By Ahmid Lawal
Abuja
Management of Blueprint Newspaper has approved the appointment of Abdulrahman Adeshina Abdulrauf as its substantive editor with effect from December 1.
Abdulrahman, who joined the company in 2011 as Politics Editor, was appointed in acting capacity in September 2015.
Chief Operating Officer of the company, Malam Salisu Umar, announced this in a memo dated December 1, 2016.
He said: “I am pleased to inform you that the Management, in recognition of your hard work, loyalty and dedication to duty, has approved your elevation from the current position of an Acting Editor of Blueprint Newspapers Limited, with effect from 1st December, 2016.
“It is hoped that you would, by this development, continue to be dedicated to your duties for the continued progress of the company.”
Born over 50 years ago to the family of Alhaji Mahmud Abdulrauf and Hajiya Rahmat Bodunrin Abdulrauf, he variously attended Ansaru-Deen Primary School Owo, Ondo state, Local Schools Board, New Bussa, and LSB Wawa, Niger State, as well as Borgu Secondary School, New Bussa (1982) and Baptist Grammar School, Okuta (1983) for his primary and secondary school education.
He was also at the Kwara State College of Technology (School of Basic Studies), now Kwara Polytechnic Ilorin, between 1983 and 1985 for his Higher School Certificate.
Abdulrauf, a product of Bayero University Kano and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Ogba, Lagos, graduated in 1990 and 1995 in History and Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism respectively.
He started his journalism career as a proof reader/ writer at the Nigerian Herald (now The Herald), owned by the Kwara state government in 1992 and rose to the position of a correspondent after which he moved on to Kwara State Television Service in 1997 as Editor 1.
But barely after a year, he returned to the Nigerian Herald and was posted to its Lagos Office as a Senior Correspondent, following which he was promoted and recalled to its headquarters as the News Editor in 1999.
And by December 2000, in search of higher professional fortune, he joined The Punch Newspapers as Assistant News Editor/ Chief Correspondent, and served at different times both at the Lagos Headquarters and Abuja Office.
In 2003, he moved to The Comet Newspaper (now The Nation), from where he crossed over to National Pilot, an Ilorin-based tabloid as Editor (2004-2011).
In 2015, Abdulrahman was on national assignment during which he served as the Special Assistant (Media) to the immediate past Minister, National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman, and returned to Blueprint upon completion of the assignment. He was immediately appointed the acting editor.
The seasoned journalist, who once served as member, Standing Committee, Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and also a member of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), at various times covered the National Assembly, activities of political parties, Federal Government’s Ministries, Departments and Agencies, has visited some countries , including Saudi Arabia, China and Germany.
He has variously attended both local and international workshops; the recent being a study tour of the German Parliament, courtesy of the Konrad Adanaeur Stiftung.
Abdulrahman, an adherent of Islam, is happily married to Rahmat Bolaji and blessed with children.
