About Dayo Oketola

AN ACCOMPLISHED JOURNALIST AND FORMER EDITOR, THE PUNCH

Adedayo Oketola began his journalism career at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, where he managed the editorial work for the Association of Nigerian Authors, OAU Chapter. This experience on the OAU campus was instrumental in developing his journalism skills and setting the stage for a successful 20-year career. After gaining experience with a marketing communication company, a magazine, and a real estate firm, he joined PUNCH Nigeria Limited in 2008 as a Business Correspondent for the leading newspaper.

As a senior correspondent with The PUNCH, Oketola covered several beats, including information and communications technology, energy, labour, business, and economy. His outstanding performance on the job earned him several local and international awards, fellowships and recognition including Telecoms Reporter of the Year award at the Nigeria Media Merit Awards in 2012 and the Mobile Money Reporter of the Year at the Kalahari Mobile Money Awards in 2013. He was a Finalist in 2012 and 2013 at the Diageo Africa Business Reporting Awards in London.

2014, Oketola clinched the Conoil Prize for Energy Correspondent of the Year at the NMMA and received commendations in two other categories.

He was also the winner of the Mobil Producing Award for Energy Reporting at the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence in 2014.

Oketola bagged the CSR Reporter of the Year Award at the NMMA and the Energy Reporter of the Year at the continental Zimeo Award for Excellence in Media in 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He also won the Energy & Infrastructure category at the Zimeo Excellence in Media Awards 2016, organised by the African Media Initiative in Nairobi, Kenya. He was among the 16 winners out of about 1,000 entries from all over Africa.

He was the runner-up in the infrastructure reporting category at the 2016 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Award in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Oketola, as an investigative reporter, also emerged as one of the four winners in the African Fact-Checking Awards held in 2016 during the “Reporting Africa Conference” in Nairobi, Kenya. The award honoured the four best investigative fact-checking reports by African journalists that exposed misleading claims made by leading public figures across the continent in 2016.

Oketola had earlier served as the News Editor and Business Editor of The PUNCH. He was, before then, the Assistant Editor of News & Politics, Saturday PUNCH, for three and a half years.

He also served as the Editor of PUNCH Weekend Titles, namely Saturday PUNCH and Sunday PUNCH, for three years, the first in the 50-year history of the media group, to edit both Saturday PUNCH and Sunday PUNCH at the same time. In that capacity, he oversaw The PUNCH weekend publications that produced many awardees under his supervision, tutelage and mentorship.

Widely travelled, Oketola has attended international conferences, seminars and training in Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Israel, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Taiwan, Morroco and Qatar.

In 2019, Oketola was selected by the United States mission in Nigeria to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Program sponsored by the US Department of State.

A graduate of English (Literature) from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and a Master’s degree holder in English (Literature) from the University of Ibadan, Oketola also holds a certificate in investigative reporting from the New England Centre for Investigative Reporting in Boston University, Massachusetts, United States, and an LL.B from the National Open University of Nigeria, Lagos. The consummate journalist also obtained a Diploma in Public Relations. He is currently studying International Relations at the University of London.

Oketola is the immediate past Editor of The PUNCH. In that role, he provided strategic and integrated leadership for line editors and correspondents in developing accurate and explicit reportage that continually made The PUNCH the most preferred source of credible news and content in the country and one of the most influential newspapers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite many challenges, he performed incredibly well as Editor of The PUNCH and was adjudged Editor of The Year and The PUNCH, Newspaper of the Year at the Nigeria Media Merit Awards in 2023. He was also named the Editor of the Year at The Industry Awards in 2023.

He is a member of notable professional organisations such as the Nigerian Guild of Editors, the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) and the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.

Oketola is currently the President of the International Visitors Leadership Program Alumni Association of Nigeria, an association under the auspices of the United States Mission in Nigeria. He is also a member of the International Association of Lions Clubs, District 404-B2, Nigeria.