After naming new editors, PUNCH appoints deputies, explains sweeping changes

After naming new editors, PUNCH appoints deputies, explains sweeping changes

PUNCH Nigeria Limited on Saturday gave details about the sweeping changes made in the editorial leadership of daily and weekend titles.

Newstrends Friday evening reported that the Business editor of The PUNCH, Oyetunji Abioye, was appointed the new editor of The PUNCH.

The company also announced Samson Folarin, the Features Editor of the paper’s Weekend Titles (Saturday PUNCH & Sunday PUNCH) as acting Editor, Weekend Titles.

According to the new report, the company has also named the Editor, PUNCH SportsExtra, ‘Tana Aiyejina, as Deputy Editor of The PUNCH. He replaces Olaniyi Odebode occupying the position before now.

Tessy Igomu, the current Editor, Healthwise, is to take over from Yusuff Moshood as the Deputy Editor, Weekend Titles, in acting capacity.

Moshood has been redeployed to PUNCH Digital as the Deputy Editor.

Also, the current online editor, Olalekan Adetayo, has been reassigned the Editor of the PUNCH Digital, the restructured digital operations unit incorporating all of PUNCH’s digital publications.

The report said the outgoing editor of The PUNCH, Adedayo Oketola, and Editor of the newspaper’s Weekend Titles, Sola Fabiyi, would hand over to their successors on Monday, July 22, 2024.

The board conveyed its appreciation to the outgoing editors, Oketola and Fabiyi, as well Odebode, noting their positive contributions to the company’s strategic objectives and wishing them well.

A widely travelled and well-respected business journalist, Abioye has reported and written extensively on general news, aviation, finance, money and energy.

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During his time as a field journalist, Abioye, who broke several major stories in the aviation and finance sectors, earned a well-deserved reputation as a resourceful and self-driven reporter with a special knack for exclusive stories.

Abioye also had a distinguished career as a reporter, winning major awards including the Nigerian Media Merit Award Aviation Reporter of the Year (2015), National Association of Air Traffic Engineers Aviation Reporter of the Year (2013), and emerging as a runner-up in the Money Market Reporter of the Year category of the Diamond Award for Media Excellence.

He has attended key conferences and training programmes in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Abioye is also a regular at the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington DC, USA; Russia-Africa Economic Summit, International Air Transport Association Annual General Meetings and World Air Transport Summit, among others.

A graduate of Economics of Babcock University joined PUNCH in 2007 as a correspondent and rose through the ranks to become the News Editor of Saturday PUNCH. He was appointed the Group Business Editor of The PUNCH, in 2021.

He is an alumnus of the United States Government-sponsored International Visitors Leadership Programme (Financial Journalism) held in Pennsylvania, Chicago and New York; the United Kingdom Department For International Development-Sponsored Media Training; Bloomberg Media Initiative for Africa; CitiBank Media Training; and the Pan Atlantic School of Communications Media Training.

Folarin, the new acting editor of the Weekend Titles, (Saturday PUNCH & Sunday PUNCH) is a graduate of Mass Communication of the University of Lagos.

He joined PUNCH as a correspondent in 2013. He was, at different times, the Metro Editor of The PUNCH; Contributing Member, PUNCH Editorial Board; and Features Editor, Weekend Titles.

Folarin is a well-garlanded investigative journalist whose career has reflected a very strong passion for human rights.

He was awarded the Investigative Reporter of the Year by the Nigeria Media Merit Award in 2018, 2020 and 2021, and was voted Print Journalist of the Year in 2019 by the NMMA. He also won the Print Category of the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism in 2019 and 2020. Folarin won the maiden edition of the Lagos Reporting Category at the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence in 2014.

After naming new editors, PUNCH appoints deputies, explains sweeping changes