Oyo State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has presented the publisher of Parrot Xtra Magazine Olayinka Agboola with the Pride of Journalism award.
The award ceremony was held at the Press Center, Iyaganku, Ibadan, as part of activities staged by Oyo NUJ to mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day.
Chairman of the council Ademola Babalola, in his welcome address, admonished journalists to always adhere to safety measures even while carrying out their constitutionally assigned roles.
Others who got honoured at the event included chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa; Dotun Sanusi of Ilaji Sports Resort, Bolatito Joseph, FRCN’s zonal director in Ibadan.
While speaking after he received his award, Mr Agboola, who is also the chairman of South West Group of Online Publishers (SWEGOP), tasked Nigerian journalists on need to develop passion for what they do adding that this will further propel them to be more creative and result-oriented.
Agboola was born on May 5, 1965 in Ibadan. He attended ICC Primary School, Agugu before proceeding to Lagelu Grammar School in the same vicinity. He attended the University of Ibadan where he got his two degrees in archaeology/history. He also attended the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos where he got his post-graduate diploma in journalism in 1996.
He worked with the defunct Fame Weekly Magazine, Thisday Newspaper, Ovation International Magazine, Daily Sketch and Nigerian Tribune. He served Governor Lam Adesina as press secretary and after leaving government 19 years ago, he established Prokonnect Ltd and has since been using the platform to publish Parrot Xtra Magazine as well as the online platform, PMParrot.com.
Agboola equally runs Parrot Xtra (Ayekooto) Hour live on Splash 105.5fm radio station every Tuesday morning.
He is married to Oluwatoyin and blessed with wonderful children.
