Sam Omatseye

• Name — Sam Omatseye • Birth Name — Samuel Oritsetimeyin Omatseye • Born — 15 June 1961 • Occupation — * writer • journalist • poet • playwright • Education — University of Ife • Awards — National Productivity Order of Merit (2019)

Sam Omatseye attended Government College, Ughelli, (former Bendel State), Delta State, from 1973 to 1979 for his secondary school education and obtained the School West African School Certificate. He attended the Federal School of Arts and Science, Victoria Island, Lagos, for his higher school education. He studied history at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) from 1980 to 1985 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree.

He taught English and literature at the Aminu Kano Commercial College, Kano, during his National Youth Service from 1985 to 1986. Between 1987 and 1988 he worked as a reporter-researcher at Newswatch magazine, and covered a variety of beats from foreign affairs to culture. In 1988 he had a stint as a staff writer with the African Concord magazine, and anchored stories about tyrannies and turbulence that characterised the Babangida years. He later became the deputy political editor of Concord newspapers in 1989 with specific assignment to help lead the coverage of the rigmarole of the political transition programme of the Babangida years. In 1990 he was selected by the United States Information Service to cover the off-year elections, and worked for six weeks in the country, including an attachment with the Kansas City Star in Missouri. Sam Omatseye was appointed managing editor of the Abuja Bureau of Concord newspapers in 1993. Sam served as the editorial page editor of ThisDay newspaper in 1995. He became deputy editor of Sunday Concord in 1996 after the Concord Newspaper Group was unbanned. Between 1998 and 2006 Sam taught media and journalism at the Metropolitan State College of Denver. He also taught classes and gave talks at the University of Colorado and the University of Denver. He became a technology journalist covering the wireless world in its bursting beginnings with RCR Wireless News. From 2006 to the present, he has been chairman of the editorial board of The Nation Newspapers. He oversees the opinion section of the newspaper and runs a weekly column, In Touch. He has given talks several times in Nigerian universities, including Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Ibadan, and University of Lagos. Sam was appointed a member of the Governing Council of the Lagos State University. He has also been a frequent commentator on television and radio shows on contemporary Nigerian issues. He hosted a television show, Standpoint, on TVC and currently hosts The Platform, an edgy political programme that airs every Saturday on TVC.