Dr Ibiyemi was a rare breed, he believed in young talents — Staff Alumni

Dotun Akintomide and Mr Tola Adenubi both former staff of Nigerian NewsDirect have described the Founding Publisher of Nigerian NewsDirect as a rare breed who believed in giving young people a chance.

Mr Tola hailed the Publisher for giving him his first chance to practice journalism without prior knowledge.

“Oga was my mentor in journalism. He taught me many of the things I know,” he narrated.

Dotun who is a former Business Correspondent with Nigerian NewsDirect, former Editor of The New Diplomat said Dr Ibiyemi “came across as a rare Chief Executive who knew how to hunt for talents; where to deploy such human resource as well as train and nurture them to growth.

“He repeated this with many young reporters, business executives and colleagues under your tutelage at the time and continuously until your sad departure.

“Publisher would encourage us to take independent initiatives and push the frontiers, making us to unearth ground-breaking stories from national issues that were hitherto considered as regular and obscured. I later joined The New Diplomat as an Online Editor in 2017. However, the hardworking and professionalism traits imbued by your persona stuck still and attracted many wins,” He said.

Dotun also praised Dr Ibiyemi for his doggedness describing him as a miracle worker who ran the tedious daily cycle as print journalism is increasingly becoming a tough call for publishers nowadays.

“He soldiered on like a dogged fighter that he was and a combat man who had started out in life as a personnel of the Nigerian Airforce,” He said.