By joshua Ebenezer Adurodija At 61-And-beyond: The Jolly Good Fellow Who Builds People.
By Abu Micheal.
By Abu Micheal.
Today is Ebenezer Adurodija’s birthday. For me, Abu Michael, Publisher of The Nigerian Post Newspaper, it is more than a date on the calendar. It is a moment of deep reflection on a man whose life has become a compass for many of us who found our footing in journalism under his watch.
Mr. Adurodija, Technical Assistant to the Kogi State Ministry of Information and Communication and retired Permanent Secretary, is not the kind of man who chases the spotlight.
He is the kind who stays behind the scenes and ensures others shine. That, to me, is the truest definition of leadership.
I was young, hungry, and still finding my voice when I met him for the task that has help build me. Even before I chose to venture into the Journalism practice, Adurodija was somebody I know very well as we had the privilege to share neighbors at the back of Central Hotel, behind Mr. Biggs .
As an upcoming Journalist with more passion than polish, he helped in shaping me.
Mr. Adurodija did not look away. He did what great teachers do. He corrected, he guided, he opened doors, and he refused to hold back the skills that took him decades to gather. His teaching and mentorship became the pedestal on which I rose to a vantage point in this profession. Without mincing words, his solid impact at the inception of my career remains a watershed when The Nigerian Post Newspaper debut in 2006. Our journey began in the defunct Sunrise Newspaper.
A thoroughbred journalist, writer, Author and poet, Mr. Adurodija carries words the way a sculptor carries clay.
An Author of long time standing, a feat he has cultivated years before I met him in the Journalism practice. I recalled in 2007, when he launched a book, with late Abdulhameed Ujah as the Chief Launcher.
His many published works will live after him. He molds them until they serve truth, until they serve people. But beyond the pen, he is an uncommon administrator and a manager of men and resources.
Give him any task and he delivers it with what I can only describe as a Midas touch. Nothing he touches remains ordinary. Projects become policies. Policies become impact. People become better versions of themselves.
One quality you cannot take away from him is his generosity of spirit. He mentors because he genuinely likes to see people grow. That generosity is second to none among his peers, particularly in the field of journalism.
He likes people around him, not for ego, but because he believes in community. It is why his followership is organic and not manufactured. It did not start today, and it will not end today. Across newsrooms, government circles, and family gatherings, there are men and women who will tell you, “Ebenezer taught me that.”
As an in-law, brother, friend and teacher, he has remained constant. In all times and seasons, he has been present, steady, and intentional. Even in retirement from the Civil service, he has not retired from service to people. As Technical Assistant to the Kogi State Ministry of Information and Communication, he continues to bring institutional memory, clarity, and calm to public communication at a time when the noise is loud and the stakes are high.
He is a jolly good fellow. You see it in the way he laughs, in the way he listens, in the way he makes room for younger voices at the table. But do not mistake the warmth for softness. He is a rare breed journalist with standards, and an administrator with a spine. He believes that excellence is not negotiable.
On a day like this, as he marks another year in his remarkable life journey, what stands out is not just what he has achieved, but who he has raised. Legacies are not only in titles or positions. Legacies are in the people who go on to do good because someone once believed in them.
Mr. Ebenezer Adurodija, your impact will remain evergreen. Kogi is better for your service. Journalism is richer for your mentorship. And I am better for your guidance.
On behalf of myself, the entire management and staff of The Nigerian Post Newspaper that you helped founded, and the countless lives you have touched, I celebrate you today.
Happy Birthday, sir. May your years ahead be filled with health, joy, and the same grace with which you have poured into others.