Jonathan, Mark, NGE, Others Mourn Ex-NAN MD

The Oyo family has announced the death of a Former Managing Director of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Dame Felicia Oluwaremilekun Oyo, in London on Wednesday.
In a statement, issued yesterday, her husband, Mr Vincent Oyo, said she died peacefully on Wednesday, in London, where she was recuperating after receiving treatment from an ailment.
Born on October 12, 1952, Oyo, a seasoned journalist, served as Senior Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo from 2003 to 2007.
She began her journalism career in 1973 in the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, now known as the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), as a reporter.
She later joined NAN as a Desk Editor in 1981 and left in 1985 as a Principal Editor, the first woman to attain such a high position in the Agency.
In NAN, she was responsible for editing copies for the General News and Foreign News Bulletin and headed the two desks at different times.
Owing to her professional astuteness, she was put in-charge of the control of news going out of the agency.
In her role as the Control Editor, she had the responsibility for ensuring the standard for which NAN became known.
“All stories transmitted by the Agency had the stamp of Dame Oyo,’’ the statement said.
She worked in NAN up to 1985 when she left to take up an appointment with Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS) as the Nigerian Bureau Chief.
She later became the Chief of IPS West African Bureau.
Oyo was elected President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and served for two consecutive tenures from 1999 to 2003.
She was the first woman to be so honoured and she had also served first as Secretary of the NGE, the professional body of editors running the country’s media industry.
“As President of the Guild, she set up a functional secretariat which still exists today at the NAN complex, Iganmu, Lagos by the National Arts,’’ the statement said.
Oyo was educated at the University of Lagos, where she studied Mass Communication at the Diploma level and graduated with distinction and the best graduating student.
She held a master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Canterbury at Kent and also earned a post-graduate Diploma in International Relations from the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos.
In honour of her patriotism, the former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, appointed her as a member of the 1999 Constitution Drafting Committee.
She is a recipient of Nigeria’s National honour, the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON).
She has also received many other awards, including the National Council of Catholic Women Organisation of Nigeria, Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), and the Nigerian Institute of Peace Administrators.
“On January 7, 2011, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, imparted Apostolic Blessing on her for the prestigious award of Papal Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great,’’ the statement said.
Her union with Vincent was blessed with two children, Otome and Okiemuote, and three grandchildren.
A devout Catholic, Oyo was Vice-Chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council of SS Joachim and Anne of the Catholic Church, Ijegun, Lagos.
Her primary education was at St. James Catholic Primary School in Ilorin and she attended St. Louis Girls Secondary School, Bompai, Kano.
In a reaction, President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday said he received with sadness the news of the death of a former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Mrs. Remi Oyo.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President commiserated with the deceased’s relatives and professional colleagues.
He said Oyo would be remembered for her exemplary professional life, her inspiring leadership qualities and her remarkable transformation of NAN during her tenure.
The statement read, “President Goodluck Jonathan has received with immense sadness, news of the passing away of one of the most eminent Nigerian female journalists and former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Dame Felicia Oluwaremilekun Oyo.
“On behalf of his family and the Federal Government, President Jonathan extends sincere condolences to her husband, Vincent, her children, Otome and Okiemuote, her surviving siblings and other relatives.
“The President similarly commiserates with the Nigerian Guild of Editors who Dame Oyo served most admirably as a two-term President in the course of her trail-blazing journalism career, the management and staff of NAN as well as the many colleagues, friends and protégés she garnered in her very fulfilled life.
“President Jonathan joins them in mourning Dame Oyo who having attained great success in a profession hitherto dominated by men, patriotically entered national service as Senior Special Assistant (Media & Publicity) to former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 and served with great distinction as the first female Press Secretary to a Nigerian Head of State until 2007.
