58 years after establishment, UNILAG department produces first alumnus to deliver inaugural lecture

A professor of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Lagos, Ismail Ibraheem, is set to make history by becoming the first alumnus of the institution’s Department of Mass Communication to deliver an inaugural lecture as a lecturer of the department.

The lecture, which is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, 18 December, is coming 58 years after the department was founded in the 62-year-old university, which has a sterling record of producing great journalists and journalism scholars, including Dele Olojede, the 2004 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.

Apart from ranking as the first alumnus of the department to deliver an inaugural lecture, it will also be the third in the series by lecturers of the department, coming about 20 years after the last one was held.

Mr Ibraheem, the director of International Relations, Partnerships, and Prospects and in charge of the university’s globalisation project, will speak on the theme: “Casino Journalism and the End of History.”

Reason for ‘casino journalism’

The 1990 graduate of the university, who returned to the institution in 2011 as a lecturer, said the topic became necessary considering the disruptions in the global media space and key ethical issues that have continued to shape reportage by newsrooms, especially in a diverse country like Nigeria where contexts and backgrounds are essential.

He said the lecture would be his contribution not only to the body of knowledge within the social and political spaces but also to the fight against the funding, management and ownership crises rocking the media industry.

He said dignitaries, including the Director General of Nigeria’s National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Onilu; former Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi; former Nigeria’s Consul General to Germany, Wahab Akande; Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Is-haq Oloyede; and former vice-chancellors of the university Rahamon Bello and Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, among others, will grace the occasion.

The university’s Vice-Chancellor, Folasade Ogunsola, will chair the event and lead other members of the institution’s management, staff and students to honour the lecturer.

According to the Chairman of the planning committee and former Head of the Department of Mass Communication, Professor Adepoju Tejumaye, all hands are on deck to ensure every guest has a memorable experience.

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He said at a time like this, when the media is expected to serve as a compass to educate, inform and direct the populace to the right path through fair, balanced and quality reporting, interventions such as the inaugural lecture by Professor Ibraheem would be very pertinent.

“The topic is a reflection of the quality thoughts and works going on in our department. It will be a great intervention to the multifarious global challenges confronting the media industry and Nigeria in particular. We therefore plead with every guest to be on seat by 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, 18 December,” Professor Tejumaye said.

About Ibraheem

The lecturer, who finished university in 1990, bagged a Master of Science in Political Science on the same campus in 1993.

In 1996, he was awarded the prestigious British Chevening Scholarship to pursue a Master of Arts in Mass Communication at the University of Leicester, UK. He went on to earn a PhD in Media and Politics at the same university in 2004.

He started out in 1990 as a youth corps member, serving as a young editor in Nigeria’s Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), where he was involved in overseeing the organisation’s Media and Governance Programme and coordinated its Journalists’ Outreach for Human Rights (JOHR). He worked under the leadership of the fiery lawyer and activists Olisa Agbakoba and Chidi Odinkalu, among others.

After his PhD in Media and Politics, Mr Ibraheem assumed a role as the Country Programme Director for the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, United Kingdom (CIPR) professional certificate and diploma programmes in Nigeria. In 2006, he took on higher responsibilities as he was appointed the Executive Director of the Centre for African Resources Research and Development (CARRD) in the UK.

In 2011, he returned to his alma mater as a lecturer and became a professor in 2020. He has over 75 academic publications and has supervised over 150 master’s dissertations and 10 PhD theses.

Outside the classroom, Mr Ibraheem is the Chairman of TheCable News Foundation, the Network Coordinator of Afretec Network at the University of Lagos, and the Director of Uptake at the African Cities Research Consortium.