As I write, save for Libya and Somalia (and mainly due to security concerns), Africans are at liberty to go to Kenya – not to get visa on arrival – VISA FREE.

“Good morning, Professor, what brought you to Kenya this time?”, the courteous, beautiful lady immigration officer enquired from me as she requested my passport at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. I responded verbally, proceeding to discharge the burden of proof with the missive from PRSK. “Welcome to Kenya”, the lady stated with a pleasant smile and tonality as she stamped my passport and handed it over to me.

Her paralanguage was fantastic. It synergised the spoken word. It was authentic.

I completed my obligations with PRSK at Eldoret City – otherwise called ‘The City of Champions’, a befitting moniker since Kenya’s leading marathoners and sprinters peopled the city – I was chauffeured to Kisumu. Eldoret City in Uasin Gishu County in Western Kenya, one of Kenya’s 47 Counties, was designated Kenya’s 5th city recently and it is the country’s fastest growing city.

Other cities are Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru, which like Eldoret is also in Rift Valley Region. In Kenya, you do not just name a community a city, it is the prerogative of the government of the Republic to designate a space as a city because there are criteria to be met before a community can be so characterised.

Broadly multicultural and multiethnic – you would find Kalenjins, Luhyas, Kikuyus, and others in Eldoret, a name that came with its own controversy, perhaps a typographical error, though ‘eldore’, is a Maasai word for ‘Stony River’.

The peerless Canadian communication scholar, Marshall McLuhan, had also embraced an error, converting it to strength.

He had sent his classic book, with the title, “The Medium is the Message: An Inventory of Effects” to the printer, only for the product to come back with a typographical blunder, the error ‘Massage’ instead of ‘Message’, was right on the title.

An uncanny thinker and philosopher, McLuhan adopted the ‘erroneous title’ reckoning that it made sense. So, is the story of Eldoret.

“These things happened”, says Professor Kingsley Ologe, a father and mentor, in his book, “Help from Above: The Travails and Triumph of a Child of God”, where in the first chapter he recalled a ‘descent into anomie’ at the University of Abuja where he was Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences. I was involved but that is a story for the future.

However, things do happen, even to the title of this travelogue. I was chatting with my friend and brother, Simbo Olorunfemi, while on the road to Kisumu and he picked the phrase, ‘On the road to Kisumu’ from a note I had sent to him, stating that it “Reads like the title of a book.” As I reflected on this script, I was glad Simbo took off my shoulders the probative burden of looking for a title for my piece.

I could have returned to Nairobi from Eldoret to connect a flight to Addis Ababa the way I came into Kenya but things happen.

So, PRSK got me a driver to take me to Kisumu International Airport to take a late evening flight to Nairobi. I set out early arriving at Kisumu before 3.00pm to enable me to chair and moderate a web conference commemorating the Student and Young Professional Month organised annually by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA).

I was banking on the free public Wi-Fi at the airport for connection because I knew all airports in Kenya had robust free Wi-Fi. I made it to Kisumu on time and the airport free Internet connectivity was excellent.

But while on the road to Kisumu, a two- and half-hour drive, the man at the steering became an interesting interlocutor.

A graduate of environmental sciences from Moi University – an institution named after Daniel Arap Moi, Kenya’s second president. Kenya has had only five presidents since 1963 when it earned her political independence. So, our conversation started from my driver’s alma mater. “Professor, you seem to know a lot about Kenya from the way you spoke about Moi”, the driver said to me. I responded by correcting him. “I am not a professor”.

“Are you a doctor, because you look like an academic?” he asked waiting enthusiastically for me to answer in the affirmative. “Yes, I am doctor”, I responded. “Ooh, Daktari”, he resounded in Swahili.

Then we started a discourse on Africa. I listened to him patiently before responding to his questions. The first knowledge-sharing session was on growth and development.

We made lots of comparison between Nigeria and Kenya and I told him the difference between growth and development. Using Kenya and Nigeria as examples, I spoke to theories, beginning with WW Rostow, a former national security adviser to the US president, who was succeeded by Henry Alfred Kissinger.

I told my man that Rostow’s linear theory of stages of growth and development was fundamentally flawed and cited Paul Baran, AG Frank and others.