“The President believes that although she was already much honoured in life with accolades and awards including Officer of the Order of the Niger, Dame Oyo will always be remembered and continually honoured in posterity for her exemplary professional life, her inspiring leadership qualities, motherliness and generosity, her immense patriotism and her remarkable transformation of the News Agency of Nigeria during her tenure as the agency’s Managing Director.
“He prays that God Almighty will comfort her family and all who mourn Dame Oyo, and grant her kind soul peaceful repose in eternity.”
Also, Senate President, David Mark, yesterday lamented the death of a frontline Journalist and former Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria, Mrs. Remi Oyo.
Mark, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Paul Mumeh, in Abuja, said the late Oyo distinguished herself as a professional and a successful administrator of very high repute.
The Senate president said, “As an Editor, she was a pathfinder. As the President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, she provided exemplary leadership that took the Guild to a higher level.
“She was a great asset to the Nigerian media and a worthy daughter of the nation. We shall miss her robust and intellectual contributions to national development.”
He also recalled Oyo’s role as the Media Adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo during which she “exceedingly deployed her professional competence to the service of her fatherland.”
He further noted that Oyo would be remembered for her uncommon patriotism, honesty and commitment to nation building.
He, therefore, urged the bereaved family to take solace in the fact that Remi Oyo lived an accomplished life and left her positive footprint on the sands of time.
Similarly, the Senate through a statement by its spokesman, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, in Abuja, described as shocking, the sudden death of Oyo.
The senate recalled Oyo’s contributions to media development, particularly her pivotal role in revolutionising news gathering through wire services as exemplified in her sterling performance in NAN as its Managing Director.
According to the statement, “Senate is really shocked, knowing that her loss is another blow to the media industry in Nigeria coming in quick succession to other high profile deaths of notable media professionals in recent time “
The statement also added that the senate would really miss Oyo.
However, the Nigerian media community yesterday mourned the death of Mrs Oluremi Oyo, the immediate past Managing Director of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), who died on Wednesday.
Oyo, aged 61, died in the UK, where she was recuperating, after receiving treatment from an ailment.
Reacting to the news, the President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr Femi Adesina, said “Nigerian editors have lost a pillar.
“She was a pillar to Nigerian journalism and the Guild. She transformed the Guild and will always be remembered.’’
Adesina said these were sad times for Nigerian editors, who had lost three key members in their ranks.
“Within four weeks we have lost Dimgba Igwe, the Vice-Chairman of the Sun Group, we lost Mike Akpan (Editor-in-Chief of Realnews online magazine) and now Remi Oyo.
“It is a sad season for Nigerian journalism and editors; we pray God to spare us,’’ he said.
In his reaction, a former President of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Bonnie Iwuoha, described Oyo’s death as a sad loss to the media industry.
Iwuoha described Oyo as a “core professional par excellence. She settled for nothing but the best and encouraged people to put in their best.’’
He said that the NGE was passing through turbulent times, considering the death of three key members, namely, Oyo, Igwe and Akpan, Realnews online media.
Iwuoha prayed God to protect media professionals in the country and to grant the bereaved families fortitude to bear the losses.
The Publisher of Realnews, Ms Maureen Chiggbo, described Oyo as “a good women and a mother.
“She uplifted NAN when she held forte and she lived a good life. I pray God to grant her eternal rest.’’
The President of NUJ, Malam Mohammed Garba, described Oyo’s death as “shocking’’ and described her as a “very senior colleague and a veteran’’, who was very acting in the journalism profession.
Mohammed said Oyo “related very well with the media even when she was a Special Adviser on Media to President Olusegun Obasanjo and President Nigerian Guidld of editors.
“She believed in professionalism and the ethics of the journalism profession.
“We will continue to remember her for her good works in service and the programmes she initiated in NAN when she was the MD and continue to learn from them.’’

Executive Secretary, Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Dr Claribel Abam (left), showing a document to the chairman of the board, Dr Uriah Etawo at a meeting with the Rivers State House of Assembly adhoc Committee in Port Harcourt, recently. Photo: Chris Monyanaga