Distinguished speakers have been announced for the second National Conference of Agricultural Journalism (NCAJ 2024) with the theme, ‘Capacity Building and Agricultural Reporting in Nigeria’, which takes place at the Caleb University, Imota, Lagos State, between October 15 and 18, 2024.
According to the Editor-in-Chief of FarmingFarmersFarms; the organisers of the conference, Dr. Adewale Kupoluyi, the objectives of the confab are to up-scale the knowledge of media practitioners in modern agriculture reporting, equip journalists with requite skills for unbiased coverage of food safety and consumption, teach journalists how to avoid legal traps in agricultural journalism, identify the risks associated with coverage of agriculture and compensation management, and promote research and development in food security in Nigeria.
Expected participants include editors, correspondents and reporters from print, electronic and online media covering agriculture and environment, government officials, global media experts, academia, researchers, farmers’ networks, development partners, students, investors, business lawyers, lawmakers, and captains of industry. “The event is designed to give visibility to the organisers, partners and collaborators in terms of increase in their resource base, networking, and contributions to scholarship”, Kupoluyi said.
The conference keynote speaker is, Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika, who is currently the Director, Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), University of Lagos (UNILAG), after serving as two-term acting and one-term substantive Head of the Department of Mass Communication. She is a specialist in development communication – journalism, media, social and behaviour change, risk communication and community engagement [RC&CE], and public relations and advertising [PRAD]. Presently, she is the Technical Adviser for the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability (CMEDIA), an initiative of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) with funding support from the MacArthur Foundation. The don is also the founder of Media Action and Development Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation focused on promoting sustainable development using journalism and communication.
Guest speakers include Olalekan Asikhia, Professor of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship in the Department of Business Administration, College of Arts, Social, and Management Sciences, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research, Innovation, Strategy, and Administration), Caleb University, Imota, Lagos State. He was the past Director of Centre for Financial Studies of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, and Research Professor at the School of Business Leadership, University of South Africa and a two-term grant winner of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and poverty study. Prof. Asikhia was a past Head of Department and Acting Dean of School of Management, Babcock University, Ilisan-Remo, Ogun State. He was also a two-term Head of Department of Business Management, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
Prince Wale Oyekoya is a Nigerian public analyst and agriculturist. He is an agriculture information broker and consultant with experience spanning over 30 years. He chaired the Agriculture and Non-Oil Sector of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in year 2015. He is also the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Bama Farms. His field of expertise and competencies includes agricultural technology, vocational education in developing countries, agricultural strategic master research and development plans preparation, agro-forestry farming systems development in Nigeria, natural resources evaluation, management and conservation, agriculture and food security development strategies and master plans, and a host of others. Prince Oyekoya, who has many publications in reputable titles, was recently appointed as Consultant to the Ogun State Governor on Agriculture.
Otunba (Dr.) Babafemi Oke is the Principal Partner of Nigeria-Spanish Agro-Allied Industry Limited, which processes and converts cassava into pellet, starch, tapioca and imported into the Nigerian market. In 2004, he was elected as the Chairman of All Farmers Associations of Nigeria (AFAN), Lagos State Chapter, and still serving the second term in office till date, and was Chairman of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, member of the West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) Rood and Tuber Loops, member of the Nigerian International Food Technology (NIFT), member of the Lagos State Appeal Project. He was awarded Doctor of Science (DSc) in Agro-Allied Business Management by the European American University, Republic of Panama as well as Fellow, Institute of Chartered Administrators and Researchers of Nigeria (FCARN).
Dr. Solomon Oyeleye is the Acting Head, Department of Mass Communication, Director, Centre for Character and Leadership Development, Caleb University. His research interests cover health communication, media and journalism studies, particularly the confluence of ownership and hegemony dynamics in the Nigerian media space, conflict reporting, indigenous and political communication. He has participated actively in developing current training manual for the Federal Ministry of Health/United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) Training Programme on Advocacy and Social Mobilisation for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT) in Nigeria and used same to train several other trainers and members of Social Mobilisation Action Teams (SMAT) in several states of the federation. Dr. Oyeleye is one of the two Nigerian scholars selected for the ‘Teaching Disinformation Studies in Higher Education Workshop’, organised by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) in 2021. He was joint winner of the 2021 UNICEF/IAMCR Communication for Development Grant on Trust and Mistrust in Communication during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Nigeria while Barr. Wuraola Oyeniyi is an Associate at Duale, Ovia, and Alex-Adedipe in the Corporate and Commercial Department. With a first class degree from the Nigerian Law School, she specialises in energy, infrastructure, and banking and finance. She has verse experience in agricultural and commodities law by assisting clients in navigating the legal complexities of these sectors.
It would be recalled that the maiden edition of the conference (NCAJ 2023), was held last year in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and was themed, ‘Agricultural Journalism in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects’, NCAJ is put together by FarmingFarmersFarms, a specialised online newspaper that focuses on agriculture and environment, through newstories, editorials, feature articles, interviews, news analysis, and outreach, among others. The newspaper is run by technical and editorial boards as well as staff members comprising agricultural experts and sound professionals in the fields of communication, journalism, agriculture, web development, finance, and law, among others. To register for the conference, click here: https://farmingfarmersfarms.
