•Scholar in inaugural lecture warns against media connivance in suppressing children
From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
Last year ended on a very remarkable note for the first female Mass Communication and Media Studies Professor at the Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki, Ifeyinwa Nsude.
She took the centre stage on December 15, 2023, delivered the 24th inaugural lecture of the university and was inducted as a distinguished professor.
In the lecture under the chairmanship of the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Chigozie Ogbu, at the Main Auditorium, ICT Centre, EBSU main campus, the celebrated academic gave guidelines for reporting child rights in the media.
Nsude who is also the Vice President, South East Zone of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN) dwelt on the topic: “Child rights reporting: Conjectures and connivance in the era of digital conundrums.”
Having felt the impact of the erudite academic in the institution and the society at large, the management of the university organised the celebrated public ceremony to elevate her to the category of a distinguished professor.
The celebrant in her inaugural lecture stated that every child has the right to be respected, bestowed with unconditional love and cared for while his rights should be recognized and valued.
For the foregoing rights to be achieved, she declared that there is need for the journalists to report the child rights appropriately despite the challenges involving accessing of information, sources, funding and often fear over reprisal from powerful individuals or groups.
“The child rights in the context of UNICEF are grouped into four as survival right which encompass their rights to basic necessities for survival, developmental rights that focus on ensuring that they have opportunity to education.
“Also, protection rights aimed at safeguarding the children from exploitation and participating rights which emphasize on children’s inclusion in decision making,” she explained.
Nsude further explained conjectures as unseen realities and inferred narratives while connivance is the silent complicity in child right violations which could be caused by institutional failures, media influence and sensationalism, legal implication among others.
She added that the digital landscape involves online world which individuals, communities and organizations connect through technologies as internet, smart phones and social media, noting that if it continues to expand would have influences on child rights.
She also enumerated other challenges for child rights reporting to include privacy and ethical concern, misinformation, online shaming, cyber-bullying and exploitation, artificial intelligence and automation, cultural sensitivity and diversity.
Nsude said: “To effectively report child rights, journalists need a diverse skill involving training and capacity building, ethical consideration, digital literacy, child psychology and awareness of legal frameworks.”
To enable media personnel further amplify their voices in protecting the rights of all the children, she suggested for the strengthening of the collaborations between the media actors, Civil Society Organizations and the government agencies.
Vice Chancellor of EBSU, represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, Professor Eugene Nweke, said that the institution is rated the best 6th state universities in Nigeria by Webometric survey 2023 and described the event as one of the highest achievements of the institution.
He commended the institution for organizing the best inaugural lecture and thanked Professor Nsude for choosing a contemporary issue that would serve for the present and the future.
Spouse of the celebrant, Sir Okonkwo Nsude called his wife as a great achiever and appealed to women generally to fear God and respect their husbands to enable them attain the peak of their respective careers.
Visitor of the university, Governor Francis Nwifuru represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Grace Umezurike, applauded the university for the feat and thanked the celebrant for delivering the revealing lecture.
“She has given us the lecture and guidelines, at least from now, everyone knows that it is wrong to connive in journalism and people should take important note of the information.
“Prof Nsude is a source of inspiration to the young ones, her doggedness in this academic exercise is second to none, it is worthy of emulation, she is not only active at all times but also reaches out,” the governor said.
In addition, General Secretary, ACSPN and Vice Chancellor, Caleb University, Ijebu Ode, Prof Nosa Owens-Ibie, showerd encomiums on the inaugural lecturer.
He said: “Prof Nsude has distinguished herself as an influence and catalyst, and a role model in achieving results. She has been an arrow-head of ACSPN initiatives, and just about anything she has been associated with.”
The distinguished lecture was followed by a well-attended launch of a Festschrift in Nsude’s honour at the Women Development Centre, Abakaliki.