THE LEGACY OF PATRICK DELE COLE

Patrick Cole, journalist, administrator and diplomat, dies at 86

The recent passing of Dr. Patrick Dele Cole at 86 deserves to be memorialised as a significant life of accomplishments and impact on many fronts. Cole left his mark as a profound thinker and successful performer within and outside the country. He was an outstanding public servant, technocrat, diplomat, and presidential counsel under military regimes in the mid-1970s and civilian administrations of the 1990s. But of all the roles in this exceptional life, his contributions to the development of the Nigerian print and newspaper industry are arguably the most important.

Born on 4th August 1940 in Abonnema, Rivers State, Cole secured a federal government scholarship in 1962 to further his studies abroad. He attended the University of Otago in New Zealand and later University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, where he obtained a doctorate and spent three years as a fellow. He also taught at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.

In 1976, Cole returned to Nigeria at the invitation of the then military administration and was appointed Managing Director of Daily Times at a time when the federal government held majority equity in both the newspaper published in Lagos and the New Nigerian with head office in Kaduna. Cole brought to his leadership of the Daily Times the best benefits of his American training and cultural exposure. He recruited and brought home two leading US-based Nigerian journalists whose contributions helped to usher in an era of robust and thoughtful journalism from the 1980s onwards. The first was the late Dele Giwa who came from the New York Times. Dr. Stanley Macebuh, a part-time New York Times Editorial Board member and adjunct professor at New York University, was the second.

The introduction of the American style Editorial Board transformed the Daily Times from its traditional British orientation to a more robust liberal tradition. The board became the newspaper’s intellectual powerhouse, enabling it to explore and enlarge the confines of perspective and thought while its members authored enlightened and broad-based columns every day. This contrasted with the typical British tradition where the editor and his features desk wrote the editorials and sourced opinions from the reading public. This innovation marked a significant development in the Nigerian newspaper industry with intellectuals and high caliber journalists attracted to the newsroom.

This development came to its full bloom with the founding of The Guardian, a privately owned liberal newspaper under the leadership of both Cole and Macebuh. And with that, those wielding state power came to respect and value newspapers as sources of alternative and reinforcing ideas and perspectives for state affairs. Along also came innovative business ideas for profitability in advertising and circulation. These ground-breaking developments led to the general modernisation of the Nigerian newspaper industry that has persisted till today. As President Bola Tinubu noted in his tribute, Cole’s career reflected the enduring value of dialogue, tact, mutual respect and the pursuit of shared interests in advancing national development and international cooperation: His legacy in journalism and public life remains an enduring part of our national story.”

Cole’s impact was, of course, not limited to his practical and galvanising contributions to the transformation of journalism and media publishing in the country. He was also a respected historian and political scholar who published important books on academic history, socio-political structures, and public policy, including the much-quoted Modern and Traditional Elites in the Politics of Lagos (1975). In the public space, he served as Nigeria’s Ambassador to Brazil and Argentina; Special Adviser on International Relations to President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999–2007) and a key member of the ‘Think Tank’ under the military administration before transitioning to media management.

Dr Patrick Dele Cole’s was indeed a full and remarkable life of multiple impact that should serve as an inspiration to present and future generations.