Nimrod Taabu (born on 14 September, 1979) is a Kenyan Swahili news anchor and reporter. The journalist has been in the media industry for almost two decades.
He worked at KTN before moving to NTV and finally settled at Citizen TV. He reads the 7PM news bulletin. Growing up, journalism was not his first career choice. It did not even cross his mind until a relative suggested he gives it a try.
His dream was to join the tourism sector and he applied to join Utalii College. However, it was not an easy feat joining the college back in the day. The college denied his application three times. Then, he wanted to be a footballer but that still did not pan out.
“A relative one day came and told me to apply for admission at a Mass Communication School, which I did, and the rest you can see now.”
Here is Nimrod Taabu biography as told by WoK.
Education
He is an alumnus of Kenya Institute of Mass Communication.
Family
The former KTN reporter has four siblings. He is three or five minutes older than his sister who works as a nurse at Kenyatta National Hospital. Their older brother is a chef and younger sister lives abroad.
Marriage
The KIMC alumnus is a proud husband and father to two sons. As a teenager, dating was not his priority. On his first date with his wife, he invited her to his house and cooked spaghetti which was the easiest meal to prepare. She was impressed and liked the meal.
The name of his wife and sons are private. While he is willing to share tidbits of his family information, the rest he prefers to keep private.
Career
In the year 2000, Nimrod began his career at the Standard Media Group owned KTN as aN assistant reporter before being promoted to a news anchor.
His role was to come up with weekly Swahili round-up program for the Mombasa audience that eventually led to the formation of a Swahili news bulletin.
His next stop was NTV where he was made a senior anchor and reporter in the editorial department and co-hosted a news program alongside Jane Ngoiri.
The two made a good match that Nimrod’s departure was an emotional one. She wrote an emotional message expressing her sadness following the departure of her colleague:
“ What an emotional day it has been I can feel the void in my heart. I still have tears in my eyes…..err balancing tears is no joke. I never thought a day would come to say goodbye. Nimrod Taabu has been more than a colleague, a best friend.
When I joined NTV in 2012, I was starstrucked by this guy whom I watched and always wanted to do news with…..And when I met him…..we just clicked. Our chemistry on TV attracted eyeballs, we connected with viewers and it has always been fun working with NT. Nimrod Taabu may the Almighty bless you in this new chapter of your life,” part of her post read.
A post to which Nimrod replied to with:
“ @JaneNgoiri Never in my life have I thought that I would want to work with a colleague forever – until I met you and started working with you. Farewell, I will miss you !” read Nimrod Taabu’s tweet.
The experienced anchor left NTV to join Royal Media Services in 2018.
Challenges in the Media
In an interview with Nairobi News, the news anchor said generally Kenyan media is robust and one of the best in East and Central Africa. They enjoy a lot of freedom and can be able to expose or tell a lot of stories with fear of arrest.
However, telling a story in some parts of the country is not easy. Some have never seen a camera and don’t know either English or Swahili. At one time, a community asked them if they had been sent to deliver food by the government.
Sometimes it is also a risky affair. At one time, they went to visit Baragoi after the massacre of security forces. It was difficult assignment since they were not accompanied by police officers for fear of antagonising the locals.
Award
The citizen TV reporter was feted at the CNN MultiChoice Journalists Award, where he won the best TV news bulletin award for a story he did on the problem faced by Pokot residents in search of water. The series was titled “Portraits of Pain.”
