Nosa OWENS-IBIE, PhD, University of Ibadan (1992), is a Professor of Communication, Media and Development, and Vice-Chancellor, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, Nigeria. He earned his B.Sc. (Honours) and M.Sc. degrees in mass communication, University of Lagos, in 1980 and 1983. He was the first to be appointed a professor by Caleb University in 2011, became the first substantive Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University in 2020, was variously Head, Department of Mass Communication, Dean of Students, Dean, College of Social and Management Sciences, and Dean, College of Postgraduate Studies. On April 9, 2013, he delivered the first inaugural lecture of the University – Communicating an Implosion: Signs and Wander, Popular Culture and the Crumbling of Empire. He has years’ of experience in research, professional practice in public relations and journalism, and development work, and coordinated the establishment and continues to administer the Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN), as General Secretary.
He has published academic and developmental articles in Nigeria and other parts of the world, was a columnist in The Guardian on Sunday and Sunday Punch newspapers for a decade, and scripted for programmes on television and radio. A panellist for over two decades on one of Africa’s leading media awards – Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME) in Nigeria, he has consulted for International development agencies including WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and IOM, facilitated trainings and other capacity building programmes for government agencies, multinational companies and non-governmental organisations, and coordinated the development of toolkits for ActionAid Nigeria in the areas of Health and Women’s’ Right, His coordination activities in ACSPN, has covered several collaborations with UNESCO, including on the production of the Media and Information Literacy Non-Curricular Activities Materials for Sierra Leone, four of which have now been adopted as global resource by UNESCO, and available on the UNESCO website – UNESDOC Digital Library. ACSPN has organised the pan-Nigeria “Strategic Stakeholders Cascade Workshops on Implementing the Unbundling of Mass Communication Curriculum in Nigeria”, to herald the launch by the National Universities Commission of the new curriculum. It is supported by MacArthur Foundation. A former Federal Government of Nigeria postgraduate Scholarship beneficiary, he is a Fellow of the International Institute of Journalism, Berlin, Germany and Salzburg Seminar, Austria, and member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Associate Member, Advertising Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), and International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).
