Customs CG to speak at 7th convocation of NIJ

Bashir Adeniyi, comptroller-general (CG) of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), will deliver a public lecture at the 7th convocation ceremony of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).

The two-day ceremony, scheduled for May 5 and 6, will see 707 students graduate with different academic grades.

On May 6, Ahmed will speak on the topic ‘AI and Public Governance’.

Adeniyi is also a former vice president and council member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR).

The ceremony will bring together academics, graduands, public officials, and the business community.

The event will be held at the Sir Kesington Adebukunola Adebutu Media Resource Centre of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).

Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former Ogun governor and chairman of the NIJ governing council, will lead the academic ceremony on May 6.

The graduates will be honoured with grades including distinctions, upper credit, lower credit, and pass certificates.

Out of the total 707, 60 students bagged distinctions.

The graduates are categorised into three levels: National Diploma (ND), Higher National Diploma (HND), and Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD).

Speaking on Wednesday, Gbenga Adefaye, the provost of NIJ, said the topic of discourse was crafted to benefit the public in the new technology age.

Adefaye said Adeniyi is in that capacity to enlighten the audience on the integration of technology in public governance.

“The topic was chosen for public and national relevance. If you are talking to young men and women who just left school, the main thing dominating the public space is now ICT, and organisations leveraging artificial intelligence,” he said.

“And now you have somebody who has completed and served in the media space, particularly public relations. Who is also leading a very massive public institution where accountability, transparency, openness and the allocation of technology are key.

“We just thought somebody like this would be able to provide insight into what is happening in the public space in terms of current and future developments.

“And again, to also speak to those who are just going into the world and face the reality of survival.”

The NIJ was re-established in 1973 as a training institute by the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIP), the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), now Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), and Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).

It was revamped to revive the dream of the 1963 International Press Institute (IPI) project, which aimed to train skilled media personnel in Africa.

The institution was reformatted in 2004 to have its admissions moderated by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and its curriculum moderated by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).