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He got involved in active politics in Nigeria as the communication advisor and confidant of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola- the winner of the annulled June 12 presidential election in Nigeria in 1993. In December 2014, Dele Alake resurfaced in national politics in Nigeria through its appointment as the director of Media and Communication of the Buhari Campaign Organisation to help Nigeria’s former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari to victory in the presidential election in Nigeria in February 2015. Background Alake was born on the 6th of October, 1956. He had his primary education at Surulere Baptist Primary School, Surulere, in Lagos from 1961 to 1967. He later moved to Christ’s School Ado Ekiti, where he earned the West African School Certificate. He obtained the General Certificate of Education in 1974 while pursuing his Higher School Certificate course at the Igbobi College, Yaba, Lagos, between 1973 and 1975. Later in 1975, he enrolled in the Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree programme in Political Science of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos and graduated in 1978. He later returned to the same university and obtained a master’s degree in Mass Communications in 1981. Journalism career Alake began his journalism career when, as a fresh graduate, he served at the Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation (OGBC) for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
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After completing the one-year national service as made compulsory by the Nigerian government, Alake secured an appointment at the Lagos State Broadcasting Corporation (LSBC) as Senior Sub-Editor in which capacity he served till 1980. He had served as Current Affairs Officer and Senior Current Affairs Officer. And was later made Principal Current Affairs Officer in 1983. Through his experience in broadcast media, Alake contributed to the establishment of Lagos Television (L TV 8), the sister station of his employers, the Lagos State Broadcasting Corporation. After a successful engagement in broadcast journalism, Alake moved into print media. In late 1985, he joined the Concord Press publishers of the Concord Group of Newspapers – National Concord and Sunday Concord. as a writer and editor. A year after his employment, he became a columnist in the National Concord and served in that capacity until 1989. Later that year, he was appointed editor of Sunday Concord, a post he held till 1995. Before then he doubled as a columnist in the Sunday Concord. Later in 1995, he became editor of the National Concord, a post he retained till June 1999. Political Involvements In June 1999 Alake was named Special Adviser on Information and Strategy by the Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu. On 6 October 1999, Alake became the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy subsequent to the reversion of the former Bureau of Information and Strategy to ministerial status. He held this position and acquitted himself creditably till 2007. Before his appointment to lead the Lagos State Information machinery, the ministry was the Ministry of Information, Sports and Culture. Alake on the assumption of the office sought and obtained the governor’s approval to change the ministry of Information and Strategy, dispensing with culture and sports to make the ministry more relevant and dynamic to confront the challenges of modern Information management in an emergent democracy.
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Alake thus became the first Information and strategy commissioner in the annals of Nigeria. Awards and associations Alake is a former vice-president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. He belongs to several national, regional and international professional bodies such as the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), and the West African Union of Journalists. He has also received several honours and awards for his meritorious service in journalism. He was awarded the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) International Gold Award in 2000, Special Recognition Award, Radio Lagos and Public Service Award, and ECHNONEWS amongst others. He was a former chairman of Lagos State Broadcasting Corporation Chapel of the N.U.J and is currently a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (E.N.G.E). Source profilesinfo.com wikitrusted.com Featured Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
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