Doyin Abiola, widow of late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, also known as MKO, has joined the octogenarian club. The mother of one, who was formerly the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of the defunct Concord Group of Newspapers, has lived a fulfilled life in the past eight decades.
A woman of many firsts and a second, Dr Abiola was the first woman to be named editor of a national daily and the first Nigerian woman to preside over the fortunes of a national newspaper group. She was also the first woman to be selected for the Eisenhower Fellowship in 1986. She was the second woman to receive a Diamond Award for Media Excellence, (DAME) Lifetime Achievements Award.
Dr Abiola started her career in 1969 at the Daily Sketch Newspaper where she was a columnist writing, Tiro, a column that addressed issues of public concern and gender matters. She left in 1970 to pursue a Master’s degree in Journalism in the United States. When she returned, she joined Daily Times and was writing features until she rose through the ranks and was made the Group Feature Editor. She later left for New York University to obtain a PhD in Communication and Political Science.
Abiola went back to the Daily Times upon her return, but left shortly after to work with National Concord Newspaper. a newspaper company owned by her husband. She started off as its pioneer editor.
Rising through the ranks again, she emerged the first Nigeria female woman to become the editor in chief of a newspaper. Dr Abiola’s Concord career journey spanned three decades where she groomed veterans in the industry and was a great influence in the lives of seasoned journalists, such as Mike Awoyinfa, whom she used to change the face of Nigeria journalism on Saturday with Weekend Concord, which majored in human angles stories that excited the reading public. Over the years, in many media houses in Nigeria and abroad, Dr. Doyin Abiola’s protégés have made her proud by flying the flag of the profession with pride.
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