Louis Osaetin Odion is 50. That is the big news rocking the media sector right now. It is also big news among the top aides of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is because he played big in the media industry before he took up a job as one of President Buhari’s top aides. He is a Senior Technical Assistant to the President. He is a distinguished and accomplished professional who has done well for himself.
Let us tell you a bit about this gentleman who was born in Ikare Akoko, Ondo State on March 25, 1973.
He was educated at Federal Polytechnic where he obtained OND; UNILAG where he bagged his first and Master’s degree; and the University of Buckingham where he bagged a second Master’s degree.
Many don’t know he has over 30 years of experience in journalism and rose to editorial positions at The Concord, Thisday and The Sun newspapers. In 2008, he floated National Life Newspapers as MD/Editor in Chief. He wrote the popular column known as “The Bottomline”.
He has been a winner of several media honours including winning multiple times the prestigious NNMA (Nigerian Media Merit Award) in the category of the “The Columnist of the Year” and recipient of City People Media Person of the Year (2006).
He was featured by Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka as co-author of a book, “Green Card, Green God” in 2017.
He has been a two-term Commissioner of Information and Orientation of Edo State.
And he is currently the Senior Technical Assistant on Media to the President (OVP).
A few days ago, this great man, spoke to Seye Kehinde, the Publisher of CityPeople Magazine about his life.
How does Louis Odion feel at 50? “I give honour and glory to God Almighty for the gift of life,”he says.” It surely feels great to be 50. But in specific terms, let me answer you in two dimensions. Physically, I don’t feel anything significantly different from how I felt yesterday, last year or two years ago. I am not an exercise freak. Rather, I watch what I eat or drink. It takes a lot of discipline, though. It is something I have been able to handle for more than a decade. However, mentally and emotionally, I think I am arriving in a new space. In the past, say five or ten years ago, one used to feel a certain urgency, you know wanting to cram so many things into a day as targets to be achieved. I think that was a carryover of the adrenaline of my early 20s when I had to work full time and also school full time. You know, as a young reporter at Concord Press in my early 20s, I was also schooling full-time at the University of Lagos. So, that got me really worked up most of the time. You know you would rate your success by how many of those targets or goals you were able to achieve at the end of each day. In the process, one tended to get very impatient with a lot of people. As a result, some would see you as being too temperamental. But I tend to see things a bit differently now. Now, I believe I am more accommodating, more tolerant of folks I couldn’t stand years back. I tend to make more allowance for people now.”
How significant is this golden jubilee to him? “For me, there are really no new resolutions to make, but rather to continue to strive to live life within the parameter of certain values. I have always been fascinated by a statement by Martin Luther King, “He who has not discovered what he can die for is not fit to live”. For me, life must be lived according to certain values. I mean the values of honour, contentment, integrity, honesty, you know following the biblical injunction of “doing unto others the way you would wish to be treated”. For me, it is further applying oneself to those values. Even as we pray for longevity, it is important that each moment, each year must count in the pursuit of the common good”
Looking back what are the lessons life has taught him at 50? “At 50, life has taught me the virtue of patience and the fear of God. I have never struggled for anything in life. When I pray, my prayer point is always simple. I say, “Lord, I submit to you. You know what is good for me. Please, let your will prevail in my life”. That is my simple prayer point most times. Wherever I find myself, I always try my best and leave the rest to God.”
“The kind of job I do enables one to have access to or interact with the high and the mighty, the rich and the famous. When I look back on the Nigerian landscape ten or twenty or thirty years ago, you would find that it is the case of ten kings, ten reigns. Castles that looked palatial ten or twenty years ago would probably look archaic today. You would find that those that were powerful yesterday are very ordinary today. So, the lesson to be learnt is that we should not put to much value in material things, but rather hold on to things that are invaluable. Let me just illustrate with one example. When I started my journalism career in the early 90s, I worked with Concord Press. Our publisher was the legendary MKO Abiola. On account of what he owned and how he gave freely, MKO was widely regarded as the richest man in Nigeria, if not the entire Africa in his time. But today, when we celebrate MKO, no one talks about the empire he owned. Rather, we mostly remember him for the cause he fought and died for. Which is the cause of democracy.