With empirical and experiential evidence, I told my man that growth is not synonymous with development and GDP is also not an index of development, though it may be an indicator of volume of production, largeness of market and national (not individual) prosperity, and I introduced him to the works of Amartya Sen after I had juxtaposed statistics about Nigeria and Kenya in five different sectors.

He could visualise the strengths, challenges and prospect of both countries especially in the context of ongoing reforms.

From there we migrated to discuss why I was in Kenya. So, I spoke about APRA, my role in its upturn and why we feel Africans should reimagine the future of communication, especially governmental and executive communication in the era of AI, and indeed why we need to focus on clear, concise and compelling communication.

My man and I agreed that whether it is about security of lives and property, investing in government securities and bonds, or leveraging reforms, communication is at the heart of human success.

I spoke about miscommunication in Africa and globally and I gave him examples of its manifestations like poor communication, wrong communication, late communication and incomplete communication.

I was emphatic about how the last two types have been major challenges in governmental communication and thus affecting the fortunes of Africa.

I told my interlocutor that we need to focus on the truth and I spoke to why APRA insists the communication professional is central to the resolution of all crises.

On African crisis, I recalled our resolutions at the summit, including the need to love our countries more than we hate our leaders but I also noted our concerns about leadership and why our leaders need to be clear, empathetic and accountable.

I told him we agreed in Eldoret on the significance of equity, diversity and inclusion in communication practices in Africa, as well as timeliness in communication; and the need to have informed stakeholder mainstreaming, ensuring a balance out as we deepen our use of digital media so that no one is left behind. I iterated why we must reach the hard-to-reach and do so as an obligation.

I told my man that one of the messages from Eldoret Summit is the need for communications people to read more and broadly so they can spot inaccuracies in what AI tools, especially generative AI, gives them because knowledge, emotional, ethical and cultural intelligences will help the human agency to humanise whatever AI tools offer them.

I spoke to my man about earned media and noted that because up to 90 percent of AI visibility of humans and organisations are driven by citations, we need to optimise earned media, including seeing earned media as a beginning rather than an end.

Many communication managers and organisations are too dependent on paid influencers but the masterstroke is to ensure that team leads in digital communication empowers their colleagues to boost even content which influencers have been paid to diffuse. Boost your content for owned and scalable reach, I told my brother from Kenya.

I also explained to him that increasingly, people are getting answers they need from searches without clicking websites, and I emphasised that the phenomenon is called zero click.

Today, people rarely get down to see Google highlights and Google has adapted quickly with OpenAI and other tools, indicating a transition from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).

I shared with my driver the fact that 60 percent of search results comes from GEO. I noted why that insight should lead us to review strategy for greater value.

Equally, I remember stating that while the future may show preference for visuals, AI seems to be more on language (textual) than video.

So, communication professionals may need to do modicum of textual descriptions on videos to enable AI to access such information.

AI has become a new media on its own, so communicators need to publish more frequently and we must commit ourselves irrevocably to measurement and evaluation of work done.

It helps to prove why we deserve a seat on the table of C-Suite executives, rather than being treated as messengers and sent on condescending errands.

I was emphatic that public relations and communication management are management and leadership functions.

Undoubtedly, there is a whole new landscape of intelligent communication. We need to figure out how to preserve trust since technology can mimic reality.

Yes! AI is a companion, an assistant that can help to boost efficiency but the real change for PR is to balance invention, ethics and context.

The human agency is the more important partner in the emergent duality of agencies (technology and humans).

So, while AI has no emotions and may not be able to reflect the truth always, it can help to detect manipulations and alert us on misinformation but humans remain the firewall principles.

In other words, it was beautiful sharing knowledge with the man chauffeuring me on the road to Kisumu. It was great arriving Kisumu timely and to set up my devices promptly to moderate the GA SYPM session. But it is more gratifying to see Africans and Nigerians winning in the global annual SYPM conference 2025.

