MKO Abiola’s Wife, Doyin, Dies

The first former female Managing Director and Publisher of the National Concord newspapers, and wife of the late Chief MKO Abiola, Dr. DoyinAbiola, has passed. She died yesterday at about 9.15pm. She was aged 82 years. She was also the first Nigerian woman to be an editor of a Nigerian national daily. The deceased started work with the Daily Sketch Newspaper in 1969, during which she started a column in the newspaper called Tiro, where she addressed sundry issues of public concern, including gender matters. In 1970, she left Daily Sketch Newspaper and traveled to the United States to pursue a master’s degree programme in Journalism. Upon her return, she was employed as a Features Writer at Daily Times and rose to become the Group Features Editor. She later went to New York and obtained a PhD in communications and political science in 1979. After her PhD programme, she returned to the Daily Times and was deployed to the editorial board, where she worked with other experienced editors like Stanley Macebuh, Dele Giwa and AmmaOgan. It was, however, to be a short stay as the newly formed National Concord newspaper invited her to be its pioneer daily editor. She then moved to be an editor of National Concord. She was promoted to be the Managing director/editor-in-chief in 1986, and became the first Nigerian woman to become the editor in chief of a daily newspaper in Nigeria. Mrs. Abiola’s career at National Concord Newspaper spanned three decades. She also served in various capacities in the media industry in Nigeria. She was the Chairperson of the Awards Nominating panel at the first Nigerian Media Merit Award to be hosted in the country, and also a member of Advisory Council, Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Ogun State University. She was a recipient of Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) for her lifelong devotion to advancing the frontiers of knowledge and strengthening the media as a pillar of democracy. The Trustees of DAME unanimously approved her selection as a recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award at the 24th DAME Ceremony. She was the second woman to receive a DAME Lifetime Achievement Award after Mrs. OmobolaOnajide) and was later granted Eisenhower Fellowship in 1986.