Runsewe Hails Obaigbena For Converting Thisday Dome to COVID-19 Isolation Centre

Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, NCAC, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe has described the donation of Thisday Dome in Jabi, Abuja, by the newspaper publisher, Chief Nduka Obaigbena, as a most humane gesture.

The kind gesture by Obaigbena, a frontline media entrepreneur, is also the chairman of Arise Television, was worthy of emulation by all persons that love humanity, according to Runsewe, because it was a huge sacrifice considering the multifarious existential challenges that the COVID-19 had imposed on the Nigerian media industry.

Thisday Dome has been converted into a 320-bed COVID-19 isolation centre.

Impressed by the gesture, Runsewe urged all men of goodwill, particularly in the media and creative sector, to follow the footsteps of the Thisday publisher, by bringing succour to the poor and the vulnerable in the society who are in dire need of care and preservation.

“The Duke of Nigerian media has shown the true colours of the true Nigerian entrepreneur,” the NCAC boss said. “He is one of our best. He has exhibited an exemplary love and commitment to the unity and development of our country.”

Runsewe, a patron of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) described the 320-bed facility donated to the federal government as world-class, adding that it reflected the detailed response of a media mind to challenges and expectations of these uncertain times.

“The Duke of the Nigerian media certainly has made our media community proud,” Otunba Runsewe continued. “He is possibly the first media face, globally, to respond to the clarion call to help rescue people from the ravages and aftermaths of the coronavirus pandemic. We are proud of his sacrifice, and we highly and commend him.”

On Wednesday, May 6, 2020, Nduka Obaigbena presented the iconic Thisday Dome, now converted to a 320-bed isolation centre, to the Federal Government.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, received it on behalf of the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari.