The hope that the defunct Sketch newspapers may soon return to the newsstand after a decade of being comatose might have been dashed, as its owners, Odu’a Conglomerate in their Property Re-development Programme (PRP) have converted it’s operational office in Ibadan to a shopping mall.
The Heritage Mall, as its former office is now known, houses Shoprite, Mr Price and other brands like Cash and Carry, Filmhouse Cinema and Lifemate Furniture.
The old Sketch which was part of the subsidiaries of Odu’a Investment Company Limited has been off the newsstand for over a decade now. The management of the conglomerate had a few years ago called for investors to take over the moribund Sketch, as arrangements were being made to relocate a re-branded Sketch newspapers to a new premises within the Odu’a Printing and Publishing Company Limited, Eleyele also in the Oyo State capital.
Defending the initiative , the Group Managing Director of Odu’a Investment Company, Mr Adebayo Jimoh, remarked that the business malls initiative by the conglomerate was borne out of perceived need or demand by high net-worth individuals in the South-West who spend time and money travelling to Lagos at weekends to shop.
The GMD had hinted that the Sketch newspapers in its fresh outing would be leased out to suitable investors, who would be mandated to manage the organization under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) terms. This, he said, was because “it has now been realized that government don’t have business in the business of newspapers management.”
Jimoh insisted that Odu’a Investment was “looking for technical partners that have the capacity to run the place (Sketch) in tune with the reality of the moment, as the government does not have the capacity to run newspapers. The newspapers publishing business is still open to whoever have interest in the business of publishing.”
He further revealed that efforts were on-going to bring back the Sketch newspapers on the vendors’ stand when the conglomerate recently settled the outstanding gratuity of over 450 ex-staff of Sketch Press Limited, running over N19million.
Speaking during the presentation of cheques to the ex-staffers, Jimoh remarked that it was expedient to see that Odu’a put smiles back on the faces of people who had worked diligently in active service for the defunct Sketch newspapers “which was then ranked the best in information dissemination.”
He said: “The management is very happy that the ex-staff are alive today to receive their final entitlements. On this note, I want to inform you that your sweat is not in vain. In few months time, your paper will be making a return in to the industry, but on a new location. A labourer is worthy of his wages, all efforts were put in place by Odu’a to make sure that the ex-staff were duly paid their entitlements.”
On March 31, 1964, when the Sketch newspaper made its debut in the field of Nigerian journalism, no one was left in doubt that the paper, established by the then Western Regional government, was a baby of circumstance. The Sketch, which claimed to champion the cause of the Yoruba race, was the brainchild of the late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, the erstwhile Premier of Western Nigeria.
The Western Region had been in crisis since 1962, a period when virtually all the traditional megaphones of the geo-political zone had turned against the premier.
Although he (Chief Akintola), being a journalist (he was a former Editor of the Daily Service), knew the importance of image-making, he was not having the necessary support. That essentially, spurred the premier to establish a government newspaper with a view to boosting the activities of his administration. The idea was formulated towards the end of 1963 and by January 1964, it was gradually becoming a reality as its pioneer editorial staff under the founding editorship of Mr Olu Akinsuroju took off from a makeshift newsroom inside the Investment House, Lagos. It was from there that the maiden edition of Daily Sketch was produced on March 31, 1964, while the production continued steadily in Lagos until Saturday, November 28, 1964.
On Monday, November 30, 1964, the first edition of the newspaper from its newly installed Ibadan Plant was published and the premier, Chief Akintola, was so amused as he saw it as a feat. On July 10, 1965, precisely, the premier formally performed the official commissioning of the Sketch Complex in Ibadan when he unveiled a commemorative plaque to this effect affixed to the outer wall of the Administrative Block.
The Sketch newspaper had been thriving on various crisis reports at that time. It was from one crises to anothe, from that of the Nigerian Airways, the Railway, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, etc. In all, the Sketch participated in no small measures in highlighting the causes of the crises and the newspaper soon became the darling of all and sundry.
However, the political undertone that surrounded the establishment of the Sketch Press Limited soon started to take its toll on the fortune of the organization. For instance, the turbulent years of the Wild! Wild! West! witnessed the mounting anti-government campaigns that the Sketch should be closed down, among others. The military virtually played to the gallery in this respect, following the 1966 coup when the Military Governor, Adeyinka Adebayo, in the course of his first official visit to the Sketch complex in 1967, ordered the removal of the commemorative plaque affixed in honour of Akintola, the former premier. Governor Adebayo’s successor, late Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi also visited the Cocoa House and the Cooperative Building in Ibadan, but avoided the Sketch like a plague.
The situation with the Sketch had continued under subsequent governments, thereby leaving the media organization to its own fate. Eventually, it was formally handed over to Odu’a Investment Company Limited, a business enterprise jointly owned by the states of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti. The resultant effect of the precarious situation at the Sketch Press Limited was the financial crisis that engulfed the media organization for several years, an ugly development which eventually consumed it.
Concerted efforts by the management and staffers could not even save the organization as the bubble eventually burst, when the 600-strong workers of the Sketch Press Limited slammed a six-point demand on the owners.The workers demands include: review of salary to reflect the present reality, Immediate recapitalization of the company, promotion of staff to fill the existing vacancies, provision of a new condition of service, probe into the activities of the company, and merger with Odu’a conglomerate for effective management.
While the workers industrial action lasted, the Sketch newspapers, comprising Daily Sketch, Sunday Sketch and Gboun-Gboun, remained off the newsstands for over a decade, before eventually fading from the scene unceremoniously.
Even though the Group Managing Director of Odu’a Investment Company has continued to raise the hope of the ex-staff of Sketch Press Limited with news of its imminent return to the newsstand, questions have been asked as to when exactly this tall dream will eventually materialize, and in what format-under the present situation. Whether or not Daily Sketch will actually bounce back, only time will tell.
sunday trust
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