How Macebuh Changed Journalism In Nigeria

Joseph Ekeng
In 1977 when Stanley Macubeh left City College in the United States to join Daily Times of Nigeria, he left behind a dream to one day move over to Harvard University and retire there as Professor Emeritus. Daily Times, at the time, was a huge media institution and Macebuh was expected to bring his massive experience to bear on his new job. But, his biggest achievement didn’t happen in Daily Times; it came when he led a generation of Nigerian journalists to start Guardian newspaper. This was where he indeed brought his ingenuity into play and started a revolution in the media industry that has lasted over decades.
His goal in Guardian was well thought out and included building a newspaper that will not just be a mere platform to push out information or report politics but a brand noted for something unique, that is, robust intellectual discourse, investigative journalism and pure professionalism. He had intended Guardian, from Day One, to be not just a great liberal newspaper but the flagship of Nigerian journalism.
Of course, one of the fundamental steps in building a great brand is assembling a great team and creating an environment that allows players express their resourcefulness without friction. Macebuh did this by putting together a team of crack journalists – some of the best in the country – including Odia Ofeimun, a poet and essayist. The Guardian gave him a platform to set the pace for intellectualism in Nigerian journalism. “I also remember how he ran our Editorial Board in those days. He anchored it with style and elegance, and his niche was synonymous with a robust tradition of serious intellectual engagement as far as journalism is concerned. His intellectual thought, which he started in Daily Times, was what he took to The Guardian. He was a civilized Nigerian. You could disagree with him and still be his friend,” Ofeimun recalls.
One of the landmark changes Macebuh brought into the Nigerian media was civility. Before him, no newspaper in Nigeria had an editorial board so editorials were just products of what the editor of the newspaper thought. Macebuh changed this and set up a team of intellectuals whose robust brainstorming often shaped the newspaper’s editorials. And over the years, his unique administrative style and broadmindedness have helped to discover and nurture a generation of journalists that have remained trailblazers till date. One of them is Amma Ogan of NEXT newspaper. “He saw her and then he made her the first female Sunday Editor at the Guardian,” Dan Agbese, the Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch says.
Dele Cole, who was his boss at Daily Times and The Guardian, says: “I think that Dr. Stanley Macebuh was an icon in journalism. He was the first person to assist in various editorial boards of different media houses.
He was a man committed to excellence. His writing was absolutely clear. He had probably the best brain I have met since I came into journalism. Years after he exited the Guardian he pioneered, he worked for other newspapers including Post Express which was Nigeria ‘s first newspaper to register an online presence.”
The Nigerian newspaper has obviously moved on from what it was 11years ago when he stepped away from active journalism into business, but the footprints of his impact remain indelible.
Macebuh was born on December 28, 1942 and grew up in Port Harcourt , Rivers State. He won a scholarship to Ngwa High School , now in Abia State , from where he got another scholarship to King’s College, Lagos , for his secondary education. He later proceeded to Nigeria ‘s premier university, University of Ibadan, where he studied English Language, graduating in the second class upper division.
Macebuh left Nigeria in 1967 for the University of Sussex , England , where he acquired a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the age of 26. When the University of California , Berkeley , began a search for an in-house African philosopher during the Civil Rights years in the USA , his doctoral supervisor recommended the young Macebuh and he joined the Berkeley Faculty. Macebuh became the only black lecturer to teach at the American school during the period.
After two years at Berkeley , Columbia University and City College of New York both pitched to have him on their faculties but had to settle for sharing his services. He began to lecture in both universities, teaching full-time at City College and part-time at the Institute of African Studies of Columbia University.