Congratulations to all African winners and to Aromaradu Salahudeen Salihu, Azeez Sulaiman, Ikwuorgu Favour Eloho and Ogunsemowo Moyinoluwa Elizabeth for making Nigeria proud in the 2025 #NextInLine Hero Web Conference with the theme, “From Hashtags to Headlines: How Communication Can Change the World in the AI Era”. I am particularly gratified seeing young people embraced responsible communication.

*Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan is a communications expert. He is currently the Secretary-General, African Public Relations Association (APRA).

Named on the prestigious PR Power List 2025, Dr. Ibietan is more than a public relations expert, he is an institution, a thinker, a strategist, and a shaper of narratives across Africa’s most critical communication landscapes.

In this feature, Techeconomy deploys a multimethod and multilayered lens, from career trajectory and academic depth to influence, innovation, and intellectual legacy, to unpack the life and works of a man whose presence in the public relations ecosystem reverberates far beyond press statements and policy memos.

In the beginning, Omoniyi, as he preferred to be called, landed on the national landscape as a student leader, cutting his teeth in human rights activism right from college where he led his colleagues to resist a levy imposed by the school authority.

His action will cause him a suspension, which at that age he challenged in the courts and the authorities were compelled to recall him to write his West African School Certificate. He passed and enrolled for the Higher School Certificate at the then Kwara State College of Technology where he studied History, Literature and Economics.

He continued activism at KWARATECH, emerging as the Secretary General of the Student Government before leaving in 1989.

Attending a journalism school (where he made a distinction in 1996) and two other universities sequentially (over a period of 10 years), he eventually graduated atop his class (BA Communication Arts) at the University of Uyo in the year 2000.

The same year he was elected Chairman of the national convention of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) which took place at the University of Maiduguri.

The convention, otherwise called The Unity Convention, unified all hitherto warring factions of the fiery student movement which had been fractured by tendential politics and destabilization by the ruling elites.

Between 2002 and 2004, he studied for the degree of MA in Communication and Language Arts at the University of Ibadan, graduating atop his class and with a PhD grade.

Through it all, his commitment to defending social and political rights did not wane and he was intimately involved (working with progressive elements of the civil society) in the advocacy programmes and projects leading to the birth of Nigeria’s renascent democracy in 1999.

Layer One: The Communicator’s Communicator

For over 25 years, Dr. Ibietan has architected communication blueprints that do more than inform, they influence outcomes, foster collaboration, and restore trust.

As a key figure at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), where he recently completed his tenure as Head of Media Relations, Dr. Ibietan led multi-stakeholder engagements that reshaped how the telecom regulator was perceived by both media and public.

Under his watch, digital communication strategies evolved, perception audits became routine, and media relationships turned into institutional partnerships.

Before coming back to his forte (PR, media and communication strategy), he was the frontline officer for legislative relations where he set standards for the Commission in its relationship with the National Assembly, Nigeria’s bicameral federal legislature.

Dr. Ibietan’s public relations offerings were not accidental. With a PhD in Communication from North-West University, South Africa, and degrees from top Nigerian institutions like the University of Ibadan and the University of Uyo, he brought academic precision into the messiness of public opinion. Every campaign bore the hallmark of someone who understood not just what to say, but when, how, and to whom.

Layer Two: Legacy in Thought and Leadership

In scholarship and practice, Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan has become a leading advocate for a rethink in the fundamental, foundational, normative issues in communication, insisting that all assumptions, principles, and certitudes upon which communication management is propelled be reviewed in view of what has happened in the communication space.

“The world has changed fundamentally, the media has become more pervasive, attentional resources are shrinking, Africa’s demographic capital comes with its risks and compelling us to be sensitive to audience preferences by communicating responsibly to build bridges and reduce the spectrum of divisions and potential crises.

The new paradigm demands we leverage technology, evidence-based data, mindful of ethical imperatives, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and new trends in measurements. We are in an era of multimedia, multimethod, multilayered communication across media systems of communication, including the context where we may require medialities and the African communication systems.”

He emphasised the demands of modern communication landscape to a team of innovative journalists recently stressing why the communicator must lead every enterprise.

Dr. Ibietan agrees with the general belief that public relations is a management function. He agrees with the NIPR that public relations is both a management and leadership function, an assertion that underpinned the establishment of the first Public Relations and Leadership University (PRLU) in the world to be inaugurated by NIPR next year.

