Victor EzejaFormer spokesman to ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, Professor of Political Economy, Pat Utomi, and other well wishers have congratulated Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Prime Business Africa, Dr Marcel Mbamalu, as he turns 54 on Sunday, January 12, 2024.
While congratulating Mbamalu for the gift of an additional year to his life, Shehu said he has always cherished every moment spent with him and prayed for God to grant him long life and good health.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“Wishing my friend Dr Marcel a happy birthday. I pray for his long life & good health. Have always cherished my interactions with him,” Shehu stated.
On his part, Utomi, an economic expert and founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL), extended warm wishes to Dr Mbamalu on his birthday.
Utomi described Mbamalu as “a great Jackson model in journalism and media enterprise,” who continues to inspire others through his noble contributions in the profession.
“A huge birthday wish for Marcel, who inspires as a great Jackson model in journalism and media enterprise. More grease to your elbows and a great flow of Graces from He who gives all things good many happy returns,” Utomi stated.
Veteran journalist, Nduka Onu, while wishing Dr Mbamalu a happy birthday, highlighted his unwavering commitment to journalism practice and “exemplary attainments” with Prime Business Africa within the last three and half years.
Onu further wished Mbamalu more successes in his life’s endeavours.
In the same vein, Chartered Accountant and legal expert, Barrister Dennis Ifeanyichukwu Mbamalu, described the celebrant as a “journalist, editor, and publisher of no mean status,” and “a quintessential gentleman of the Fourth Estate of the Realm.”
He prayed to God to grant the Prime Business Africa publisher good health, long life and breakthrough.
Dr Mbamalu, a former News Editor (and later Deputy Editor) at The Guardian, scholar and communication consultant, has had an eventful career in the media industry spanning over two decades.
Earlier in the day, the alumni of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), to which the celebrant belongs, had poured encomiums on Dr Mbamalu, describing him as “a great Jacksonite, a man of uncommon courage, discipline and dedication in pursuing his set goals.”
“Our dear Dr. Marcel Mbamalu (J97), a media Icon, who turns another 365 days today, January 12, is a prolific writer with rich history of experience working in both education and media sectors,” an article shared on the Alumni WhatsApp platform stated.
“With his profound love for pure Journalism, Dr Mbamalu had 17 eventful years in The Guardian where he made great impact in the media industry rising to the position of News Editor before living to set up the multimedia firm in March 2021.
“With a mix of grit, passion and spirit of hard work, Mbamalu continues to make more impacts in the media using his online platform where he equally demonstrates his grip of entrepreneurship in the industry in the 21st century.
“The latest height of Mbamalu’s achievement in the journalism landscape is participating in the 2023 Jefferson Fellowship.
As the only African representative, Mbamalu joined other 10 seasoned journalists selected from different regions of the world in the programme that took them to Honolulu in the United States, Tokyo, and Fukushima in Japan while they explored the theme of “Inequality in the US and Asia.”
“Mbamalu’s Prime Business Africa has since its birth in 2021 continued to grow rapidly in global website ranking, engaging local and global audience with contents on socioeconomic and political issues around the African continent.”
Mbamalu has a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science and PhD degrees all in Media studies.
He is also one of those who live out the mantra of “Bridging the Town and Gown” gap, as he equally engages in academics, deploying his years of experience in the media profession to demystify grey areas for budding journalists.
His passion for grooming young people desirous of making a career in journalism led him to set up a programme called Prime Business Africa Journalism Mentorship Project that offers Mass Communication students in Nigerian universities the opportunity to hone their skills in the practical aspect of journalism. The UNN Mass Comm Department got the first shot of this flagship programme, while students from other schools like UNILAG, and UniPort among others also enrolled.
“As he celebrates his birthday today, we Jacksonites pray that God grants him the grace of many more years ahead to fulfil all his heart desires,” his colleagues prayed.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
