Mr Aniebo Nwamu, who retired from LEADERSHIP as a managing director recently, has moved to Eyeway as executive editor. Eyeway is published by Eyeway Publishing Limited.
In The Sunday Column of LEADERSHIP, July 20, 2014, Mr Nwamu had indicated that he would cease to be a salaried employee after age 50.
This online magazine (www.eyeway.ng) officially opened its doors on October 1, but the maiden print edition should be in vendors’ hands on February 1, 2015.
Apart from this online publication, Eyeway offers writing, editing and advertising services. It will publish good books and also promises to run courses in development of writing skills and editing skills.
Mr Nwamu notified LEADERSHIP of his retirememt in a memo dated November 1, 2014. It reads:
The time has come for me to say goodbye to all the wonderful men and women I have met in the LEADERSHIP family. As a young man, I planned to retire from paid employment before age 45. When I could not achieve the goal, I shifted the goalpost to age 50. It was out of respect for the Founder that I accepted to, once more, prove my mettle by taking a book-publishing company (LEADERSHIP Editors Limited, LEL) to great heights as managing director. As it has turned out, however, the parent company is not yet ready to let LEL take off anytime soon. It is the fate that befell LEADERSHIP Edge and has befallen LeVogue. And I am growing restless, having attained age 50 on October 6.
I have therefore decided to retire from the company with effect from December 18, 2014 – six weeks from now. This is to allow the company to get ready with my entitlements together with owed salaries. Before the exit date, I will strive to make more contributions toward the continued growth and prosperity of LEADERSHIP as well as lay a solid foundation for LEL. I have been cautious in recruiting people I had contacted to work for LEL because I do not want to increase the company’s wage bill.
As you know, I started working for LEADERSHIP on July 18, 2005. I did not enjoy annual leave for the first two years. We had no editorial board until 2009. I have stood solidly behind more than 15 editors of the LEADERSHIP titles. Columnists and other article contributors have been grateful for working with me. My designation has changed from associate editor to executive editor, from editor of LEADERSHIP Confidential to managing editor, from chairman of editorial board to executive director (special publications), and from standards director to managing director of LEL. But titles alone cannot tell all I have done in our company these past nine years. Only God can.
Even as I retire, I will continue to hold LEADERSHIP dearly in my heart. I will leave with memories of a great paper – a paper whose voice could not be ignored right from infancy, a paper that shook presidents and attracted the friendship of world powers, a paper that foretold events at a time others were still lost in doubts. I will love to tell my children and grandchildren stories of the baby we nourished when it becomes a full-grown, more important personality in the world by, say, 2044. So I implore everyone to strive to look after this company and not let it stumble. Since my plan is to continue writing and editing, as a consultant in private business, I may still be doing a thing or two for newspapers including LEADERSHIP.
Retirement is a good thing. I have played my part – and paid my dues. Let every member of the LEADERSHIP family shake hands with me between now and December 18. I love you all.
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