AUTHOR: MARTIN-LUTHER C. KING
'Africa needs brain awareness'
Oct 31, 2021 | Feature ArticleGovernments in Africa and their agencies, as well as corporate entities including media across Africa need to assist ...
An ace publicist, veteran international correspondent, communications specialist and media management expert, Martin also doubles as the Regional Editor (West Africa) of AfricaToday magazine, London-UK; is an honorary West African news specialist/analyst for the BBC World Service; and was Regional Peer Reviewer covering Cameroon, Cape Verde, Madagascar and Mauritius in Global Integrity’s African Integrity Indicators 2012, a research project on anti-corruption and governance mechanisms in over 50 African countries.
Global Integrity is a non-governmental organization based in Washington DC, USA and Cape Town, South Africa dedicated to research on governance around the world.
Martin’s career trajectory also spans several regional news publications across West Africa.
In Nigeria, Martin helped pioneer many of that country’s prominent domestic daily newspapers, including The Post Express, The Anchor, and Thisday. At The Post Express, he originated and sustained one of the longest-running columns/interview series on diplomacy ever on any Nigerian newspaper called Diplomatic Bytes.
The Post Express, part collaboration with The New York Times, is Nigeria’s first daily paper on the internet.
In Ghana, Martin is a columnist with the premier online publications, Ghanaweb.com and ModernGhana.com; he is also a regular contributor to several Ghanaian dailies, including Ghana’s most-widely read paper, Daily Graphic.
A hard-nosed newsman, Martin has covered several major international assignments, including the 1996 United States elections; Liberia’s 2005 Transition Elections that brought Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to power; Ghana’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2007; the January 2009 inauguration of Ghana’s President John Evans Attah Mills; and, interviewed many political and military leaders, including President John Kufuor of Ghana; the two immediate past presidents of the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Commission, Dr. Ibn Chambas and Mr. Victor Gbeho; as well as the former Force Commander of the UN-AU Force for Sudan General Martin Luther Agwai, among others.
Martin has also been part of several ECOWAS Election Observer Missions to countries across West Africa, including Ghana’s 2008 elections.
A specialist in managing successful political campaigns and transitions, Martin has consulted for several political leaders seeking elective offices across West Africa.
Martin is an alumnus of the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) in Berlin, Germany and Abia State University, Uturu-Nigeria, from where he has a postgraduate diploma in journalism and a bachelor’s degree in English and Literary Studies, respectively.
He has also attended several conferences, workshops and seminars both inside and outside Africa.
A keen proponent of globalization, Martin, nevertheless, also firmly believes that globalization needs strong pillars of functional regional integration entities to be effective and beneficial to all players in the global economy including smaller and less developed countries
Martin is happily married with children.