THE Sun Publishing Limited, publishers of Daily Sun, Saturday Sun, Sunday Sun and Sporting Sun, has established a media development foundation, The Sun Media Development Foundation.
The Foundation has a critical mission to advance sustainable solutions through development reporting, with focus on health, education, climate ac-tion, and safer environment for everyone, regardless of social status and disabilities.
Since its establishment, The Sun Media Development Foundation has been fulfilling its core mandate, making interventions in the defined areas, by delivering special reports that make impact, among others.
The Foundation had executed a special project on plight of smallholder women farmers in Nigeria and suggested practical measures the different layers of government can take to address the issues raised.
The Foundation, since inception, had carried out a special assignment on the devastating effects of Climate Change in 11 Ebonyi State Local Government Areas.
In one of the Local Government Areas, the Foundation facilitated the repairs of the house of an aged woman in a community.
Pained by the controversial implementation of the cashless policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Foundation did a special project on plight of small business owners in Abuja, Nigeria’s Capital Territory, on how their businesses were affected.
The Foundation has concluded plans to organise a virtual training for selected journalists from various media houses on skills needed to report flooding and other environmental threats, at a time when there are expectations of massive flooding in some parts of the country.
A statement by the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, The Sun Publishing Limited, Mr. Onuoha Ukeh, said the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation is Barr Neya Kalu, a trained lawyer, human resource expert, and businesswoman.
Other members of the Board of Trustees are Mr. Ukeh, Mr. Mike Awoyinfa, former Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, The Sun Publishing Limited; Dr. Ngozi Carol Anyagwa, a senior lecturer in the English Language Department, University of Lagos, and Barr Obinna Kalu. Mr. Victor Emeruwa is the Executive Director of the Foundation.
Barr Neya Kalu has a degree in Law and an MSc in Finance from the University of Buckingham, United Kindom. She has more than five years of experience crafting and implementing business initiatives.
To fulfill her desire to empower women and contribute to giving succour to the less privileged, Barr Kalu works with the Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK) Foundation in the noble field of humanitarian service.
Ukeh, a thoroughbred professional of many years standing, is a versatile journalist, newspaper columnist, and author.
Awoyinfa worked with the Concord newspapers, rising from a reporter to become the pioneer editor of The Weekend Concord in 1989. The revolution he brought to human interest journalism in Nigeria made the newspaper become the highest circulating in Nigeria for over 10 years.
Dr. Anyagwa is a passionate researcher, lecturer, and trainer with 10 years of experience in different aspects of English Language and linguistics, while Barr Obinna Kalu, holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree (LL.B), LL.M (Common Law) and Executive Doctorate Degree obtained in 2014.
Emeruwa, the Executive Director, had worked in full-time capacity as an African Regional Research Coordinator for Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative, ATCRI, where a comprehensive countrywide baseline research was collected, analysed and synthesized.
He joined the research team from the University of Botswana, University of Togo and the Makerere University, Uganda to produce the very first situational analysis of Tobacco Control in six African countries – Benin Republic, Botswana, Uganda, Togo, Ethiopia and Mozambique.
Emeruwa also led the African Research team of the Global Business Coalition for Education study of the Corporate Social Responsibilities of Small businesses in Africa to public education support, a global research work covering four continents.
In his 12 years of experience in development communication and research, he had worked with Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation, World Bank, ActionAid International, ActionAid Nigeria, Plan International, Carter Foundation, Asibey Consulting and the Global Business Coalition for Education.
In these organisations, he worked on different research components, as well as policy and communication advisory, including the execution of the entire spectrum of data management and analytics.
The Sun Media Development Foundation also has Mr. Fred Itua as Director of Communications.
Itua, a respected political and humanitarian journalist, is a staff of the Editorial Department of The Sun Publishing Limited, Nigeria.
He has a first degree in English and a master’s degree in Media Art.