Spotlight On Ruth Benamaisia-Opia

Spotlight on Ruth Benamaisia-Opia

Ruth Benamaisia-Opia is a veteran Nigerian broadcaster. She was the anchor of NewsLine on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) which was aired at 9pm every Sunday.

Ruth’s father was a diplomat from Bayelsa and her mother was from Ndokwa, Delta State. She was born in Lagos but spent her early years in Nairobi, Kenya where she began watching presenters, and that ignited her passion for broadcasting.

She officially started her broadcasting career in 1977 in Enugu after her father introduced her to some people in broadcasting and she did some auditions.

She started broadcasting right after secondary school, with the NTA where she was casting the 9 o’clock news. She was a favourite to millions of viewers in Nigeria and beyond on television in the 1980s and 1990s.

Her beauty and voice made way for her on the screen as one of her most striking features was her smile whenever she appeared on television.

Among her contemporaries during her time were Cyril Stober, Emma Okondo, Frank Olize, Tokunbo Ajayi, Ronke Ayuba, and a host of others, who have all also retired from NTA.

Ruth was also a one-time Commissioner for Information in Bayelsa State. She was one of the few TV personalities who moulded many young broadcasters in the course of their career and impacted many lives.

After she left the NTA, she worked in an oil company as the Community Relations Manager. She returned to broadcasting in 2016 with the Lagos Weekend Television.

Some analysts believed she would bring her extensive experience to bear in the station and position it for productivity and excellence.

She, along with former NTA newscasters, made a brief return in 2016 when the station celebrated its golden jubilee. She is a born-again Christian having given her life to God in 1992.

Ruth Benamaisia-Opia is married to Professor Eric Opia, the former boss of the now defunct Oil and Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) and they have four children