‘Nobody Was Paying my School Fees, But Journalism Fed me’ — UNILAG Don, Ibitayo Popoola on His Journey Through the Newsroom

By Peace Chenube

Dr. Ibitayo Popoola, an Associate Professor and Acting Head of the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos, began his journalism career in the 1980s and worked his way up from a freelance contributor to editor before crossing into academia.

Over the years, he has held positions in newspaper organisations as staff writer, political correspondent, political editor, deputy news editor, news editor, assistant editor and editor. Today, he combines decades of newsroom experience with teaching.

In this interview, he reflects on how a love for writing turned into a lifelong career, the challenges he faced, and the lessons that continue to shape his work today.

A START ROOTED IN CURIOSITY AND NEED

“I’m a man that loves writing… Writing on unusual things, and unusual developments within my environment,” he narrated.

Popoola’s path into journalism started as a student of Political Science at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1984. He would type out articles on a manual typewriter, stencil them, and post them on departmental notice boards. A deputy registrar who had been following his work encouraged him to send his articles to newspapers.

“So, I started doing that,” he recalled. “Within two weeks, after I send it to the newspapers, the stories will be published.”

It was through sending his articles to various newspapers that Punch newspaper eventually discovered him and began to pay him for his articles. “Punch started paying me for articles, and the length of the articles was not less than a page,” he explained.

He was soon given an assignment that proved pivotal to his decision to pursue a career in journalism. “One day, they {Punch} wrote me a letter asking me to write a feature article on the relations between Nigeria and the Republic of North Korea,” he said.

At the time, he didn’t know what a feature article was, so he sought help from a classmate. After learning the format, he visited the Korean Embassy in Victoria Island to gather material, and then proceeded to write the story. “By the time it was published, it was a full-page. They paid me 1,000 Naira. I was extremely happy.”

That small breakthrough cemented his decision to stay in journalism. From that moment, I developed an interest. This is certainly my future direction, to develop a more active interest in journalism,” he said.

The decision came with tough consequences, but he continued down the path he had chosen. “Nobody was paying my school fees,” he said. “So, to really eat, it was a tug of war. I was eating only once a day. By that  time I said, let me put in more effort.”

By the time he graduated in 1987, he was already a columnist. From there, he grew steadily in the newsroom, from being a staff writer to becoming an editor. “From political correspondent. Later, political editor. Later, deputy news editor. Later, news editor. Later, assistant editor. Later, editor. My last point of call was editor, then I joined UNILAG in 2002.”

THE CHALLENGE OF TRUTH AND THE DISCIPLINE OF DILIGENCE

Asked about his biggest challenges, Popoola responded that it was the difficulty of getting reliable information from sources. “Journalism thrives on sources. If sources are not ready to give you information, you will be cutting the imaginary sources. That is not good.”

He spoke about what he called “speculative journalism,” which he described as a form of reporting grounded in factual prediction and prior knowledge. But even that, he said, must rest on verified information. “For journalism to contribute or to nurture democracy, people must be willing to give out information to journalists. Useful, strategic, vital information that will advance the course of journalism,” he said.

His guiding principle has always been conviction and due diligence. “You must be convinced of the story you are publishing,” he said. “I always believe that I must carry out a thorough investigation and that the story is real and not fake before I go to town and publish.”

He identifies himself as “a conservative journalist.” Not radical, but methodical. “Conservative in the sense that I will take my time to carry out due diligence, to authenticate every information, to validate every information… If I’m not sure about the credibility of the story, I will abandon it,” he said.

It is a habit he now instils in his students, including the campus reporters he mentors in his role as Staff Adviser for UNILAG Sun, the university’s official newspaper. “Don’t be in a haste to publish the story,” he tells them. “We need to rescue this profession. Journalism is losing public interest nowadays…” he notes.

ON MISTAKES, GRATIFICATION, AND THE VALUE OF PLAN B

Popoola warned that one of the common mistakes young journalists make is expecting rewards from sources. “A common mistake is of expecting gratifications over stories you are working on,” he said. “It is not good to expect that the society or the news sources will reward you over stories you have published.”

He explained that legitimate recognition would come, but not through bribery or “lime and gin journalism.” He said further, “When you are part of the conferences, after the conference, journalists will not go. They will still be hanging around… It is part of the behaviours that has earned us bad image.”

Instead, he urged journalists to find other ethical ways to sustain themselves. “Beyond this job they are doing, they must equally have plan B,” he said. “Plan B are things you can do to help yourself and earn extra income.”

He shared practical examples from his own experiences, including how he helped secure adverts for the newspapers he worked for, taught in tutorial centres during free time, and eventually wrote books.  “Journalists can write books now. That beat you are covering, you should be noting news activities there. Which, after a year or thereabouts, you can develop to a small compendium. Publish it,” he advises.

He ended with a note of enduring pride in his profession: “Journalism is a profession I love so much. All my publications in the classroom, you will see that it is the same journalism gift, experience, that is helping me.”