Tony Amadi: My Journey Through Journalism, History Life

Journalist, author and media executive, Tony Amadi reflects on the defining experiences, historic encounters and personal milestones that shaped his remarkable career, family life and enduring passion for journalism. Ferdinand Ekechukwu brings the excerpts:

My first exam result 1953

I started school in 1953 at age five when the physical test to find out if my right hand could touch my left ear from  across my head. Many failed that test and meant they were not yet due to start school as the case was in those days. But the real excitement occurred when I came first in the class and brought home my black slate with the massive good in white chalk that showed that I passed. My dad was even more excited as he gave me a roasted corn to celebrate.

Passing my entrance to Ibo Union Grammar School Kano

I attended St Michael’s Primary School Gudi in Nasarawa State and took entrance to Ibo Union Grammar School, one of the best secondary schools in Northern Nigeria in the early sixties was the only student to pass the exam. The British principal refused to admit me because I was too small and decided to reset the exam before he will believe that I passed. By the time I wrote the first paragraph of the essay, he stopped me and apologized and admitted me. That moment remains unforgettable in my life.

Meeting Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Premier of Eastern Region on his way to Kaduna in 1959 to meet Ahmadu Bello, Premier of Northern Region at Gudi

That event was history in the making because I went on to meet Zik several more times as a journalist and each time reminded him about the meeting in Gudi Railway station.

Meeting Chief Joseph Oluwole, Publisher and Circulation Manager of Daily Times in Port Harcourt.

During school holidays I sold newspapers and magazines during holidays in Port Harcourt and met Chief Oluwole who took me to Lagos from where I toured Nigeria through his auspices. This widened my knowledge of Nigeria and newspaper distribution which helped me in scoring the best project at London’s Centre for Business Studies in Greenwich.

My first day at work

My first job was work at a publishing company, Thomas Nelson Publishers in Apapa. I got the job because I reviewed a book in the Sunday Times written by Anthony Enahoro distributed by the company. The MD was so excited by the review that he offered me a job immediately.

Award of Diploma in Journalism by School of Journalism, Reading in England.

While working with Thomas Nelson Publishers in Apapa, Lagos, I was studying for a diploma with a top Fleet Street journalist Mr Richard Williams in his School of Journalism in Reading by Correspondence. The day I got my diploma was so exciting and memorable.

The leading music paper in the world, MELODY MAKER of London made me their Africa Correspondent and opened me up to music journalism.

My first visit to London 1972.

Having become a leading music journalist, EMI, the world’s number one record company dispatched me to London to report Fela’s historic recording sessions in the famous Abbey road studio. My reports covered Nigeria papers including Daily Times, Lagos Weekend and Daily Express.

I moved to magazine journalism with Newbreed magazine and landed the explosive interview with Emeka Ojukwu while in exile in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Marriage in London and birth of my first child in 1978m, on  my birthday, 1st July. For me it was a thriller and I continue to thank God for the blessing of Nneka and the four other children Uzo, Uche, Roxanne and Tony  Jnr.

The zenith of my media and publishing career was my work with Encyclopedia Brittanica where I rose to head one of its London divisions and internationally recognized as one of their top salesmen listed at their Chicago headquarters and Arise News in Nigeria where I helped to make it one of the best in Africa.