Comrade Umoru Ibrahim, the new Vice President (North) of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), belongs to the generation of Nigerians that are proving a point that given greater opportunity or chance to serve, they will turn the country around for the better.
Umoru, a highly principled person with a very cleared vision, mission and a great sense of fairness is a man of immense intellectual and managerial capacity.
DPO Goron Dutse, as he is fondly called by his friends, colleagues and admirers got elected as the new Nigerian Guild of Editors Vice President North during the recently concluded 2023 Biennial Conference of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in Owerri, Imo state.
Very friendly and modest individual, Comrade Umoru Ibrahim was born in 1955 in Agbede, Etsako West Local Government area of Edo state.
He had his Qur’anic education from his father’s Qur’anic school before venturing into photography which he practiced for many years before moving to Kano state in 1975 for greener pasture.
The DPO without a police station, police uniform and police training joined the servic of the then newly established Triumph Publishing Company Ltd by the administration of the late former Kano state governor, late Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar Rimi as a photojournalist in 1981.
He started as a junior photographer and rose to the position of a senior photographer, chief photographer, features editor and later deputy editor in the organization.
Due to his seriousness and dedication to his duty, Comrade Ibrahim was attached to as an official photographer to the late Governor Rimi throughout the four years of his administration as Kano’s number one citizen. Umaru was also the Triumph photographer attached to Dodan Barrack in the early days of Babangida’s administration.
To consolidate his experience and sharpen his photographic skills, he was at the University of Jos in 1986 where he studied and obtained a Certificate in Still Photography/Photojournalism.
His superlative performances as a photographer and his attainments of additional qualifications catapulted him to the senior positions in the newspaper house as he was Senior Reporter (Aviation & Tourism) in October, 1998, Editor Sunday Triumph, Newspapers in October 2003, and Aviation Editor/Head of Photograph in October, 2004.
Comrade Umoru is a self-made man and he is one man whom I know that got into Ivory tower multiple times without previously attending conventional primary and secondary schools. And it is amazing to note that Umoru’s private efforts singly propelled him to getting admission into Bayero University, Kano.
He privately studied for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Examination and UME, both of which he passed with flying colors on the basis of which he was offered an admission for his Bsc in political science by the university in 1993. He graduated 1998 with Bsc Hon. in Political Science.
To me, Umoru Ibrahim is a complete gentleman whose life is worthy of emulation because of obvious reasons. The comrade is a man of courage who started his journey of life without an iota of conventional education as I stated above but later turned out to be a man with different categories of degrees.
An epitome of knowledge, Umoru’s objectives in life is to exhibit capability, credibility and transparency as a team player, towards the actualization of his organizational goals and objectives wherever he found himself.
His love for knowledge saw him getting into his alma mater for a second degree, this time around, Masters Degree in Political Science with specialist in ethnic politics in 2014.
Equally, Comrade Umoru Ibrahim’s love for legal profession led him to seek and obtained an admission into the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) where he has almost concluded his LLB program, ready to proceed to the Law School anytime from now as a preparation to be crown a full-fledged lawyer in the country.
More so, his love for more knowledge and wisdom earns him an appellation of a book worm because he has the tendency of reading any printed materials he lays his hands on.
Based on his qualifications and professional experience, he was elevated to the rank of Deputy Editor – in – Chief of Triumph Newspapers between August, 2008 – 2012 before the paper was closed down in 2012.
However, when the paper was brought back to life a couple of years back, Comrade Umoru was again appointed as its Deputy Editor in November 2020, the position he is still occupying.
An erudite scholar, the 70 years old editor who will soon be a legal practitioner has attended several national and international workshops which include the Global Editor Network Summit, Althens in Greece in 2019, Tourism Journalism Course III, organized by NIHOTOUR in 2010, Training Workshop in Conflict Management sponsored by CRD in 2007. Media Orientation Training on Avia Influenza Communication, USAID/UNICEF in Nov. 2007.
Others workshops he attended are: Workshop on Interviewing Techniques for Airport Correspondents sponsored in Lagos by Friedrich Ebert Foundation/IMS in 2000, Workshop on reporting procedures by USAID /OTI/CIP in 2001, Management WorkShop for Senior Civil Servants by Administrative Staff College of Nigeria in 2007 and the Seminar on how to run a Professional Cum Industrial Union in Modern Society by NUJ Kano.
As a utility journalist, Comrade Ibrahim has covered many local, national and international assignments ranging from the 2nd coming of Rowling Revolution in Ghana in 1982 to Hajj Operation in Saudi Arabia in 2010 when he was a Member of Kano state media team.
Umoru’s interest and love for sports made him a member of sport writers association on the basis of which he has covered many sporting events, nationally and internationally. The 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola was one among the numbers assignment s the comrade has covered.
The new vice president North of the Guild was also a recipient of several awards which includes the Best Photo Journalist of the year by Kano State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists in 1997,
Best Photo Journalist by Kano N U J in 1998 and the Certificate of Honor by Edo State Students Association, Bayero University Kano in 2000.
In the year 2010, the management of the Media Trust in Abuja selected Comrade Umoru to be among the few Nigerians honoured with unsung hero’s award for going this far professionally and academically taking into cognizance and consideration his fragile background.
Besides his exploits in the journalism profession, Umoru Ibrahim has also used his abundant knowledge and wealth of experience to serve the generality of people he relates with.
This granted him wonderful opportunities to serve excellently in the various adhoc committees within and outside his organization. He was a member of Kano NUJ’s Press Centre Committee in 1990, Secretary screening committee set up by the same union in 1998, chairman Kano SWAN Electoral Committee 1999, Chairman Kano NUJ Electoral Committee 2004, Member, Kano NUJ political Forum in 2006 and member Kano NUJ’s Ethics Committee in 2008.
Comrade Umoru Ibrahim was the NUJ’s Treasurer of Kano State Council in 2002 and also a member of Kano NUJ Committee on Eradication of Fake Journalists in 2010.
He has been a member of the Editorial board of Triumph News Papers for a number years. Comrade Ibrahim served as a Member of standing committee of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) from May 30 2021 to June 16 2023 and, it was his excellent performance that earned him his current position of Vice President North of association.
A contributor to the journalism profession, the DPO has undertaken various research works, some of which are: “Indigenes / settlers relations and problem of national integration in Nigeria (A case study of Kano metropolis from 1953 – 2004” (Msc. Research work)) in 2014, “Elite conflicts in the Nigerian State: A study of the Annulment of 1993 Presidential Election” (Bsc. Thesis) 1998, and Appraisal for “Application and Efficacy of Attentive Disputes resolutions (ADR) Under the Nigerian legal system: A case study of Kano State” (LLB long Essay) 2023.
Comrade Umoru Ibrahim who speaks English, Hausa and Afemai languages fluently is a member of Nigeria Guild of Editors, Nigeria Union of Journalists and Sports Writers Association of Nigeria.
A happily married man with children and grandchildren, Umoru has reading and travelling as hobbies.
Allah ya kara daukaka, ameen.