Macebuh was born on December 28, 1942, and was raised in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. He attended Ngwa High School and later King's College, Lagos, before proceeding to the University of Ibadan, where he earned a Second Class Honours (Upper Division) in English. He taught briefly at his alma mater, King's College, before heading to the University of Sussex, England, where he earned a Doctorate degree in 1969. At various times, he taught at the University of California at Berkeley and the City University, New York.
Stanley left his indelible prints in his pioneering efforts in the establishment of the Nigerian Guardian newspaper. He was The Guardian's first Executive Editor and Editor-in-Chief; the first Chairman of its Editorial Board, and its first Managing Director. Between February 1983, when the paper took off first as a weekly, and February 1989, when Macebuh left the organisation, he championed the recruitment and led a team of enthusiastic, confident and intellectually robust journalists who redefined Nigerian journalism forever.
He was chairman of Sentinel Communications Ltd and Marissa Investments Ltd (1990 - 93), Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Sentinel Publications Ltd (publishers of Sentinel magazine) Kaduna (1993-95) before becoming MD/CEO of The Post Publishing Company Ltd(publishers of The Post Express 1995-97).
Thereafter, Dr. Macebuh joined the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as Senior Special Assistant to the President (1999-2003). He became Deputy Chief of Staff to the President in 2003 before being redesignated Senior Special Assistant on Policy and Programmes Monitoring, also in the presidency till June, 2006.
Journalism and, indeed, the Nigerian nation owe Dr. Macebuh a debt of gratitude for his priceless contributions to the pen profession as well as to nation-building.
In March 2010, Macebuh passed away at the Intensive care unit of the Abuja national hospital. He was survived by a wife and three children.
Comments
Stanley's stay in Nigeria was more like a sacrifice as he had some international appeal as everyone knew he could have fared better, earning higher if he chose to stay overseas. But love for home kept him back home in Nigeria even when the authorities made it virtually impossible for him to earn some decent living. True to Fela's song, he died 'for nothing', wholly wasted by those in power.
I was appalled to read the horrors attending his last days on earth and I pray that in the minds of many colleagues, Stanley Macebuh would not be easily forgotten but remain refreshed and cherished, a worthy soul who once thrived among mortals here on our planet.