We have not sold Sketch titles to anybody – Odua investment

Odua Investment Limited, a conglomerate business concern established and controlled by the defunct Western region government, now six South-west states has said that the defunct Sketch Newspaper was currently undergoing revival and would hit newsstands before the end of the year.

Speaking with the members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State council, Adebayo Jimoh, out-going General Managing Director, Odua Investment debunked the claim that the moribund  Sketch Newpaper had been sold to anybody.

Jimoh said that Sketch titles which were founded in Ibadan, the then capital of Western region over 50 years ago as a subsidiary of Odua Investment Company Limited would bounce back before the end of the year as the machines and other publishing equipment had been ordered.

He also disclosed that the former staff of the company had been paid their entitlement, except those who are yet to claim their entitlement, adding that the company had only given the Sketch titles to a group of veteran journalists and some investors who will commence the publication from Odua Printing and Publishing Company in Ibadan on a Public Private Partnership arrangement.

“There was a time the rumour  was all over the country that  somebody had paid  for Sketch. It is not correct,  Sketch was never sold  to any  Nigerian. It was not sold to any individual, we still have that patent register and Odua has now partnered with a consortium of journalists  and investors who will commence the publication from Odua Printing and Publishing Company, Eleyele, Ibadan.

“By July, the tittle will come out and we will see Sketch being sold”, Jimoh said.

In his remarks, Chairman, NUJ, Ogun state council and ex-worker of Sketch Newspaper, Wole Sokunbi commended the out-going GMD for turning around the conglomerate, just as he thanked Jimoh for paying former staff of Sketch Newspaper their long time entitlement, urging him to reach out to other staffs that were yet to claim their entitlement.

RAZAQ AYINLA