More importantly, Dr. Ibietan has recently (at Nigeria Public Relations Week in Uyo in 2025, in speeches and public presentations, as well as to his students at Rome Business School where he teaches doctoral students Advertising and Public Relations, and Media Management and Communication Strategy), that students and practitioners in communication management should revise the notion of “Engineering of Consent”, that underpinned Edward Bernays’ thesis which emphasised strong, engineered persuasive, almost propagandistic communication.

In its stead, Dr. Ibietan advocates for shared intentions, shared meanings, and collaborative communication, all ideas that underpinned human evolutionary trend in communication, riding on evidence from communication philosophers, social anthropologists, psychologists and neuroscientists such as Michael Tomasello whose almost three decades of research has laid the groundwork for a rethink of perspectives.

Thus, Ibietan is a strong advocate of stakeholder relations through engagement and communication, leading to cultivation of relationships, building trust, and ensuring communication effectiveness. As he told his students in a recent lecture, “all advertising programmes must be preceded by sufficient public relations strategies. That is a major lesson in the emergent integrated marketing communication framework. Indeed, there are new lessons and those insights should help us to elevate our practice.”

His tenure as Special Adviser to Nigeria’s Minister of Information (2005–2007) and lecturer at Rome Business School reflects a commitment to passing on his insights to the next generation of communicators.

Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan doesn’t just lead; he lifts others into leadership.

Layer Three: Innovation and the Future of PR

One of Dr. Ibietan’s most enduring legacies is how he bridged the gap between traditional media relations and digital-first strategies. Long before it became fashionable, he was integrating social listening, stakeholder mapping, and digital content strategy into public communication playbooks.

At the NCC, his pioneering use of digital influencers, social media audits, and content uniformity protocols brought coherence and creativity to regulatory storytelling.

At a time when regulatory bodies are often accused of opacity, Dr. Ibietan championed shared intentions, diversity, inclusion, transparency, empathy, and accessibility as irreducible principles in the effective sharing of meaning.

His works with Freedom House, Mastercard Foundation, and MacArthur Foundation brought global relevance to his skillset, showing that his ideas work not just in Abuja or Lagos, but also in Washington, Nairobi, and Johannesburg.

Layer Four: A Reputation Built on Integrity and Impact

Colleagues speak of him as radical but calm under pressure. Journalists praise him as available and honest. Students regard him as inspiring and methodical. Even critics admit: he does the work with panache and clinical precision.

Dr. Ibietan has collected multiple recognitions over the years, from being Best Staff at the NCC (2008 & 2011) to being the best graduating student in his class at Uyo and Ibadan where he studied Communication Arts and Communication and Language Arts respectively.

But perhaps his biggest reward is the trust he commands across political divides, media spectrums, and navigating institutional barriers.

A Fitting Honour, A Continuing Journey

Being listed among the PR Power List 2025 is not just a personal achievement. It is a reflection of decades of consistent excellence, ethical leadership, and visionary thinking. In an era many believed is bereft of role models, Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan offers a blueprint: of how to stay relevant without being trendy, effective without being loud, and authoritative without losing empathy.

As Nigeria and Africa face rising challenges in governance, misinformation, and digital disruption, professionals like Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan are not just desirable, they are indispensable.

By celebrating Dr. Ibietan, we are not merely spotlighting one man’s journey, we are reminding the industry of what’s possible when communication is wielded with integrity, intellect, and insight.

“PR is not about spin; it is about substance,” he once said. In Dr. Ibietan, truth and candour find the most eloquent expression.

Mr. Arik Karani, the president of APRA in a letter to the members from Namibia, according to a statement signed by Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, the secretary general, the continental body of public relations practitioners and communications specialists, described Nujoma as a transformative leader with matchless grit, vision and charisma, who spared no efforts in offering direction at Namibia’s most trying times in the journey to nationhood.

APRA noted that by Dr. Nujoma’s actions, he shaped the course of Namibia’s history and left indelible legacy of resilience, vision and uncommon leadership that qualifies him as exceptional pathfinder, an African patriot and fearless statesman.

