The Nigerian media and business community mourns the passing of Jide Ogundele, a former resourceful Business Desk reporter at The Guardian newspaper, remembered for his professionalism and pivotal role in demystifying share ownership for his colleagues during the nation's privatization era.
A Pillar on The Guardian's Business Desk
Kingsley Osadolor, former Deputy Editor of The Guardian (Daily), recalls meeting Ogundele in 1990. He describes him as a hardworking, friendly, and incorruptible journalist, unfazed by the lucrative business circles he covered. Ogundele was part of a dedicated business reporting team that included Tony Nduilor, the late Orezina Agbodo, and Nik Ogbulie on the Sunday title.
Their work became crucial in the early 1990s, a period of seismic shifts in the Nigerian economy. This era saw the rise of second-generation banks like Zenith Bank and a fundamental policy change where the government began withdrawing from owning and managing businesses. The goal was to empower the private sector as the engine of economic growth.
Navigating the Privatization Wave
The legal framework for this shift was the Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC), created in 1988 under the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida and headed by Ahmed Zayyad. This body, which later evolved into the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), was tasked with selling federal government shares in banking, manufacturing, and oil & gas ventures to the public.
While the Desk reliably produced front-page stories on these developments, Jide Ogundele went a remarkable step further in an act of selflessness. He brought share purchase forms for the divested government businesses into the Rutam House newsroom. Osadolor remembers deep conversations with Ogundele, where they viewed this privatization wave as the next major economic revolution after the 1972 Indigenization exercise.
A Legacy of Financial Empowerment
Ogundele did not just drop the forms; he actively persuaded and guided Guardian staff on how to become shareholders. He emphasized the long-term potential for capital appreciation, regardless of whether the stocks were considered penny stocks initially. Thanks to his efforts, many staff made their first stock purchases, buying into companies like Unipetrol, First Bank, and Sokoto Cement Company.
This early guidance had lasting effects, with dividends and bonus issues flowing in subsequent years as the capital market deepened. Sadly, this growth was later undermined by the market's catastrophic collapse in 2008 due to widespread malpractice, a blow from which many retail investors never fully recovered.
Osadolor fondly recalls Ogundele's jovial personality and their private jokes, lamenting that such a gregarious man passed on in reportedly lonesome circumstances. He prays for eternal rest for Ogundele and comfort for his family, cementing the memory of a journalist whose work extended beyond reporting to empowering those around him.
