TheCable

The Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN) is set for its first virtual and seventh annual conference billed to hold from September 2 to 3, 2020.

Nosa Owens-Ibie (pictured), its secretary-general, told TheCable that the event tagged: “Communicating Identities and Nationhood: Promoting Inclusive Democracy through Access to Information and Knowledge Societies”, seeks to bring together academics and professionals.

According to him, the conference is organised by ACSPN in collaboration with UNESCO, Information for All Programme (IFAP), World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), as well as the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

Owens-Ibie, who is the vice-chancellor of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, said the conference will feature six different panels which will be moderated by different guests.

He added that the event seeks to explore global perspectives in charting a new course for Nigeria as the nation marks its 60th independence anniversary.

“We are marking the 60th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence, so for us, this is symbolic because we are dealing primarily with issues of identities and nationhood. They are things that have to do with Nigeria but we are internalising and looking at them from a broader perspective in order to download global benefits to local development,” he said.

“It is an international conference as you can see from the composition of the various panels and the kind of involvement that we have very distinguished people from across the world. So, it’s really different from previous ones.”

The ACSPN secretary-general said among those expected to participate in the conference are Chinyere Stella Okunna, Nigeria’s first female professor of mass communication, and Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of Premium Times.