By ANIEBO NWAMU –
Many have called to say they have missed my column regularly published every Sunday from May 2010. It first appeared on the back page of LEADERSHIP newspaper and, from 2014, on this site. Later it was published simultaneously on the Sunday Independent and The Cable also. Several other online platforms have republished it, many without permission.
If you read the column of August 13, 2017, you would remember that I put my readers on notice: “This column will be going on break because I will be celebrating this year’s New Yam festival with my people.” It was a time of uncertainty in Nigeria but I assured that “I’m not fleeing ‘the north’ or obeying the ‘quit notice’ issued by some miscreants or the hate song circulated by riffraff.”
Why has the Sunday column gone on this long break? The truth, however, is I’ve been writing three ebooks to be published on Amazon, Kobo and several affiliates by the first week of May 2018. The Sunday column, too, is set to return on April 15. Besides, I had grown tired of repeating myself, because I used to comment often on Nigerian affairs but the country’s leaders appeared deaf and stupid. Things have kept going from bad to worse, because the successive Nigerian administrations have taken us writers for granted. They ignore wise counsel and repeat mistakes.
My audience this time will be global – in the books I speak to people and institutions from the United States and the United Kingdom to Brazil and Russia and from South Africa and India to Canada, Ghana and China. Any government agent wishing to get some of these ideas should be able to part with at least a dollar. No free ideas anymore!
In brief, these are the new books’ working titles and their synopses:
- COMMUNICATION WITHOUT STRESS: Critical Matters in Writing, Speech and Editing
The ability to communicate effectively through the written or spoken word is a lifelong skill many try to learn. It can make the difference between life and death, success and failure in every endeavour especially examinations.
This is a training manual for anyone interested in writing or journalism as a profession. It is also a handmaid to everyone else: students, teachers, company executives, politicians, speechwriters, special assistants, public relations managers and statesmen. Editors are no less served. It helps the reader to master the rudiments of grammar, the tools of the writing trade, journalism and the literary principles that make writing or speech glamorous.
- 33 BUSINESSES THRIVING ON JOURNALISM SKILLS
The era of journalism as we know it is coming to an end, thanks to the internet and ICT revolution. In the midst of this gloom and doom, what must working journalists, other writers and trained communicators do? They should jump and not wait to be pushed.
But journalists have hidden talent which many may not discover until they have read this book. Entrepreneurship is the way to go. And the 33 businesses this book describes are not just the run-of-the-mill opportunities that many associate with skilled journalists. Yes, going into public relations, advertising or marketing is the natural haven for ex-journalists, but these three are not really what many think they are. Moreover, there are 30 other viable businesses best done by people trained in mass communication.
As a veteran who is neck-deep into business, I give in this ebook valuable advice an ex-journalist going into entrepreneurship at this time will need. For businesses I’ve not done yet, I have sought validation from experts from every corner of the globe.
This is a must-read for every journalist – student, working, retiring or retired – as it is for anyone else interested in the business of mass communication in the digital age.
- SCHOOLS & JOBS OF THE FUTURE: Some Thoughts on Career-Focused Education
This book creates a new schools system starting from basic to higher education “where learning is fun and on the job”. Youngsters currently rushing to acquire certificates are urged to think twice because a revolution toward actual education is on the way. A certificate that can’t put food on the table is worthless, I declare in the book.
It’s an insightful analysis of what other global authorities and I have prescribed as the way out of a decadent system, and the “jobs looking for workers” in the 21st century. The jobs that will soon be needed are many, but few people have yet to identify the opportunities and the qualifications required for them.
I’m gifted with correctly foretelling the future – that’s why some readers call me “The Oracle”. I display this clairvoyance with accurate analyses and data in this book. If all goes well, critics of the current education system will have their way: the 200-year-old system will give way to an education that will be trusted to lead to profitable and fulfilling jobs.
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About me
A veteran journalist and English teacher, I began my writing and editing career in the 1980s as a student of Mass Communication in the University of Nigeria. Since then, I’ve edited scores of books as well as written or edited perhaps tens of thousands of articles, speeches, PhD theses and conference papers.
None of the three ebooks mentioned above will be my first. I’ve co-authored two books, Common Errors in English and Governor Yakowa’s Funeral Homily: Matters Arising.
Over a 27-year period starting from 1987, I was on the staff of a radio/TV station, two magazines and three national newspapers at different times as a reporter, writer, editor, managing editor, chairman of editorial board, executive director and managing director; I co-founded Eyeway Publishing on attaining age 50 in October 2014. My journalism career has taken me to a number of countries in Europe, Asia and America.
Through Eyeway’s digital education programme, I train journalists, other writers, business executives, students and advanced learners of English. I still edit books and website content, while maintaining a weekly column in print and online newspapers including Eyeway.ng, Sunday Independent and TheCable.ng.
I have a small family and am surrounded by many other relations and friends.
You can reach me anytime on +234-8054100220 (SMS/WhatsApp only).