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Watbridge Hotels Salutes Ray Ekpu at 75, Reaffirms Commitment to promoting Literature and Tourism

Top hospitality outfit, Watbridge Hotels, Uyo has saluted Ray Ekpu – a foremost Nigerian journalist on the occasion of his seventy-fifth birthday. Mr. Ekpu, who clocks 75 on Sunday August 6, is one of the eminent members of Uyo Book Club – an intellectual community housed and backed by Watbridge Hotels.

In a birthday message to the iconic journalist, Watbridge Hotels in a Statement, hailed Ray Ekpu’s immense contribution to media practice and nation building. The hotel said that Mr. Ekpu had bequeathed an enduring legacy in the journalism profession, noting that posterity will forever remember him as one of the finest of his generation.

Watbridge Hotels, itself, a top tourism destination in Nigeria, in the Statement, reaffirmed its commitment to promoting literature and tourism uniquely. Recall that the Uyo based outfit has a standard guest library among its facilities to boost reading culture and scholarship. The Ngugi wa Thiong’o Guest Library at Watbridge Hotels is clearly a novel innovation in the hospitality industry in this part of the world.

Born on August 6, 1948, in Ikot Udo Ossiom village in Ukanafun Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Ray Ekpu is a recipient of several honours and awards, including International Editor of the Year (1987); Outstanding Young Person of the World (1988), Diamond Award for Media Excellence (DAME) Lifetime Achievement Award (2018) and Lifetime Achievement Award by Vanguard newspapers.

He is a former President of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Ekpu had also served as Chairman, Editorial Board, Concord Newspapers before partnering with the late Dele Giwa, Dan Agbese and Yakubu Mohammed to establish Newswatch magazine in 1985.

Meanwhile, Uyo Book Club will tomorrow Sunday 6, 2023, hold a special reading session in honour of Uncle Ray. The birthday reading will hold at the William Shakespeare Hall, Watbridge Hotels, Uyo by 4pm.