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Raymond Dokpesi: Farewell to a Media Guru

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By Eric Elezuo

His was a life full of adventure. Trained as a marine engineer, but ended up becoming Nigeria’s most sought after media practitioner, who pioneered the trend of private electronic broadcasting, giving Nigerians a breath of fresh air in the choice of radio and television programming. He was High Chief Raymond Anthony Aleogho Dokpesi, the Founder/Chairman, Daar Communications Limited, owners of frontline radio and television stations, Raypower FM and African Independent Television (AIT).

Born on October 25, 1951, High Chief Dokpesi, a man of many positive parts, answered the call of mother nature on May 29, 2023, five months short of his 72nd birthday, as Nigerians were preparing to inaugurate and usher in the new administration of Bola Tinubu, after a fall while exercising to keep fit on his treadmill in his Abuja residence.

The media entrepreneur had earlier survived a stroke just after the Ramadan fasting. He also survived a devastating COVID-19 attack in May 2020.

A businessman of no mean repute, High Chief Dokpesi hailed from Agenebode in Edo State, in a family including six sisters. It is noteworthy that his entrance into the Nigerian mass media industry resulted into a revolution that changed the face of broadcasting till date. He practically paved the way for modern broadcasting in Nigeria, even from an unrelated field of engineering.

Dokpesi’s road to greatness was paved early in life when he started schooling at Loyola College, Ibadan. It was there he received the rudiments of academic pursuit. After his primary education, he attended the Immaculate Conception College (ICC), Benin City, and went the records as the pioneer member of Ozolua Play house, a dance/drama group.

Thereafter, he was admitted into the University of Benin, in the present day Edo State, for his undergraduate studies, but for the matter of exigency, he completed his studies at the University of Gdansk, Poland, and earned his Doctorate degree in Marine Engineering. Reports say his studies, from secondary school to university level, were sponsored by prominent politician, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

The media businessman started his career as the Personal Assistant to Alhaji Bamaga Tukur, one of the then general managers of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA). He also served as a civil servant in the Federal Ministry of Transport under Alhaji Umaru Dikko and General Garba Wushishi in the second republic.

Dokpesi took his ambition a notch higher when the historic National Broadcasting Commission decree came into effect in the early 1990s during the administration of Military President Ibrahim Babangida. The decree allowed private broadcasting in Nigeria. Prior to this time, Nigerian media was dominated by the government only. Information was only made possible by government-owned broadcasting firms.

Dokpesi left his comfort marine engineering zone, and pioneered the first private television network in Nigeria, AIT. The station was also Africa’s first satellite Television station. He had earlier performed the first feat in the radio broadcasting sector. Report again suggests that AIT set the standard for salary structure in the media industry in which the Nigerian owned television outfit copied.

A political enigma, and having been tutored by Bamanga, Dokpesi also dipped his hands in politics. As part of his first political assignments, he became a political campaign manager for the Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, which saw Tukur into the then-Gongola now-Adamawa state government house. He also assumed the same role during Alhaji Adamu Ciroma’s presidential campaign and Tukur’s presidential campaign in 1993, as well as during Peter Odili’s presidential campaign.

He was one of the leaders of the South-South People Assembly (SSPA), an organisation that seeks to promote the welfare of the South South people of Nigeria.

He was the organising committee chairman of the People’s Democratic Party national conference in 2015.

In 2017, he contested for the PDP National Chairmanship position, but did not win.

Dokpesi was not a stranger to awards and honours. His Agenebode hometown conferred two chieftaincy titles upon him, both of which are only bestowed on worthy sons of the land. He also had the singular honour of receiving a mention during the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award ceremony in Accra, and the Foundation for Excellence in Business Practice Geneva, Switzerland for his work with DAAR Communications.

He was a member of the PDP till his death, and had always been.

It is worthy of note that his broadcast organisation and radio station were both named after him. DAAR is his acronym spelled backwards as Raymond Anthony Aleogho Dokpesi with Raypower took the first syllable of his first name, ‘Raymond’.

Dokpesi was buried in hometown, Agenebode, on June 22, 2023, with the who is who in Nigeria politics and media in attendance. Among them were Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, and Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrafe Philip Shaibu.

Others were the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; immediate past governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa; former Edo governor and Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole; former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndidi Elumelu; Senator Francis Alimikhena, former Chief of Staff to President Goodluck Jonathan, Mike Ogiadomhe; Senator Ben Oni, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, Vice Chairman South South of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Dan Orbih; Chairman, Ovation Media Group, Aare Dele Momodu; representatives of the traditional institution, religious leaders, among others.

