Glowing tributes as LASU, IPI, ACSPN, CJID, others mourn late famend media scholar

Because the information of his demise filtered in on Sunday morning, soothing tributes in honour of the late communication and journalism scholar, Lai Oso, have continued to flood the Nigerian media house.

From his final workplace – Lagos State College (LASU), Ojo, to Delta State College (DELSU), Abraka, the place he carried out his final tutorial task as an exterior examiner, and lots of different establishments in Nigeria together with civil society, and newsrooms, distinguished Nigerians have continued to share their experiences with Mr Oso in his 67 years sojourn on earth.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier on Sunday reported Mr Oso’s dying which reportedly occurred on Saturday alongside the Benin-Sagamu expressway whereas coming back from DELSU.

As an exterior examiner, Mr Oso was stated to be reviewing the work of some PhD college students at DELSU’s Division of Mass Communication, and was on the campus till Saturday when he determined to return dwelling.

Mr Oso was a deputy provost on the Ogun State Polytechnic, now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta; dean of the College of Communication, now College of Communication and Media Research, LASU, and President of the Affiliation of Communication Students and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN), amongst different quite a few roles he performed throughout the media and communication business in Nigeria and past.

Tributes from LASU

From the incumbent Vice-Chancellor of LASU, Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, to her predecessor, Olanrewaju Fagbohun, and the college’s present and fast previous deans of the College of Communication and Media Research (previously College of Communication), Yinka Alawode, and Rotimi Olatunji, respectively, sharing reminiscences of a person they thought to be a “mentor of mentors” turned a tough activity.

Talking with PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday, Mrs Olatunji-Bello, a professor of Physiology, stated the event was too stunning for her to both say or pen a phrase in honour of the deceased.

“I’m in shock! It’s too early for me to say something for now. So unhappy.”

However Mrs Olatunji-Bello’s predecessor, Mr Fagbohun, a professor of Legislation and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in his tribute shared with our reporter on Sunday, described Mr Oso’s dying as “the exit of a methodical communications statesman.”

He wrote: “Professor Oso was a ‘luminary of Communication’, who oozed excellence and wit. He wrote exactly what he meant to say and delivers the identical with resonating eloquence and nice confidence. He was a extremely revered practitioner with a reserved and endearing persona.

“Whereas I used to be Vice-Chancellor at LASU, he was one of many few who was very thorough, dependable, and easy. I bear in mind searching for his recommendation on totally different events and he was very blunt with none iota of sentiments. He has my respect, at all times.”

The present dean of the communication and media school in LASU, Mr Alawode, a professor, who led some colleagues on a condolence go to to the deceased’s Sagamu dwelling on Sunday, stated he was too devastated to talk on the time our reporter known as.

However his predecessor, Mr Olatunji, a professor, who was additionally coming back from the go to to the household, described Mr Oso as a pathfinder and a bridge builder.

He stated: “I’m nonetheless in shock as to the passing of our nice mental icon – a famend scholar. He was an important mentor, a brother, and a good friend who caught greater than a household. He was my confidante and above all he was a trailblazer and a humanist par excellence.

“Professor Oso was so dedicated to individuals’s improvement. He invested his life in mentoring the youthful ones in teachers and the occupation. He has touched so many lives. If I can depend appropriately, on the LASU’s College of Communication and Media Research alone, he had as much as 20 PhD candidates that he has efficiently supervised since 2014 once we began the PhD programme.”

Additionally talking in regards to the deceased, a lecturer within the school who described herself as certainly one of Mr Oso’s many tutorial mentees, Ganiyat Tijani-Adenle, a PhD holder in Journalism, stated; “He served with honour and diligence because the Dean of FCMS and he was a well-respected member of LASU neighborhood.”

ACSPN mourns

In an announcement issued on Sunday night, ACSPN, the affiliation the deceased led between 2014 and 2020 as its president, stated the event constitutes a monumental loss to the affiliation and a “large loss to the Nigerian and world mass communication and journalism neighborhood”.

The assertion, which was issued on behalf of the affiliation by its Public Relations Officer, Lanre Areogundade, quoted the incumbent President of the affiliation and Vice-Chancellor of Federal College, Kashere, Gombe State, saying; “Professor Oso held the agency conviction that the assembly of the robe and city would profit the mass communication and media fields for the utmost affect of each professions on democracy and improvement. He pursued this conviction relentlessly and his dying is a collective loss”.

