BREAKING: ALEX AKINYELE, EX-INFORMATION MINISTER, IS DEAD
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| Chief Alex Akinyele. |
Nigeria’s former Minister of Information, Chief Alex Akinyele, is dead.
Akinyele was a trained public relations specialist, who served as the Minister of Information, then later became chairman of the Nigerian Sports Commission.
Profile:
According to Wikipedia, Akinyele was born
in Ondo town
to a father who was a teacher but later served in the West African Frontier Force during
World War II. After his father's return from the war, Akinyele began his
primary education at All Saints School, Ondo and completed secondary studies at
Gboluji Grammar School. He then attended St Andrews College, Oyo to obtain a
teacher's training certificate. At St Andrew's the principal was Seth Runsewe Kale, who took a liking to Akinyele
and appointed him a receptionist prefect, an ambassador for the school to
receive visitors. After graduation, he taught briefly at his alma mater,
Gboluji, before earning a degree in English language from the University of Ife. His degree was partially
sponsored by a secondary school in Idanre and
after obtaining his diploma, he returned to the school to teach English for a
number of years at the school.
In 1967, Akinyele
transferred services to the Department of Customs in Lagos. While staying in
Lagos, he found time to work with a group of writers of the Village Headmaster.
On the recommendation of
Customs director, Etim Duke, Akinyele became the public relations officer of
the department. He worked in that position until 1978 when he joined a cosmetic
company.
Akinyele was an investor
in Newswatch magazine and played a role in
negotiations between the federal government and magazine when the latter was
proscribed in 1986.
In 1995, Sani
Abacha appointed Akinyele as head of a National Reconciliation
Committee with the objective of opening dialogue with interest groups in the
country to support the democratic transition programme of the government.
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