigeria Media Merit Awards and the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence with Joseph emerging Editor of the Year and Newspaper Columnist of the Year. The PUNCH also won the Newspaper of the Year and The Best Designed Newspaper awards.

In 2012, The PUNCH and Joseph were adjudged the Newspaper of the Year and the Editor of the Year, respectively, at both NMMA and DAME. The newspaper also won an award and honourable mention at the Wole Soyinka Investigative Journalism Awards.

Joseph is an alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State, where he bagged a degree in Accounting, and the International Institute for Journalism, Berlin, Germany where he undertook courses in Environment Reporting and Newspaper Management.

He contributes to development journals including South Africa-based Good Governance Africa’s Africa in Fact. In 2005, he was honoured by the Canadian High Commission, Berlin and the FES Foundation for one of his articles on globalisation.

Ayankola is one of the country’s most regarded energy journalists having covered the sector for over two decades. He is widely travelled and a veteran of several World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries conferences.

He started his journalism career at The Nigerian Tribune in1993, as a reporter, and rose through the ranks before leaving the country’s oldest newspaper as its Lagos Bureau Chief in 2008. After leaving Tribune, Ayankola worked with BusinessDay as Deputy Energy Editor.

 He joined The PUNCH in 2009 as an Assistant Editor in charge of the Energy beat. He was appointed Business Editor in July 2011.

Ayankola holds a BA in History and Sociology from the Obafemi Awolowo  University, Ile-Ife and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism.

He has also attended several local and international journalism training programmes, including a Reuterstraining programme for business journalists, in 2007, in Accra, Ghana.

Madunagu started his journalism career in 1995 at the defunct TNT newspapers and moved through The Diet and The Guardian before joining Saturday PUNCH in July 2000 as a Senior Reporter. He was later promoted News and Politics Editor, Saturday PUNCH in 2007 and News Editor, The PUNCH in 2009. He also served briefly as Acting Editor, The PUNCH in November 2010. As Online and New Media Editor, Madunagu drove the newspaper digital strategy and placed it among the top websites in the country.

Madunagu attended the University of Uyo where he bagged a BA in History. He has attended journalism training programmes at the Lagos Business School and University of North Texas, United States.

Ogunseye started her career in 2004 at the Sun Newspaper where she covered the crime, business and metro beats. In 2007, she moved to News Star as a Senior Correspondent, covering the news, investigations and crime beats. She joined The Sunday PUNCH in 2009 and was promoted News and Politics Editor in 2009.

Ogunseye studied Biochemistry at the University of Lagos and also obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Print Journalism from the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos. She holds a Masters degree in Media and Communication from the Pan-African University, Nigeria.

Ogunseye has won several awards including the  prestigious CNN/Multichoice African Journalist Awards (MSD/Health category); Excellence Award from the Pan- African University; NMMA Environmental Journalist of the Year; the DAME Child-Friendly Reporter of the Year award; Punch Staff of the Year, for which she was rewarded with a brand new car by the management of PUNCH. She was also awarded Role Model Award by the Department of Biochemistry, University of Lagos and Distinguished Role Model Award from the Department of Mathematics, University of Lagos; In 2010, she won the Judiciary Reporter prize at DAME and MDG Journalist of the Year; and Business and Social Responsibility Award of the Year at the Peak Media Awards.

She is widely travelled and has attended several training progammes, including the Environmental Reporting Course at the International Institute of Journalism, Berlin, Germany; Water and Climate Change Reporting, United Nations Water Decade Programme, Bonn, Germany; Cross-Media Management Course, IIJ, Berlin and Essential Skills for New Managers, The Poynter Institute, Florida, US.