Communication scholars and media leaders inducted as association’s first fellows

The Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria has created its highest professional and academic distinction by inducting its first class of Fellows. Seven academics and two media leaders received the honour at the association’s 14th annual conference in Abuja on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

ACSPN President Rotimi Williams Olatunji said the inductees were recognised for careers combining professional excellence, scholarship, ethical leadership, institutional service and sustained contributions to journalism and communication.

The new Fellows include Umaru Pate, a media scholar, former vice chancellor of the Federal University of Kashere in Gombe State and chairman of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development. Pate is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters and a former ACSPN president. He has supervised 25 doctoral students and 45 master’s students, many of whom later became professors and leading academics.

Other academic inductees include Nosa Owens-Ibe, former vice chancellor of Caleb University; Chinyere Stella Okuna, deputy vice chancellor of Paul University, Awka; and Olatunji himself. The media leaders are Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of PREMIUM TIMES and chief executive of CJID, and Lanre Idowu, a journalist, editor and author.

Olatunji said Fellowship would not simply reward longevity or professional visibility. He described it as entry into “a community of distinction and responsibility” and said it recognised achievements that contributed to communication scholarship, the industry, democratic culture and the wider public good. The fellowship will eventually be open to other deserving members who demonstrate exceptional achievement in communication practice, research, teaching, innovation, leadership or public service.

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To become a Fellow of the Association is to enter a community of distinction and responsibility. Fellowship recognises not simply what an individual has achieved, but what that achievement has contributed to communication scholarship, industry, democratic culture and, indeed, the wider public good.