Campus News

Career opportunities abound in Mass Comm studies – Akogun

By Abubakar Imam

A senior journalist with Sobi 101.9 FM, Ilorin, Mr Abdullahi Dare Akogun, has encouraged final year students of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Ilorin, to prepare themselves to take the advantage of the different career opportunities in the field of Mass Communication.

Mr Akogun gave this admonition last Wednesday (May 28, 2025) while speaking at a one-day fellowship programme organised by the Department for its final year students.

            The renowned media professional said that several opportunities abound in the real world for graduates of Mass Communication to pursue not just a dependable means of livelihood but also greatness.

            While bemoaning what he called “an increasingly huge gap between the classroom and the newsroom”, Mr Akogun explained that a graduate of Mass Communication has all he would need to occupy commanding positions in the field of journalism and general media practice.

            Mr Akogun, who is an expert in climate reporting, noted that it is not the class of degree one graduates with that matters but the quality of knowledge, professionalism, integrity and patriotism embedded in a practitioner, saying that any professional who has those fine qualities would always excel.

            While noting that many of those who are making waves in media practice today are not graduates of Mass Communication, Mr Akogun said that anyone who possesses a degree in Mass Communication has an edge over others as he must have been sufficiently trained to know his onions.

            Mr Akogun also charged the participants to begin to think outside the box by discovering and exploring emerging areas even beyond conventional media practice that would be of greater interest to the members of the public.

            Also speaking, a correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ilorin, Mrs Bushrah Yusuf-Badmus, said that graduating students of Mass Communication have the responsibility to ensure that they take their proper positions in the newsroom.

            Mrs Yusuf-Badmus lamented that most graduates of Mass Communication are not taking up journalism as a profession, a situation that is exposing the practice to graduates of other disciplines, many of whom are turning out to be quacks.

She urged the participants to be ready to put all the theoretical and practical knowledge they have acquired into practice to ensure accelerated community and national development as well as global peace.

            Speaking earlier, the Ag. Head of the Department, Dr Patrick Udende, said that the programme was organised to avail the graduating students the privilege of interacting with tested and experienced professionals in order for them to be prepared for the world of practice.

            Dr Udende thanked the facilitators for making themselves available for the programme and for sharing their knowledge and experience with the participants.

            Over 60 final year students of the Department participated in the programme.