“President Nujoma was a torchbearer who brazed the trail for freedom and inspired generations of Namibians to rise and take charge of their destiny. Therefore, Dr. Nujoma’s contributions to the remaking of Namibia after years of colonial devastation will never be forgotten”, APRA stated.

APRA also called on its members from Namibia, members of Nujoma’s family, the government, as well as people of Namibia as well as those impacted by Nujoma’s fine leadership to be comforted by the statesman’s great legacies.

Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma was a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005.

Nujoma was a founding member and the first president of the South West Africa People’s Organisation in 1960.

The Minister, also a Fellow of APRA, in a statement by Rabiu Ibrahim, his special assistant (Media), acknowledged the significance of the election for the advancement of public relations across Africa, adding that while it is a pivotal moment for APRA, the collective expertise, and leadership of the newly-elected Executive Council would be instrumental in attaining the long-term vision of the association.

The new APRA Executive Council comprises Arik Karani from Kenya as President, Dr. Michele Mekeme from Cameroon as Vice President, and Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan from Nigeria as Secretary-General.

Idris urged the new Executive Council to “continue the trajectory of reforms in APRA,” stressing the importance of expanding the democratic space by encouraging greater participation of national public relations institutions across the continent.

He highlighted the need for inclusivity and collaboration to strengthen the public relations profession in Africa.

The Minister also called on the Executive Council to work closely with the African Union Commission and the Council of Ministers to ensure that public relations remains central to policy formulation, programme execution, and project implementation.

“Public relations should be at the heart of policy, programs, and project implementation,” he stated.

He also extended his salutations to Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, the head of Media Relations at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on his emergence as the Secretary-General of APRA.

“Dr. Ibietan is a thoroughbred journalist, public relations expert, and author, who is expected to bring his enormous wealth of experience to bear on APRA positively,” Idris said.

Dr. Ibietan has promised to work with other members of the Executive Council to continue the trajectory of reforms in APRA, expand the democratic space by encouraging greater participation of national public relations institutions on the Continent and work more closely with the African Union Commission and Council of Ministers to put public relations at the heart of policy, programmes, and project implementation. Ibietan was elected into a three-man Executive Council.

The other two members are Arik Karani (Kenya), President, and Dr. Michele Mekeme (Cameroon), Vice President.

Omoniyi Ibietan is a journalist, writer, and author. As Head of Media Relations Management at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), he oversees aspects of the public communication strategy of the national regulatory authority for telecommunication in Nigeria. Earlier in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.

He was Special Media Advisor to the Federal Minister of Information and Communication.

He has over 20 years of experience in media and communication scholarship and practice, spanning journalism, academia, policy discourse, communication strategy, regulation, and stakeholder relations.

Omoniyi Ibietan earned BA and MA in Communication Arts and Communication & Language Arts from the Universities of Uyo and Ibadan in Nigeria, respectively, graduating atop his classes. Earlier, he obtained a diploma in journalism with distinction from the Moscow-Based International Institute of Journalism.

He holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the North-West University in South Africa, with specialisation in political communication. He is a IP3 certified regulation specialist and holds a mini MBA in telecommunications from NEOTELIS in Paris.

He is also a member of the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE), an Associate Registered Practitioner of Advertising (arpa) and member of the International Institute of Communications (IIC), the world’s only policy debating platform for the converged communications industry.

As a scholar, he focuses on patterns of political communication through new media; media and culture studies; and theoretical & normative foundations of communication in relation to democracy and freedom.

He is on the faculty of the Nigerian campus of Italy-based Rome Business School (RBS), where he teaches doctoral students PR & Advertising and Media Management & Communication Strategy. He also facilitates learning to students in the Master of Corporate Communication programme at RBS.

His first book, ‘Social Media, Social Demography, and Voting Behaviour in Nigeria’ was published by Premium Times Books in Washington in May 2023.

He has travelled extensively in Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia.

He is married, has children, plays tennis and scrabble, loves reading and writing, and loves meeting people, especially people from other cultures.

At the ongoing conference, Ibietan presented the first paper at the commencement of business sessions.

The title of his paper is: ‘Digital Inclusion as Arbiter of Accessible Public Relations: A Case Study of Nigerian Communications Commission’.

