Kogi Gov’t appoint multimedia journalist as CPS to Assembly Speaker

Kogi state government has appointed a multimedia journalist, Mohammed Yabagi, as the Chief Press Secretary to the speaker of the state House of Assembly, Rt Hon Aliyu Umar Yusuf.

In a letter signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Folashade Ayoade Arike (PhD), said the appointment was in view of the dedication and loyalty of the journalist to the administration and his track record as a proven professional.

Yabagi, who is a proven writer, editor, blogger and multimedia guru, hails from Lokoja in Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State.

He is awaiting his Masters of Science (MSc) result in Mass Communication from the National Open University of Nigeria (Noun). He graduated in the same discipline from Kogi State University, now Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba.

He also obtained a National Diploma in Mass Communication from Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna.

The speaker’s press secretary started his journalism career immediately after secondary education from the Kogi State Broadcasting Corporation where he served as a freelance and then an intern.

Upon realising his passion for writing and mass information dissemination, he then ditched his ambition to be become a broadcaster to print following his Industrial Training with The Graphic Newspaper.

Upon completion of his one year training, the management of The Graphic retained him after which he was given the opportunity of furthering his education by gaining admission into the university.

Yabagi is a former Nation Newspaper correspondent in charge of education, particularly campuses of higher education in Kogi State and covered important events, wrote interesting features and conducted interviews and analysis on issues during his time with the Lagos based National Newspaper.

He was an editor, writer and publisher with the Insidestory, a Kogi based news blog before his appointment into the National Agency, the Intercountry Centre for Oral Health for Africa (ICOH) as the head of Information and Public Relations Unit, a position he had to relinquish to take up the CPS position.

He was a runner up during the 2015 Nigerian Writers Awards in the Best Writers Category (Campus). He is the first winner of the Most Consistent News Reporter of the Year Award in the first edition of the Kogi Social Media Awards in 2018 among other laurels.

Yabagi has received several journalism training from reputable organisations and institutions. He is married with a child.