By Gbenga Abulude (Politics and General Desk)
President Muhammadu Buhari and Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi have felicitated with a frontline Nigerian journalist and social commentator, Mr Tony Iyare on his 60th birthday.
In a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, the President wishes Iyare “many more decades of commitment and contribution to the profession he loves so much, praying for long life and prosperity.” According to Presidential spokesman, Adesina, President Buhari “joins family, friends and the media community to celebrate the great journalist as he hits the Diamond age on October 1, 2020.”
The celebrant whose profound skill-set and more than three decades riveting experience in reporting, editing, and public commentary tucked in his belt, has been described by friends and colleagues as a shining example of a thorough-breed professional. Mr Iyare also served as Special Adviser on Media to the then Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.
On his part, Governor Fayemi of Ekiti State in a statement he personally sent to the celebrant, congratulated Iyare, who incidentally was his classmate at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). Governor Fayemi while applauding Iyare wrote thus:
“To my Comrade at 60. I heartily felicitate with ace journalist and international relations scholar, Tony Iyare on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Having known Tony for over three decades, first as fellow graduate students at the University of Ife to our days in journalism and democracy activism, Tony has always been the voice of the voiceless, speaking truth to power in his unwavering commitment to building a better society.
“Bisi and I join millions of family members, friends and well wishers to rejoice with Tony and wish him many healthy and prosperous years ahead,” he said.
Mr Anthony Oluwatoyin Iyare, 60 was born on October 1, 1960 in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub where he has spent most part of his life. He is a Consultant Writer at the Nigerian Democratic Report.
Best known in the media simply as Tony Iyare, he’s also a Development Advocate. A renowned International Journalist, African Affairs Analyst, Trainer, Development Advocate and Human Rights Activist, Iyare is a former Group Editor with the Daily Times of Nigeria.
Also a former Correspondent with The African Report, a bi-monthly magazine based in Paris and a former Visiting Member of the Editorial Board of Nigerian Compass, Iyare who has edited four national newspapers, has been a stringer for the high brow American newspaper, The New York Times since 1992.
His over 30 years span in the media has seen him straddling the position of Foreign, Political and Features Editor in different publications. Apart from publishing the country’s pioneer online newspaper, The Gleaner News Online, as its Editor in Chief, Iyare has been an Editorial Consultant for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) since 2001. He is also a Consultant to many NGOs in Nigeria.
He was at different times an Assistant Editor in Platform, Newswatch and Timesweek. Iyare was also Acting Editor, The Post Express, Editor, The Post Express, Midweek, Editor, National Interest, Sunday and Editor, Business Times.
A Country Specialist to the Department of Political Science, Swarthmore College, Philadelphia, USA, he also anchored a Special Report on Nigeria for the Wall Street Journal in September 2001 and has contributed several article to Choices, a magazine of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Iyare was Editor, Index on Corruption and also a Contributing Editor to Nigerian Review, a monthly magazine. He also edited the Nigeria Country Report on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2004. A former Columnist at The Punch and co-author of a book titled The 11 Day Siege: Gains and Challenges of Women’s Non Violent Struggles in Niger Delta, Iyare has contributed papers to several International Conferences which have been published in books and journals.
He is a regular analyst on Conflict and Development Issues in Africa on Africa Independent Television (AIT), Nigeria’s biggest privately owned TV and Channels, also a national TV with a strong bias for news. A widely travelled journalist, Iyare has since 1985 attended training programmes in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, Jamaica, Ghana, Liberia, Republic of Benin, Guinea, among others.
Similarly, as a member of the Media and Communications Committee of the National Technical Working Group (NTWG) of Vision 2020, his special area of work include Conflict & Development, Gender, Media, International Politics and other Social Issues. Iyare is a graduate of Political Science and International Relations from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. He is also a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).
In the course of his public sector career, he also worked as Special Adviser, Media Affairs to Edo State Governor, Mr Adams Oshiomhole between October 15th, 2009 – November 11th, 2012. An active member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), he is also a member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), World Investigative Journalists Association, World Environmental Journalists Association, Global Editors Network and the World Editors Forum (WEF).