Using Castells’ Theory of the Network Society and the Knowledge Gap Theory, and based on the actions of the Nigerian government through the activities of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ibietan advanced a thesis that digital inclusion is the arbiter of digital public relations.

Through implementation of laws, policies, guidelines, developmental regulation, collaborative partnerships, social investments, operational efficiency and ancillary actions that are consequential and quantifiable, and using copious pictorial evidence, Omoniyi Ibietan discoursed a perspective that NCC’s digital inclusion programmes, projects and activities are foundational to digital economy because investment in and coordination of expansion of digital infrastructure, demonstrating their affordances and enhancing people’s access to such resources, constitute the building blocks and raison d’être of digital economy and inherently digital public relations.

APRA, the successor to the Federation of African Public Relations Association (FAPRA), instituted in Nairobi in 1975, exists to foster unity of Africans and their global allies through interactions and exchange of meaning. Pivoted on standardisation of public relations practice and scholarship on the Continent to enhance its relevance to the African reality, APRA member states and individuals meet annually at a location in any of its regional centres (East, North, South, West, Central, Indian Ocean Islands, and Francophone) to have a conversation with a thematic focus on any of its key intervention areas (Health & Education, Economic Integration, Good Governance, Tourusm & Leisure, and Infrastructure Development).

This year’s theme centered on ‘One Africa, One Voice: Bridging Africa’s Communication Divide’.

APRA Côte d’Ivoire 2024 is endorsed by the Government of Côte d’Ivoire, the Holding Opinion & Public (THOP), and major global PR associations, namely the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), The International Communications

Consultancy Organisation (ICCO), the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management (GA), the African Union Commission (AUC), and PR national associations across the continent.

Additionally, the conference featured the eighth edition of the Innovation Summit (IN2SUMMIT) and includes the seventh edition of the SABRE Awards Africa, holding tonight.

The APRA secretariat is in Nigeria, and the body maintains an observer status with the African Union.

I was at Gordon Resort Hotel by McCarthy Beach before, during, and after Christm​as, in giving expression to my annual personal retreat. For reasons connected to the global economic challenges, I had no White Christmas, but there’s so much to thank God for.

So, I seized the opportunity of the tranquillity of the Ethiope River’s bank at Urhuoka, Abraka, where a flourishing economy birthed more than a decade ago with the establishment of Gordon Resort Hotel by McCarthy Beach.

Ethiope River, Nigeria’s and one of Africa’s deepest inland waters and flagship blue/green body of waters, unlike the Nile, Congo, Niger rivers, took its course from a spring beneath a silk cotton tree in Umuaja, also in Delta State, and streaming through Abraka, Sapele and so on to empty into Benin River, the latter constituting a branch of the Niger River, and Niger itself bifurcating at some point to form Forcados River and River Nun, and all flowing into the Gulf of Guinea.

Beyond the support to life and humanity, I have been fascinated by body of waters after a fair defeat of childhood hydrophobia, but Nigeria’s new vision to harness and harvest the blue economy opened a new vista of learning and reflection to me while I was at Gordon/McCarthy resort.

Blue economy, in the conception of the European Union, relates to all activities connected to oceans, seas, and coasts.

The blue economy sector in Nigeria is valued at yielding $70 billion annually, which is slightly short of the estimated investment in the telecom sector in three decades.

Indeed, I saw the possibilities of Nigeria’s blue economy again while at McCarthy Beach, where people engaged in legitimate economic activities.

However, the potential of the sector is undermined by infrastructure deficit. For instance, going to McCarthy Beach, unarguably one of Nigeria’s largest and promising beaches can be tortuous after a flight to Warri.

The hitherto 40-minute drive from Warri to Abraka now takes over two hours. The best route, ostensibly a federal road, through Eku, is practically cut off, so drivers take a detour just before Eku because the popular route via EKu is no longer motorable.

The popular narrative is that the federal government directed the state government not to rehabilitate federal roads, perhaps because of the tendency of state governments to inflate the cost when requesting a refund from the federal government.

