The former Lagos state Commissioner for Tourism, Arts & Culture, Mr Steve Ayorinde, will Wednesday be in charge of curation at the three-day photo exhibition, being part of activities to mark PUNCH’s 50th anniversary.
The photo exhibition, showcasing iconic photographs from PUNCH’s rich archive, comes next after the ceremonies marking the newspaper house’s golden jubilee kicked off Saturday, with a colourful novelty match at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos.
Founded in March 1973, PUNCH, Nigeria’s foremost newspaper, clocked 50 March 18 last year but its board of directors moved the 50th-anniversary celebration to this year because the anniversary month fell within an election month and year.
At the three-day photo-story exhibition holding at the Alliance Francaise de Lagos/Mike Adenuga Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria’s most widely-read newspaper will be showcasing 100 of its iconic photographs that tell the rich history of Nigeria and her people, as well as how the media house has been a major part of the country’s history.
Some of the photos will show action moments of the late Afrobeat icon, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, as well as the late human rights activist and lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi (SAN).
Ayorinde, who is also a former editor of The PUNCH, in a statement on the event titled ‘Timeless Lenses: A Newspaper’s Visual Journey Through Nigeria,’ said the exciting journey into the heart of Punch Nigeria Limited would naturally commence from Mangoro, the sub urban Lagos area from where it started operation, and end up at Magboro, a burgeoning new development area in Ogun state.
Ayorinde said, “Between its birthplace where it spent 36 years and the Magboro permanent site, which is its befitting and edifying complex of the last 16 years, is where PUNCH Newspaper’s exhilarating journey through Nigeria of the last 50 years was nurtured. For a good reason, both locations play an important role in telling the visually-engaging story of this dominant quality newspaper, which is celebrating its 50 years of operation.”