Media celebrates late Oyo

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said Dame Remi Oyo, the former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, would be remembered for her professionalism and excellence.

Lateef Ibirogba, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, said this at the Media Afternoon of Songs and Tributes for the late Oyo.

The event took place at the NAN Media Centre in Lagos.

Oyo died on October 1 at a hospital in the UK after a brief illness.

Ibirogba said: “We are gathered here today to celebrate professionalism, excellence and knack for standards.

“We are gathered here to celebrate a woman who came, saw and conquered.

“She made sure that whatever she laid her hands on prospered.”

The commissioner said that the life of Oyo was an example for all journalists to emulate and to pattern their professional journalistic careers after.

Also speaking at the event, Comfort Obi, the Executive Secretary of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, described Oyo as a friend, sister, colleague, mentor and confidant.

Obi said that since her paths crossed with that of Oyo at a meeting in the NAN office, Oyo had been a major influence in her private life and her career.

She said: “We (Oyo and I) were a formidable force.

“As female journalists, for years, we were not looked upon as important in the industry.

“We were only allowed to cover mundane beats.

“The consequential beats were considered to be for men, but we broke that ceiling on women.”

Lanre Arogundade, the former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Lagos State chapter, said that Oyo was a dominant and prominent force in the campaign for passage of the Freedom of Information bill.

Arogundade said that Oyo was one of the journalists who stood to be counted in the 1990s when journalists were being jailed, exiled and persecuted in the country.

He said: “She was a river who never forgot her source, particularly after she became a senior special assistant to President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“She kept an open door policy in all her positions.

“She also made NAN a media conglomerate, introduced radio productions and sent journalists to NAN offices all over the world with limited funds.”

The former NUJ Chief said that Oyo would be remembered for her candour, charisma, love and laughter.

Dr. Nwabu Ngbemena, a former General Manager of NAN, said that Oyo would be remembered for her hard work and as a very outgoing and friendly person.

Ngbemena said that when Oyo came to NAN for the first time as a staff, he had no idea of the quality of person the agency had just recruited.

He said: “She only needs to meet someone for the first time and before you know it, they become fast friends.

“In fact, the person will be sending messages to you through her.”

Oyo’s children, Otome and Okiemute, thanked all that were present at occasion, saying that they were moved by the tributes paid to their late mother.

Also Rev. Benjamin Eze of the Catholic Church has described Oyo as a quintessential journalist who left legacies that will be hard to replicate in journalism.

Eze made the remark on Tuesday in Enugu during a service of songs in honour of the deceased, organized by members of staff of the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu.

He said that the former Managing Director of NAN lived a life worthy of emulation and would be missed by her admirers.

He said: “Oluremi Oyo proved herself worth by managing well the positions she was given.

“Life is not how long but how well one lives and Oyo has left a legacy that will be hard to meet up with.

“Let us try and utilise the little opportunities given to us to make something positive in our environment.”

Eze appealed to the management of NAN to immortalise Oyo as a mark of appreciating her contributions to the development of the agency.

In his address, the South East Zonal Manager of NAN, Vincent Okwor, said that Oyo was worthy of celebration due to her contributions in raising the standard of journalism in NAN.

“Mrs. Oyo brought discipline, innovations, renovations and corporate dressing into NAN,” Okwor said.

Okwor said that members of staff of the agency would remember her as one that brought attitudinal change as well as placed the agency in its rightful place.

NAN reports that the event featured tributes by guests, including former zonal manager, Gbeni Macho; Dr. Edith Nwanguma; and the Chief Press Secretary to Enugu State Governor, Chukwudi Achife.

Oyo, the first female President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, died on October 1 after a brief illness and will be buried on October 24 in Lagos.