Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, will on February 29 deliver PUNCH Newspapers’ 50th anniversary lecture. The renowned playwright, novelist, poet and essayist is expected to deconstruct an important issue of national discourse.
The lecture, which is part of the weeklong activities marking the 50th anniversary of PUNCH, is billed to hold at the Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Road, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Punch Nigeria Limited, Mr Adeyeye Joseph, on behalf of the company’s board, noted that Soyinka’s acceptance to be the Guest Speaker was received with “utmost gratification.”
Joseph said, “We received your acceptance of our invitation to be the Guest Lecturer at PUNCH 50th anniversary special lecture with utmost gratification.
“Your decision to take on the onerous task at no cost to PUNCH came to us as a pleasant and gratifying surprise. We are also aware that you had to reschedule/cancel prior commitments to accommodate our request.”
According to Joseph, in the estimation of the company’s board, there are a few individuals globally whose lives and values exemplify the universal values that PUNCH has consistently espoused and fought for over the years.
He added, “We are also glad that though an iconic global export, our Guest Lecturer is one of our own: a distinguished and highly accomplished Nigerian and African. We feel very much honoured to have you speak at this milestone event.”
PUNCH Nigeria Limited, Nigeria’s foremost print and digital media group, will be marking its 50th anniversary with an array of epoch-making ceremonies in Lagos.
PUNCH, the publisher of the nation’s leading newspaper titles, The PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday PUNCH, and PUNCH Online, clocked 50 on March 18, 2023. However, its board of directors moved the 50th-anniversary celebrations to this year because the anniversary month fell within an election month and year.
The 50th anniversary will be marked alongside the 40th anniversary of the passing of the founding Chairman, the late Chief James Olubunmi Aboderin, who died on February 28, 1984, at the age of 50.
The weeklong celebration will start on Saturday, February 24 with a novelty match between The PUNCHERS, made up of members of staff of PUNCH Nigeria Limited, and MEDIA Almagamated, a team made up of journalists from other newspaper houses in the country.
The novelty match will take place at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena (formerly Onikan Stadium), Onikan, Lagos Island. Both teams will be coached by two former Super Eagles players, Friday Ekpo and Victor Agali.
Beginning on Wednesday, February 28, PUNCH will hold a three-day photo exhibition at the Alliance Francaise de Lagos/Mike Adenuga Centre, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, to afford its readers and other Nigerians opportunities to view the best photographs from its extensive pictorial archive of the biggest news events in the nation’s history.
The high point of the anniversary will be the distinguished public lecture that will be held on Thursday, February 29, which is expected to play host to leaders from the public and private sectors.
