A vibrant new monthly newsmagazine, Gaskia, is coming out soon to brighten and give fresh breathe and colour to the Nigerian media space.
Published under the stable of Gaskia Media Limited, GML, a first-class integrated media company, led by Mr Dare Babarinsa as Chairman, the all-gloss, all-colour new magazine seeks to capture the spirit and the events of the age in all its various cadences, rhythms and tempo, offering a timeless shelf-life and resource materials for research in the areas of contemporary events, politics, entertainment, history, interviews, sports and lifestyle in Nigeria, Africa and the world.
Mr Babarinsa, who leads the team of distinguished and award-winning editors and the best reporters in the Nigerian media industry, is one of the founders of TELL magazine which for many years was Nigeria’s dominant weekly publication. He served as Executive Director of TELL for 15 years and retired from the company in 2007.
He won many awards and honours in Nigeria and abroad, including the prestigious Journalist of the Year Award in 1986. He was invited in 1985 by President Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast to witness the convention of the then ruling Party Democratic de Cote d’Ivoire, DPCI. Babarinsa was the only Nigerian journalist invited by the United States government in 1988 to witness the convention of the Republican Party during which time George Bush Snr was nominated as a presidential candidate. Babarinsa and his team were later invited to the White House. He was also the guest lecturer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the 50th anniversary of the Ethiopian Journalists Association in 1997.
He is a member of many national and international associations, including the Commonwealth Journalists Association and World Association of Newspapers. Babarinsa was educated at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and the University of Lagos.
In the team with Babarinsa are several top journalists including Mr Shola Oshunkeye, the overall winner of the CNN/MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year, 2006, and a Fellow of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, St. Petersburg, Florida. Mr Oshunkeye, a Fellow of the CNN International Professional Programme, IPP, and an alumnus of The International Visitor Leadership Programme, the United States Department of State’s premier professional exchange programme in Washington. He is a member of the International Press Institute, IPI; and a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE.
Osunkeye started his journalism career at the defunct Concord Press of Nigeria, in 1990, where he rose to become the Editor of Weekend Concord in 1997. He later joined TELL magazine in June 2001, as Associate Editor/Abuja Bureau Chief/State House Correspondent, and rose to the position of Senior Associate Editor, before he moved to The Sun Publishing Limited as General Editor. He was later pioneer editor of The Spectator, an upscale tabloid in The Sun Group, from November 1, 2005, and on November 11, 2013, was appointed Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of the company’s subsidiary in Ghana, The Sun Publishing Ghana Limited until July 2016.
Mr Oshunkeye is the President of Crest Publishing and Entertainment Company Limited, publishers of The Crest online newspaper, and its sister organisation, Crest Journalism Enhancement Foundation, CJEF.
Also on the team is Mr Dele Fashomi, journalist, author and communication teacher. He is the Executive Editor of Gaskia magazine. He was the editor of The Westerner weekly newsmagazine. He also edited the Sunday edition of National Life and lately, he was the Editor of Daily Newswatch. He is the author of Issues in Communication Technology and the co-author, along with Dare Babarinsa, of Dare to Be Different, the biography of Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye.
In the team also as the Controller of Operations, is Mr Gbenga Olagunju, who holds National Higher Diploma (HND) in Marketing from The Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro and MBA from Lagos State University. He joined Tell Communications Ltd in 1993 and rose to the position of Senior Manager, Marketing before leaving the organization in the year 2004. He had a stint in private practice before joining GML.
Heading the Abuja and Northern Operations of the organization is Mr James Awojolu. He is a graduate from the Ondo State University (now University of Ado-Ekiti) with more than 15 years of experience in marketing. He was until 2013 the head of marketing, Abuja Office of the Western Publishing Company Ltd, the publishers of The Westerner and the Nigerian Compass.
In Abuja with Mr Awojulu is Mr Godwin Onyeacholem, Associate Editor in the organization and head of the editorial team in the nation’s capital. Onyeacholem has worked as correspondent, Sunday Times, Senior Writer TELL Magazine and later became deputy Editor, Vanguard Weekly Newspaper in Accra Ghana. He also headed the Accra Bureau of African Observer, a weekly newsmagazine published in New York.
Mr Mfonnobong Udosen is the Head of Production. Udosen is a graduate of Business Administration from the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu. He worked as Production Manager, Scroll Magazine and later left and worked as a Print Media Consultant for different media organizations before joining Gaskia Media Limited. He has over 10 years’ experience in Creative Designs, Production Management and Print Media Operations. He also has a flair for writing.
Indeed, the team is supported by a distinguished crop of editorial consultant, Mr Wahab Ajao, a denizen of the old Daily Times Library.