The assertion additionally credited its secretary and Vice Chancellor of Caleb College, Imota, Lagos, Nosa Owens-Ibie, a professor, to have stated: “Underneath his tenure, the affiliation started the method by producing in collaboration with UNESCO and different stakeholders, the primary draft of what has now been launched because the Unbundled Mass Communication curriculum, following a curriculum improvement workshop for communication and journalism programs in November 2015”.

Mr Owens-Ibie described the deceased as a “scholar who helped to make students out of others by information constructing, scholarly articles, and e-book publications…”

Described as affable and humble, the affiliation stated the mixed qualities “endeared him to the youthful technology of media and communication students and professionals who continually sought his help and mentorship.”

IPI speaks

In the meantime, the Worldwide Press Institute Nigeria, the nation’s chapter of the worldwide community of editors and media executives, stated the deceased might be remembered for his large contributions to the physique of mental works within the fields of communication and media within the nation and past.

The institute’s President and Editor-in-Chief of PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu Mojeed, stated Mr Oso might be sorely missed.

Mr Mojeed stated: “Professor Lai Oso might be remembered for his selfless and constant advocacy for press freedom and impartial journalism in Nigeria. He can even be remembered for coaching a whole lot of students and practitioners of journalism and knowledge managers in Nigeria.

“He might be sorely missed at this important time in Nigeria’s historical past when Nigerian journalists are discovering it more and more tough to apply their craft and when advocacy and intellection by him may have been most helpful.”

CJID, WSCIJ, IPC, others communicate

Dapo Olorunyomi is the Chief Government Officer of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Growth (CJID) and Writer of PREMIUM TIMES, who had a long-standing relationship with the deceased, together with when he held sway because the helmsman at Freedom Home in Nigeria.

Mr Olorunyomi, like many others, stated he was devastated by the information of Mr Oso’s demise, describing it as a giant gap within the media, tutorial and journalism apply circle.

He stated: “Professor Oso’s unhappy and pointless tragedy drills a protracted, darkish, tunnel throughout the tutorial and apply atmosphere of African journalism, and the whole implications of this convulsive loss will take time to interpret and even rather more to fix.”

Commenting on the event on a messaging platform on Sunday, an previous ally of Mr Oso and revered media practitioner, Lanre Idowu, stated the world misplaced man in Oso.

“We’ve misplaced an important scholar and man. We collaborated on a number of initiatives geared in the direction of enhancing media accountability. He might be drastically missed.”

Additionally, the Chief Government Officer of Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), Motunrayo Alaka, was reportedly in tears after studying the information.

Mrs Alaka stated the deceased served her organisation as a decide of its flagship programme- the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting, for about half a decade, whilst she spoke of her “vacancy at this level”.

Talking on behalf of the Worldwide Press Centre, its founder, Lanre Arogundade, described the late don as a “mass communication scholar who mentored, inspired and impacted so many professionals.”

“He was additionally an ardent defender of press freedom who believed that journalism will need to have the enabling atmosphere for the media to have the ability to fulfil its constitutional obligation,” Mr Arogundade advised PREMIUM TIMES.

In the meantime, a Professor of Journalism and Communications Research on the College of Lagos (UNILAG), and fellow alumnus of the Leicester College, United Kingdom, Ismail Ibraheem, famous that Mr Oso “was one of many students that introduced the important custom of communications scholarship which Leicester College is thought for to Nigeria.”

“After I determined to go Leicester College for my postgraduate research, to observe in His footsteps, he gave me the help that made me thrive in Leicester. He was a unprecedented mentor of mentors and a quintessential important communication scholar. We might be eternally grateful for his management that gave beginning to the ACSPN, particularly the pivotal position he performed in steering the ship of the affiliation to the preeminent place it now occupies,” Mr Ibraheem stated.

Others

Additionally, different commentators throughout totally different newsrooms together with Oba Adeoye of Come up Tv, Ex-BBC Deployments Editor, Joshua Ajayi; a senior editor at The Nation Newspapers, Adekunle Yusuf, and the Staff Lead of Platform Africa, and one of many Mr Oso’s PhD supervisees, Adeola Yusuf, spoke glowingly of their relationships with the deceased.

Mr Oso is survived by his spouse, famously known as “Mama Oso,” kids which incorporates Moyo Oso – a lawyer, and grand-children.

A number of skilled mentees additionally hint their tutorial {and professional} trajectory to the late professor, who died on the age of 67.