Whatever gave rise to the abandonment of the road from Warri through Eku to Abraka needs to be resolved quickly and the road fixed in the interest of the people and the gamut of the value chain benefits connected to the blue economy and related activities of other sectors interacting with the blue economy sector with evident multiplier effects.

The other infrastructural matters include security and power/energy (the elephants in the room). Yet, science has proved that there are legions and varieties of green energy sources in our clime, strains of which are derivable from blue resources. So, we can have a turn to leverage integration.

I don’t know the pattern and tempo of strategy set for the blue economy sector, but the prospects are undermined by infrastructure challenges.

The good thing is that there is a new vision by state actors, and stakeholders should be rallied to achieve the vision in the manner we are witnessing in the Communications and Digital Economy Sector.

May Nigeria flourish.

*Omoniyi Ibietan, PhD., is the Head, Media Relations at the Nigerian Communications Commission

The public presentation of the book: “Cyber Politics: Social Media, Social Demography and Voting Behaviour in Nigeria“, was made by Danbatta in Abuja recently where government officials, journalists, friends, and accomplished professionals converged on Abuja for the event.

Ibietan is the Head, Media Relations Management at NCC and Danbatta, had done him the honour of not only writing the foreword to the book but also playing the role of the presenter of the book to the members of the public.

Danbatta stated, “I’m fascinated by Ibietan’s passion to write a book on cyber politics. Combining his official work at NCC together with his passion to produce this book is commendable. I think Dr. Ibietan committed class suicide by joining the services of the NCC instead of being in the classroom.  That is the difference between Dr. Ibietan and I. He joined the Commission to serve while I was beckoned to come and serve the Commission from the classroom,” he said.

On the herculean task involved in writing, Danbatta said: “People who sit down and put their thoughts together and commit those thoughts into writing to produce impactful books such as this are some of the most intelligent people in our society. Dr. Ibietan’s literary effort is highly recognized, and we are happy to have such a hard worker in the Commission.”

The EVC said that aside from his intellect and excellent public speaking skills, Ibietan is also known as an activist, who strives to make societal conditions better. Prof. Danbatta said that he had had a smooth relationship with Dr. Ibietan over the last eight years of his being at the helm of affairs at NCC.

Continuing, the CEO of NCC said that “The different stages that writing a book entail are not easy; it is difficult, from the time you start putting your thoughts together, to coming up with the manuscript. That is why his efforts in writing this book should be seen as laudable, as I have heard there are more books coming after this one and we look forward to that.”

“It, therefore, gives me great pleasure, to present this book, on behalf of the Management and Staff of the NCC and Premium Times Books (the publisher), to members of the public and I encourage you all to buy and read this book and I am sure you will not regret the time you spend on this literary effort,” Danbatta stated.

Danbatta, a professor of telecommunications engineering, noted in his foreword to the book that: “the author situates the historical context of Nigerian politics and democracy” and more so…the nexus between social media and voting behaviour, and the influence of the social media ecosystem among others in the electoral process.”

The EVC described the book “as a compelling narrative, a scholar’s guide, and companion on the various political communication themes it interprets. It is difficult to put down this work once you are drawn by its alluring and free-flowing prose and incisive analysis.”

Published by Premium Times Books, the 460-page literary work reviews Nigeria’s democracy through its elections, particularly the role of social media.

But Cyber Politics is not just about the last general election and filial squabbles, said Azubuike Ishiekwene, the editor-in-chief of Leadership Newspapers, who reviewed the book in Abuja.

“It’s a deeper phase in the exploratory journey of Omoniyi P. Ibietan whose interest in political communication and its sociology goes back to his early student days.”

At the programme, several dignitaries also praised the author for writing the book, which some described as an “exemplary literary work.”

In 12 chapters, Cyber Politics examines the themes of cyberculture, social demographics, political communication and voting behaviour.

It is also a subject that evokes decades of research, but which nonetheless retains its fascination as scholars continue to explore the fraught question of why voters behave the way they do, especially during elections, Ishiekwene said.

The book explores, among other things, the question of whether political conversations among Nigeria’s estimated 33 million active social media users, especially the influencers, had any significant impact on the outcome of the 2015 elections.

