{"id":10413,"date":"2022-01-10T15:07:03","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T14:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=10413"},"modified":"2022-05-30T14:22:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T13:22:09","slug":"is-ucj-unilorin-the-oldest-campus-news-outlet-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/is-ucj-unilorin-the-oldest-campus-news-outlet-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Is UCJ Unilorin the oldest campus news outlet in Nigeria?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: The Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) at the University of Ilorin (UCJ UNILORIN) is the oldest campus news outlet in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

UCJ UNILORIN is not the oldest campus news outlet in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Student-led media organisations are changing the face of Nigeria\u2019s news industry; arming students with relevant journalistic skills and tools and awakening them to the responsibility of accountability in the society. One of these is the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Kwara State in North-Central Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The report spotlighted the role of campus-led media in advancing journalism Nigeria.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Recently, IJNet<\/a>, a publication of the International Center for Journalists (ICJ), reported how this organisation is advancing journalism in Nigeria, serving as a voice for students and \u201coffering passionate students with little to no experience in journalism an opportunity to develop their talents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
UCJ University of Ilorin<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The report designated UCJ UNILORIN, founded in 1996, as the \u201coldest campus news outlet in Nigeria<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An excerpt from the report showing the claim<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are over 68 student-led media organisations in tertiary institutions across Nigeria, according to the National Union of Campus Journalists (NUCJ)<\/a>, which oversees their activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are registered as institutional press clubs, Unions of Campus Journalists (UCJ) or Associations of Campus Journalists (ACJ), and operate as news outlets on their respective campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Assessing the claim by IJNet, Dubawa reached out to Samuel Ajala, President of the National Union of Campus Journalists (NUCJ); the umbrella body of student-led media organizations in Nigeria. Mr Ajala said that the campus outlet at the University of Ibadan, and not that at University of Ilorin, is the oldest in Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUCJ U.I is the oldest and not UNILORIN,\u201d he told Dubawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
UCJ University of Ibadan<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) at the University of Ibadan<\/a> was established on June 17, 1987. It \u201chas successfully produced 32 presidents and thousands of campus journalists and influential pillars of society,\u201d Martins Isaac, who led the organization, told TheCable<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further research by Dubawa found a report<\/a> announcing the emergence of Faith Alofe as the 50th<\/sup> President of the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), the student-led media organisation at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Alofe, who was elected on September 25, 2021, is the first female President of the association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cACJ OAU was founded alongside the institution\u2019s students union,\u201d she said, tracing the history of the campus media outlet. The OAU students\u2019 union was formed in 1963; a year after the university was established.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
ACJ Obafemi Awolowo University<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Corroborating Alofe\u2019s position, Olusola Oludiran, who led ACJ-OAU in the 2018\/2019 session, told Dubawa that the campus media organization had enjoyed the membership of notable personalities including human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana; the university\u2019s current vice chancellor, Eyitope Ogunbodede, and Publisher of Nigeria\u2019s leading newsroom, Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany notable Nigerians today were members of ACJ during their days at OAU, many years ago. For instance Femi Falana SAN, who graduated from OAU in 1981, was a member of the ACJ. Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of Premium Times, was also a president of the ACJ OAU,\u201d Oludiran, who was the organization\u2019s 48th<\/sup> president, told Dubawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is important for people to know their history, to avoid distorting it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to the claim that UCJ University of Ilorin, founded in 1996, is the \u201coldest campus news outlet in Nigeria,\u201d Dubawa found that campus news outlets in two other universities \u2013 UCJ University of Ibadan (1987) and ACJ Obafemi Awolowo University (1963), pre-existed before that of the University of Ilorin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting the records straight, ACJ Obafemi Awolowo University is the oldest campus news outlet in Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: The Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) at the University of Ilorin (UCJ UNILORIN) is the oldest campus news outlet in Nigeria. UCJ UNILORIN is not the oldest campus news outlet in Nigeria. Full Text Student-led media organisations are changing the face of Nigeria\u2019s news industry; arming students with relevant journalistic skills and tools and awakening them to the responsibility of accountability in the society. One of these is the Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Kwara State in North-Central Nigeria. Recently, IJNet, a publication of the International Center for Journalists (ICJ), reported how this organisation is advancing journalism in Nigeria, serving as a voice for students and \u201coffering passionate students with little to no experience in journalism an opportunity to develop their talents.\u201d The report designated UCJ UNILORIN, founded in 1996, as the \u201coldest campus news outlet in Nigeria.\u201d There are over 68 student-led media organisations in tertiary institutions across Nigeria, according to the National Union of Campus Journalists (NUCJ), which oversees their activities.  They are registered as institutional press clubs, Unions of Campus Journalists (UCJ) or Associations of Campus Journalists (ACJ), and operate as news outlets on their respective campuses. Verification Assessing the claim by IJNet, Dubawa reached out to Samuel Ajala, President of the National Union of Campus Journalists (NUCJ); the umbrella body of student-led media organizations in Nigeria. Mr Ajala said that the campus outlet at the University of Ibadan, and not that at University of Ilorin, is the oldest in Nigeria. \u201cUCJ U.I is the oldest and not UNILORIN,\u201d he told Dubawa. The Union of Campus Journalists (UCJ) at the University of Ibadan was established on June 17, 1987. It \u201chas successfully produced 32 presidents and thousands of campus journalists and influential pillars of society,\u201d Martins Isaac, who led the organization, told TheCable in 2019. Further research by Dubawa found a report announcing the emergence of Faith Alofe as the 50th President of the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), the student-led media organisation at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Alofe, who was elected on September 25, 2021, is the first female President of the association. \u201cACJ OAU was founded alongside the institution\u2019s students union,\u201d she said, tracing the history of the campus media outlet. The OAU students\u2019 union was formed in 1963; a year after the university was established. Corroborating Alofe\u2019s position, Olusola Oludiran, who led ACJ-OAU in the 2018\/2019 session, told Dubawa that the campus media organization had enjoyed the membership of notable personalities including human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana; the university\u2019s current vice chancellor, Eyitope Ogunbodede, and Publisher of Nigeria\u2019s leading newsroom, Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi. \u201cMany notable Nigerians today were members of ACJ during their days at OAU, many years ago. For instance Femi Falana SAN, who graduated from OAU in 1981, was a member of the ACJ. Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of Premium Times, was also a president of the ACJ OAU,\u201d Oludiran, who was the organization\u2019s 48th president, told Dubawa. \u201cIt is important for people to know their history, to avoid distorting it.\u201d Conclusion Contrary to the claim that UCJ University of Ilorin, founded in 1996, is the \u201coldest campus news outlet in Nigeria,\u201d Dubawa found that campus news outlets in two other universities \u2013 UCJ University of Ibadan (1987) and ACJ Obafemi Awolowo University (1963), pre-existed before that of the University of Ilorin. Setting the records straight, ACJ Obafemi Awolowo University is the oldest campus news outlet in Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,4],"tags":[347,2942,2939,2940],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[1806],"class_list":["post-10413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-featured","tag-featured","tag-oldest-campus-news-outlet-in-nigeria","tag-union-of-campus-journalists-ucj","tag-university-of-ilorin-ucj-unilorin"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-2HX","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":1806,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"uchenna-igwe","display_name":"Uchenna Igwe","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/079ff448805edb1ac4ef8dac55e7fa0070f87220d97339815b63a4b39aa74ce9?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Is-UCJ-Unilorin-the-oldest-campus-news-outlet-in-Nigeria.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11667,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10413\/revisions\/11667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10413"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=10413"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=10413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}