Henry Dele Alake was Lagos State Commissioner for information and strategy during governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration.
He is a cyber expert, journalist and activist. He piloted the media and publicity of the APC presidential campaign in 2023. He is the present Minister of Solid Minerals Development.
In this post, ENigeria Newspapers archives the personal profile, education and career of Chief Henry Dele Alake.
Profile Summary
Name: Henry Dele Alake
Date of birth: 6th October, 1956
State of Origin: Ekiti, Nigeria
Education: University of Lagos
Marital status: Married
Career: Journalist, Politician
Family
Dele Alake is of the Nigerian Yoruba tribe, he was born on the 6th of October,1956 in Ekiti State.
Dele Alake is married but details of his wife is kept private. However, the Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology to the Lagos State government, Olatunbosun Alake is Dele Alake’s child.
Education
Alake completed his early education at Surulere Baptist Primary School, Surulere, Lagos between 1961 and 1967.
He obtained his West African School Certificate at Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti.
Between 1973 and 1975, he enrolled for a higher certificate course at Igbobi College and in 1974, he got a General Certificate of Education.
In 1978 and 1981, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science(BSc) degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos respectively.
Professional career
He started his career as journalist while doing his compulsory one year National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) programme at Ogun State Broadcasting Corporation(OGBC).
After completion of national service, he worked as a senior sub-editor with the Lagos State Broadcasting Corporation (LSBC) till 1980.
He was appointed Principal Current Affairs Officer in 1983 after he had served as a senior current affairs officer for some years.
Due to his knowledge in broadcasting, he played active role in the creation of Lagos Television (LTV 8).
In 1985, Alake ventured into the print aspect of journalism when he joined the defunct Concord Press publishers of the Concord Group of Newspapers – National Concord and Sunday Concord as an editor and writer and later served as the columnist of the National Concord and Sunday Concord. He also served as the editor of the Concord till June 1999.
Political career
Dele Alake made his first shot into politics in Nigeria as the communication advisor and confidant of Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola who was the winner of the annulled June 12 presidential election in Nigeria in 1993.
Due to the arbitrary cancellation of the presidential election result, Alake was terrorized and tortured by the dictatorial junta of Late General Sani Abacha because he was honest and brave enough to push for the 12 June 1993 Presidential Election to be overturned.
Alake then went into exile, where he met and worked with other patriots like Senator Bola Tinubu, Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade (Ret. ), Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Chief John Oyegun, and other leaders of the National Democratic Coalition of Nigeria, NADECO. From there, he fought tirelessly to bring democracy back to Nigeria.
He returned to Nigeria in 1995 when the Concord Press was opened and was made the special adviser on information and strategy to the then Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 1999.
He served in this position credibly till 2007 when he was designated to pilot the Lagos State Ministry of Information, Sports and Culture.
Alake on assumption of office splitted both ministry of Information and Strategy from culture and sports to make the ministry more relevant and dynamic to confront the challenges of modern Information management in an emergent democracy which made him to be recorded as the first Information and strategy commissioner in the annals of Nigeria.
In 2010, Alake revealed his intention to contest for the senatorial seat of Ekiti Central in Ekiti State. However, his political aspiration was cut short by intra-party crisis which made him to back out of the senatorial race.
In December 2014, Dele Alake was appointed the director of Media and Communication of the Buhari Campaign Organisation in a bid to make Nigeria’s former head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari to win the presidential election in Nigeria in February 2015.
Recently Alake was wrongly featured in a news item in Nigeria in which it was reported that a traditional ruler had attempted to kill a certain Dele Alake. Following the confusion caused by the story, Dele Alake made a statement debunking the story and asked all the news organisations that reported the story to publish a retraction.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu appointed him as the Director of Media and Communication of The Tinubu Campaign Council.
Awards
Owing to his service and experience in Journalism and politics, Dele Alake has received several laudable awards;
He is a fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, where he once served as Vice President.
He is also a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the West African Union of Journalists.
He has received a Special Recognition Award from Lagos Radio and a Public Service Award, ECHNONEWS amongst others.
In 2000, he received the prestigious Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) International Gold Award, in appreciation for his outstanding contributions to society.
In August, 2023, he was appointed as Minister of solid minerals development by president Bola Tinubu.
Net Worth
Alake’s net worth is currently estimated to be $200,000.
