Centre for Financial Journalism Unveils Faculty

The Board of Centre for Financial Journalism (CFJ), Nigeria’s financial journalism training and research centre, has constituted the faculty of the centre. According to the Chief Executive Officer of the centre, Ray Echebiri, the faculty was painstakingly selected from a rich reservoir of distinguished professionals based on their accomplishments and sterling credentials.

Members of the faculty would function as resource persons at the centre’s training programmes relative to their competence, experience and preferences.  

Among the professionals on the faculty are: Prof. Martin Oluba; CEO, Value Fronteira Limited; Garba Deen Muhammad; Group General Manager (Public Affairs), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and President, Nigerian Guild of Editors; Angela Agoawike, immediate past Head of Public Relations and Information Department at the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Angela has also edited a number of titles in Nigeria.

Also on the faculty are Olufemi Awoyemi, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Founder/CEO of Proshare Nigeria Limited (Nigeria’s foremost financial information hub); Dr. Boniface Chizea; a fellow (honourary) of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria; Christian Udechukwu, CEO of BusinessinAfrica Events UK Ltd, Africa’s leading business communications organisation; Jamilah Tangaza, immediate past Head of BBC Hausa Service and currently, Director, Abuja Geographic Information Management Systems.

Stanley Egbochuku, former Editor-in-Chief/Chief Operating Officer of BusinessDay Media Limited is also on the faculty and he brings over 35 years experience in the print media business to the faculty; Chizor Malize, CEO of Brandzone Consulting LLC, a thought leader on Branding and Marketing with a rich experience garnered from working on leading brands that span across diverse areas such as Branding, Advertising, Communications, Public Relations and /New Media.

Other experts on the faculty are Tilewa Adebajo, CEO, CFG Advisory Group and former Executive Director of Equitorial Trust Bank Limited. Tilewa is a consummate investment banking, financial policy expert and academic with over 27 years experience in managing transactions across various sectors and markets in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America; Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, Editor of THISDAY Newspaper. Ijeoma is a business leader with over 25 years experience, and has spent 10 of this in executive roles with strategic management experience within the banking, media and public sectors.

Christian Ekeigwe, the first Nigerian and one of the few Africans with the CISA designation is also on the faculty. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). Marcel Okeke, the Chief Economist of Zenith Bank Plc also brings his many years experience in such world class business organisations as Shell Petroleum Development Corporation of Nigeria, Champion Newspapers, The Guardian Newspapers and The Punch Newspapers.

Ayo Arowolo, a financial journalist cum media entrepreneur par excellence with over two decades of practice and elevating the standards of financial journalism in Nigeria is also a member of the faculty. He is the former CEO/Managing Editor, Financial Standard Newspaper and currently a member of the Editorial team at THISDAY Newspaper and Arise Television as Editor-at-Large and Chief of Staff to the Chairman/Editor-in-Chief, with the responsibility of supervising the special editorial and business operations of the media house.

Ubong Essien, Nigeria’s first and currently the only Certified Speaking Professional in West Africa has led the field of motivational speaking since 1999 and brings his skills to bear as he joins the faculty. He is also the award-winning publisher of The Achiever’s Journal and the Dean of the public speaking training centre known as The School of Eloquence with offices in Lagos and London.

Michael Uzor, the lead partner at DataTrust Consulting is also a member of the faculty, and he brings his competencies and skills across financial journalism, banking, stock broking and marketing communications to bear on the Centre’s offerings.

Also on the faculty are; John Wesey, who has more than 22 years of working and consulting experience both in the public and private sectors with focus on business strategy, organisational change, leadership development and project management; Goddy Chidi Ikeh, former CEO/Managing Editor of The Business Eye magazine and member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. He worked for the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) for more than 29 years and retired as Deputy Editor-In-Chief in charge of Business Desk. He brings his experience with government and international journalism practice, including serving as press secretary to three finance ministers and working for international news wires and newspapers – Platts Oilgram, OPECNA, Pan African News Agency (PANA), African Press Agency (APA) and Star Group of Newspapers of South Africa to the Centre.

He has also served as a trainer for the World Service Trust of the BBC and currently a consultant to a number of national and international firms, including the DFID.

Other  professionals on the faculty are Funke Egbemode, Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of New Telegraph newspaper and Vice President, Nigerian Guild of Editors; Harry Willie Nnanke, a leading Marketing Communications practitioner with over two decades cross-functional experience in brand management and marketing communications. He is currently the Managing Director, Heritage Quality Services Consult (HQSC) Limited and has handled several big-ticket accounts and projects including: Vmobile (Now Airtel), The Governor Bukola Saraki-led Nigerian Governors’ Forum, National Insurance Commission, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS), Sona Group of Industries, United Cement Company Limited (UNICEM), Carnival Calabar, etc.

Ray Echebiri who is also a member of the faculty said the constitution of the faculty by the board of CFJ will boost the activities of the Centre and facilitate the realisation of its vision of being the prime capacity building platform for financial journalism in Nigeria, and its mission to raise the quality of financial journalism practice and conduct cutting-edge research on the economy and business.