Dokpesi is survived by his wife, Tosin Dokpesi, children and a host of relatives.

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Canada Denies CDS, Army Chiefs Visa, Ribadu Kicks

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The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, has slammed Canadian officials for denying the visa of top Nigerian military officers, including the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen Christopher Musa.

Ribadu’s remark comes after the CDS, while speaking at the maiden annual lecture of the National Association of the Institute for Security Studies (AANISS), held at the Shehu Yar’adua Centre, Abuja, on Thursday, disclosed that he and his team were invited to Canada for an event honouring war veterans, but he and about half of the delegation were denied visas.

General Musa described the incident as “disappointing” but emphasised that it serves as a reminder for Nigeria to “stand strong as a nation” and not be taken for granted.

He said: “Every disappointment is a blessing. Yesterday, I was meant to be in Canada. There’s an event to honour our veterans, those who were injured during battles, and we were meant to be there. We were invited with our team. Half has gone and half has been denied. It’s very disappointing.” 

Ribadu commended Gen. Musa for speaking out about the incident.

Thank you for the courage to say Canada denied you visas. They can go to hell,” Ribadu said.

The NSA said that despite the disappointment, Nigeria is “peaceful and strong” and must work hard to overcome such challenges.

Ribadu praised Gen. Musa for providing “purposeful leadership” in the war against terrorism, banditry, and other security threats in the country.

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Peddle Drugs and Die: NAFDAC Goes for the Jugular

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By Eric Elezuo

Drug peddlers and their sponsors are in for a harder time if recommendations and proposal of death penalty, by the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Mojisola Adeyeye, sails through.

The formation of NAFDAC was inspired by a 1988 World Health Assembly resolution requesting countries’ help in combating the global health threat posed by counterfeit pharmaceuticals

Speaking bitterly at a live television show on the hard-heartedness of peddlers, whose actions, direct and indirect, have caused the deaths of not a few Nigerian children, and in some cases, adults.

According to the Director-General, only stiff penalties will deter peddlers, especially when it leads to the death of children.

She noted that “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall,” the NAFDAC chief said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. 

“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty.

“Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine,” Adeyeye said.

The NAFDAC DG is also seeking the cooperation of the judiciary and the National Assembly to make such a move a reality. According to her, the agency is open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter.

“You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem,” she said.

“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000?

“That is part of our problem. There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.

“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.  But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die,” she said.

While NAFDAC has a lot on its plate in stemming drug peddling, Adeyeye decried the shortage of manpower in the agency.

She believes with about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities.

“So, when it comes to staffing, you’re right on the point. We are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better,” the NAFDAC DG said.

It would be recalled that in times past, and in recent times, the deaths of children from medicine intake has been rift, prompting a form of emergency in the medical sector to checkmate the activities of the saboteurs, who are bent on reaping gains at the expense of life and wellbeing.

Mrs Adeyeye has promptly toed the lines of former NAFDAC DG, the late Dora Akinyuli, who declared an all out against drug peddlers and couriers.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is a federal agency under the Federal Ministry of Health that is responsible for regulating and controlling the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale, and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water established in 1993 under the health and safety law.

 

The establishment of NAFDAC was to counter the production and sales of adulterated and counterfeit drugs, which has become a menace in Nigeria, and to Nigerians. It would be recalled also that in one incident in 1989, over 150 children died as a result of paracetamol syrup containing diethylene glycol, among a list of other horrifying incidents.

At a certain stage, fake drugs issue was so severe that neighbouring countries such as Ghana and Sierra Leone officially banned the sale of drugs, foods, and beverage products made in Nigeria.

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El-Rufai Lacks Capacity to Win Even Senate Seat – Presidency

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Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, has stated that the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the lacks the influence to “unsettle” President Bola Tinubu.

Bwala made the remarks during an interview with TVC News on Thursday, stating that former Kaduna State governor does not have the capacity to win even a senate seat.

He emphasized that President Tinubu is not troubled by El-Rufai’s ongoing criticisms of his administration.

Bwala also noted that el-Rufai only gains political prominence when aligning with a strong, revolutionary leader, adding: “Let me tell you something about my elder brother, el-Rufai, and whether we should be concerned.

“There’s a dynamic around him. El-Rufai needs a solid revolutionary figure to thrive. On his own, El-Rufa’i might not even secure a Senate seat.”

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