After 20 years in the saddle, Founder of DAAR Communications PLC, High Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, steps down as Chairman of the Group today, November 28, 2014.

News Express learnt that he will be handing over to his son, Raymond Dokpesi Jr., until now Executive Director in charge of Special Projects at DAAR.

A marine engineer and politician, Dokpesi forayed into media entrepreneurship in 1994 with Nigeria’s first private independent radio station, Raypower 100.5FM, which pioneered 24-hour broadcasting in Africa’s largest economy.

The company grew rapidly, launching a global satellite television station called Africa Independent Television (AIT) in December 1996. DAAR Communications Limited was incorporated in Nigeria in 1998 as a communications satellite broadcast and multimedia company. It launched a second channel, Raypower FM 2, the next year and became a public limited company April 23, 2007. It has since added DAARSAT and Faaji FM.

The company went bankrupt at a time but was rescued via contributions by the Nigerian public. It has since developed into one of Africa’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment news, and information to a global audience.

•Photo shows Dokpesi.