A Professor of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Ismail Adegboyega Ibraheem, will on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, 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.
In his lecture, he will chronicle the state of journalism practice globally and provide workable solutions to the multidimensional challenges facing the profession that are generally viewed as the Fourth Estate of the Realm.
The lecture, themed: “Casino Journalism and the End of History,” will rank the first to be delivered by an alumnus of the university’s Mass Communication Department 58 years after the 62-year-old university established the department. Ibraheem’s lecture is coming about 20 years after a similar lecture was delivered by a lecturer in the department.
According to the lecturer, the choice of the theme was determined by the urgent need to address key ethical, funding, ownership and managerial crises rocking the global media industry, particularly in diverse societies, such as Nigeria.
He said that the lecture, described as a product of spaghetti reasoning, would be his contribution to the body of knowledge within the socio-political space, and an intervention in the troubles within the global media industry.
The ceremony, which is expected to draw an audience from the academic, political, and civil society spaces, will be chaired by the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, while her predecessors – Rahamon Bello and Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, are also expected to be on the ground.
According to the Chairman of the planning committee and former Head of the Department of Mass Communication on the campus, Prof. Adepoju Tejumaye, all hands are on deck to ensure that every guest has a memorable experience.
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 Ibraheem would be very pertinent.
