50th Anniversary: PUNCH photo exhibition opens, Soyinka speaks Thursday
A three-day photo exhibition, as part of
events marking the 50th anniversary of PUNCH newspapers, opens in Lagos today
(Wednesday), with a former Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture in Lagos
State, Steve Ayorinde, as curator.
The photo exhibition, showcasing iconic
photographs from PUNCH’s rich archive, comes next after the ceremonies marking
the newspaper house’s golden jubilee kicked off on Saturday, February 24, 2024,
with a colourful novelty football match at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos.
Founded in March 1973, PUNCH, Nigeria’s
foremost newspaper, clocked 50 March 18 last year but its board of directors
moved the 50th-anniversary celebration to this year because the anniversary
month fell within an election month and year.
PUNCH’s anniversary is being marked with
the 40th anniversary of the passing of its founding Chairman, the late Chief
James Olubunmi Aboderin, who died on February 28, 1984, at the age of 50.
At the three-day photo-story exhibition
holding at the Alliance Francaise de Lagos/Mike Adenuga Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos,
Nigeria’s most widely-read newspaper will be showcasing 100 of its iconic
photographs that tell the rich history of Nigeria and her people, as well as
how the media house has been a major part of the country’s history.
The exhibition will afford PUNCH readers
and other Nigerians the opportunity to view the best photographs from its
extensive pictorial archive of the biggest news events in the nation’s history.
Some of the photos will show action
moments of the late Afrobeat icon, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, as well as the late
human rights activist and lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi (SAN).
Following the photo exhibition is the
distinguished public lecture to be held on Thursday, February 29, at the Civic
Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Road, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The lecture is expected to play host to
leaders from the public and private sectors.
Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, will
deliver the anniversary lecture. The renowned playwright, novelist, poet and
essayist is expected to deconstruct an important issue of national discourse.
Speaking on the photo exhibition,
Ayorinde, who is also a former editor of The PUNCH, in a curator’s text titled
‘Timeless Lenses: A Newspaper’s Visual Journey Through Nigeria,’ said the
exciting journey into the heart of Punch Nigeria Limited would naturally
commence from Mangoro, the suburban Lagos area from where it started operation,
and end up at Magboro, a burgeoning new development area in Ogun State.
Ayorinde said, “Between its birthplace,
where it spent 36 years, and the Magboro permanent site, which is its befitting
and edifying complex of the last 16 years, is where PUNCH Newspaper’s
exhilarating journey through Nigeria of the last 50 years was nurtured. For a
good reason, both locations play an important role in telling the
visually-engaging story of this dominant quality newspaper, which is
celebrating its 50 years of operation.”
According to him, the 50 works on
display at the exhibition, along with several others that can be viewed on
PUNCH website, underscore the newspaper’s “enchanting connect to social
relevance topically and how photo news serves as an integral part of good
journalism.”
He added: “At the centre of this
collection are recurrent issues in Nigeria of the past half a century; the
variegated emotions constantly on display showing on the one hand, the mood of
the nation, and on the other hand, how PUNCH attaches importance to how they
are captured.”
The activity to round off the
anniversary will be happening on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at Eko Hotels and
Suites in Lagos, where PUNCH will host a black-tie dinner to acknowledge the
contributions of its stakeholders to the success of our organisation.
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