Concerned about the impact of historic occurrences, challenges of knowledge production, attendant confusion and disrupted ecology of contemporary society on the Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS), the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE), has reignited the case of IKS at its 26th international conference, hosted by the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University of Calabar.
The thematic focus of the conference, which took place at Eskor Toyo Complex (ASUU Secretariat) from 21-24 October 2025, was, “Communication and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in the Era of AI, Big Data and Cultural Transformation.”
Abdullahi Bashir, professor and Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University of Abuja, and president of ACCE, reminded the participants that the theme of the conference was carefully and intentionally chosen to reflect on and underscore the value of African IKS, an inheritance from our forefathers, which is often increasingly and regrettably “undervalued, ignored, misunderstood, underutilised, disdained and disregarded by scholars and the practitioners, including those in communication and media.”
Abiodun Salawu, who supervised my PhD studies at North-West University, South Africa, and who keynoted the conference, came to the rescue to assuage the fears of possible shut off of IKS both in scholarship and practice.
Salawu, a professor of journalism, communication and media studies, a fellow of Nigerian Academy of Letters, member of Academy of Science of South Africa, and Director of research entity on Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) at the North-West University in South Africa, in a profound descriptive and prescriptive rendition, underscored both the unvarnished glory and value as well as the promises of IKS despite the challenges humanity faces in navigating the realities of modern times.
In a paper titled, “The Indigenous, the Modern and the Avantgarde: Fusion of Communication in Africa”, Salawu recalled the realities of IKS from New Zealand to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and from India to Nigeria, to demonstrate the compatibility of indigenous communication systems, the historical media representations such as in print and broadcast media, and the radical, innovative, fast-paced and somewhat frightening digital communication.
Prefacing his presentation with practical audio-visual demonstrations of the fusion of communication cultures through Efik, Ibibio, Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba content, he proved that skillful, safe, responsible and ethical use of AI-powered tools and animations can be leveraged to undertake an informed and consequential portrayal of African people, stories and cultures.
Despite the challenges of digital divide marked by lack of access to connectivity and other infrastructure by some indigenous communities, the ethical dilemma of cultural protocols, the increasing erosion of values (particularly on the youth), the heightened cultural homogenisation at the detriment of indigenous culture because the algorithms of digital communication do not sufficiently support indigenous content, Salawu presented numerous opportunities and derivable benefits of digital culture to indigenous communities and their knowledge systems.
These benefits include cultural preservation and transmission because the digital communication system offers opportunity to archive indigenous content for future transmission and cultural revitalisation, especially for the younger generation.
Indeed, “if we want the young people to know about African culture, folktales, folklore and so on, we have to project it through the digital media”, he stated.
The digital communication channels also offer opportunity for preservation of language as a tool of cultural transmission because it is rare and difficult to lose content already curated on digital media.
According to Salawu, whose research and scholarship are documented in over 200 different content in highly rated journals and books, due to the relatively democratic nature and pervasiveness of new communication platforms, they also offer opportunity for empowerment, self-determination and enhanced engagement with social and political issues.
The digital media also certainly come handy for self-preservation, countering stereotypes, and dominant narratives.
The keynote speaker also submitted that the digital media are more efficient and effective for community networking across geographical boundaries, thus bridging the gap between African people and communities on the continent with their kith and kins in the diaspora.
Besides facilitating the reconnection of people, social media platforms have enabled organising of forums for activism, advocacies and political action, in addition to bringing economic value to content creators.
Salawu advised that Africa needs renewed strategies and applications to continue to derive value and purpose from the digital communication culture.
In a more concrete sense, he urged African governments to explore policies that support and promote indigenous culture in its relationship with the emergent, innovative media.
Beyond entertainment and in view of the crisis of democracy in Africa, he recommended that digital media should be enabled to promote democratic culture.
He said Africa needs to harness the value of oramedia as an ethical and foundational paradigm of development; as well as empower people, encourage citizenship and patriotism.
The highly sought scholar said at the moment, educators and practitioners in the communication space need to evaluate the human condition contextually, stressing the imperative of enabling values and civilisation through new media.
Defining civilisation as a higher state of human and social development, he argued that African oramedia and IKS can be used to speak to and reverse the tempo of cultural degeneracy because IKS promotes ethics.
Delving into the modern (historical) media performance on the digital media, Professor Salawu noted that most of the media systems like the print and broadcast genus are now on digital platforms but not many of them are as interactive. He called operators’ attention to the need to invest more in funding and upskilling to be relevant.
He cited the realities in South Africa and Zimbabwe and noted that those countries are clearly ahead of Nigeria in the use of digital media.
Citing a recent study focused on Russia, Thailand and South Africa, Salawu also stated that with respect to AI, the ethnic media in Nigeria and South Africa are neither as familiar with nor utilising artificial intelligence like other centres of the world.
He recognised the fact that non-governmental organisations have continued to be enablers of resource support for ethnic media, and that reckoning underscored earlier findings by Africa Polling Institute (2021) and the Edelman Trust Barometer (2025) on the increasingly positive role NGOs are playing in the governance process in Africa.
Conclusively, Salawu acknowledged the widespread fear over fake news, he reckoned with the existential challenge and warned (like Yuval Noah Harari) of the danger of relying on generative AI.
As a scholar and teacher, not just of journalism, media and communication but also on value of indigenous language, Salawu bemoaned the under-representation of African languages on the Internet and called for increased studies and strategic action to improve the fortunes of African languages and media in the public digital communication culture.
Founded in 1974 (a year before APRA was formed), the ACCE headquarters is in Nairobi (coincidentally, Nairobi is where APRA secretariat used to be until it was relocated to Nigeria in 2008).
The ACCE is the largest academic organisation and forum for professionals, educators, scholars and practitioners in media, journalism, cultural studies and contiguous disciplines, and ACCE has many branches in African countries and in the diaspora.
Annually, at least 400 scholars and practitioners from scores of institutions in Africa and in the diaspora converge at agreed location to discuss issues of communication education and training, traditional communication resources, ICT, environment, democracy, gender, and emergent communication concerns.
The ACCE has offered advisory services to many African governments and institutions and continued to serve as a forum for networking on many issues of communication.
The Nigerian chapter publishes, annually, The Nigerian Journal of Communication. Nudged by the late Prof. Oladayo Soola (who supervised Prof. Salawu’s PhD programme, and taught me Research Methods; and ‘New’ Information and Communication Technologies at UI), I joined ACCE in 2004 after my MA programme at the University of Ibadan.
I was delighted to have my paper, focused on decoloniality and IKS, reviewed at the Calabar conference alonside over 150 others.
The 27th conference of ACCE will take place at the Delta State Polytechnic, Otefe-Oghara in 2026.
*Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan is a communications expert. He is currently the Secretary-General, African Public Relations Association (APRA).