Again, life has taught me that those who did evil to the society or community or cause pain to innocent people never end well. God Has a way of making such people pay. It is always a question of time. It teaches us to have the fear of God in whatever we do. If God puts you in the position of power, don’t use it to oppress the weak or the poor. Don’t betray people.”
For the benefit of a lot of young people, we got him to share with us his inspirational story.
“My golden advice is this: never get depressed by any setback while pursuing your dream. Take any big disappointment as a sign that God Has a better plan for you. I found myself in a really depressing situation sometime in 1999. That should be in April, I think. You know the deputy editor of Sunday Concord at the time, Mr. Sam Omatseye, had left for the prestigious Alfred Friendly Fellowship which usually takes you to the United States on an exchange program for a year. He left in 1997 for Denver, Colorado. All expenses were paid by the Alfred Friendly Fellowship board. I was nominated actually by Mr. Tunji Bello, editor of Sunday Concord at the time. I was shortlisted for the qualifying test held at USIS centre affiliated to the US embassy in Lagos. We were actually two semi-finalists on the African continent. My co-semi-finalist was Mrs Ibim Semitari (who became Rivers Commissioner for Information and later Chairman of NDDC) who was working at the Tell magazine then. I believed I did well. Two weeks later, I received a call from Atlanta telling me I passed and they were asking me questions suggesting I was already being expected in the U.S. I was very excited. I was just 26 then. Note, at the time this was happening, I had just like a month to finish my degree programme at UNILAG. It was a big temptation really. Should I abandon my degree programme or jump at the offer to pursue my career growth? Just when I was still undecided came a rude shocker: I received another call from Atlanta saying, “Louis, we are sorry to announce that the board decided you won’t be coming to Atlanta anymore.” It was as if my lottery bonanza had been annulled after the win was announced. I was shattered. But after few days, I picked myself up and decided to apply myself fully to the completion of my dissertation. I think Professor Jelili Omotola was the Vice Chancellor of UNILAG then. One of the reforms he instituted was ensuring that projects were marked expeditiously and results announced immediately. So, by May ending, our results were announced and I could now count myself as a graduate with 2.1. Now, the lesson I am trying to make is this: by the time Doctor Dele Alake was appointed Commissioner of Information of Lagos by the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Mr. Tunji Bello was promoted from the Sunday title to the Daily editor. His erstwhile deputy, Comrade Kayode Komolafe, was announced editor of the Sunday title. Now, there was a vacancy for deputy editor of Sunday Concord. The Concord management shortlisted about five or six of us, according to my findings. Though the board members considered me “hardworking”, not having a university degree was going to count against me on the day the management met to decide under the leadership of Dr. (Mrs.) Doyin Abiola. From what I later gathered, Mr. Tunji Bello was the one who updated the management meeting at that decisive moment that I just graduated from UNILAG with second upper division. There and then, Dr. Doyin Abiola announced me as her preference. Of course, that was the turning-point of my career in journalism, becoming an editor at 26. The point I am trying to make is that if I had made the Alfred Friendly Fellowship in April to the U.S., there is no way I would have completed my project and, by extension, become a university graduate before that crucial Concord management meeting. So, my failing to qualify for the Alfred Friendly fellowship turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”
Does he feel fulfilled at 50? “Of course, it will be ingratitude to God Almighty to say I am not fulfilled at 50, he says.” I am grateful for the talent God gave me and, more importantly, for showing me my purpose early in life. It is possible to stray from one vocation to another for decades without having a focus. I started early in life with a focus. Journalism has been nice to me. It gave me a platform in life. It has opened door to me. It has brought me to lots of people who have added immeasurable value and blessings to my life. It is quite humbling when you hear respected people saying your modest journalistic exertions have helped to enrich democracy in Nigeria. For me, that is the greatest honour.”
What has his experience been in government?” it has been a mixed bag. One, it is an honour to be invited to serve your state or your country. I have been privileged to serve my native state, Edo and also Nigeria, my country. But then, it has also been a reeducation of sorts. Before venturing into the public sector, as a private sector player, one had idealistic ideas. But you only have to migrate to the public sector to realize there is a world of difference between policy formulation and implementation. Things always sound great or sexy on paper. The devil is often in the execution. But then, the point to stress is that we must never give up. Governance remains a work in progress. We must keep hope alive and continue to dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of the good and just society.”