A former Minister of Information and Communication in Nigeria, Frank Nweke Jr, said the “book represents an uncommon body of work by an intellectual visionary”, and he is of the conviction that the “extrapolation of the lessons and recommendations of this book will find perfect expression in other climes beyond the 2015 Nigerian General Elections scenario.”

Nweke, a former boss of the author, who chaired the book presentation, commended “Ibietan for this remarkable work, and recommends this book for practitioners and academics in the fields of strategic communications, new technologies, and social change.”

Over the past two decades, Ibietan has researched deeply the emergent interface between communication studies and psephology, which explains his richly nuanced understanding and far sight into the issues involved.

This point was also made by Premium Times Editor-In-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, who described Ibietan’s book as “a classic.”

“It uses Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election as the sounding board for analyses that offer great insights into the future of voting behaviour in Africa’s largest democracy. Those who have interacted with the title have described it as both skilful in its rendition and ground-cutting in its intellectual approach,” Mojeed said.

Mojeed said “At Premium Times Books, we look forward to continuing to publish books that will deepen knowledge about important aspects of our lives. We are interested in getting a number of disappearing classics back to libraries and bookshelves across our country and beyond. If you have any suggestions for us, be kind to get in touch.”

In the introduction he wrote for the book, Dapo Olorunyomi, the publisher of Premium Times, said: “The universe of this new book is intriguing” in its exploration of the “digital effect” on elections.

He also pointed out how Ibietan’s work demonstrates “clearly that social media systems do enrich electoral democracy by expanding access to registration, participation, voting and organising at a scale we have never contemplated.”

Premium Times Books said in a statement on Monday that the unveiling ceremony of Cyber Politics: Social Media, Social Demography and Voting Behaviour in Nigeria, will take place at the main auditorium of the communications and digital economy complex of the NCC, located at Mbora District of Abuja, from 10:00a.m. to 1:00p.m. on 25 July.

Published by Premium Times Books, the book publishing arm of the Premium Times Group, the 460-page book, spread over 12 chapters, gives expression to a critical phase within the distinct trajectory of Nigerian democracy through its elections.

Nigeria’s 2015 presidential election is utilised as the sounding board from which analyses that offer great insights into the future of voting behaviour in the country are made in this new title, that is both skilful in its rendition and ground-cutting in its intellectual approach.

The public presentation of the book will be made formally by Umar Danbatta, a professor, and the executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), where Dr Ibietan works as head of media relations. Danbatta is also the writer of the foreword in the book.

In addition to the formal presentation of the book, there will also be a panel discussion to be moderated by Chido Onumah, a social rights activist and coordinator of the African Centre for Information and Media Literacy.

The author of the book, Dr Ibietan: Abiodun Adeniyi, a professor of mass communication and Deputy Dean, School of Post Graduate Studies at Baze University, Abuja; and a writer and newspaper columnist, Mojeed Dahiru, will take part in the panel session.

The panel session will focus on how politics played out and shaped the last two general elections in Nigeria. The possible implications of cyber politics in future elections will also be sprayed.

Among other prominent personalities who have commented on the book and the author is Prof. Danbatta. 

The NCC CEO, in his foreword to the book, noted that:

“the author situates the historical context of Nigerian politics and democracy” and more so “…the nexus between social media and voting behaviour, and the influence of the social media ecosystem among others in the electoral process.”

He described the book as a “compelling narrative, a scholar’s guide and companion on the various political communication themes it interprets. It is difficult to put down this work once you are drawn by its alluring and free-flowing prose and incisive analysis.”

The book has been available in the hard back and soft back versions in bookstores across the country since 12 June, 2023. The electronic copies of the book can also be purchased on online platforms, including Amazon.

Prominent Nigerians and stakeholders within the Nigerian politics cycle and cyber/digital ecosystem are billed to be at the public presentation of the book.

She’s the first woman to serve in that capacity and the first American after Gérard Gross (1958-1965).

She defeated Rashid Ismailov of the Russian Federation at the election which took place at the ongoing ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in the Republic of Romania’s capital city of Bucharest.

A release by the Union states that Bogdan-Martin got “139 out of the 172 votes cast” by member states. 

She will assume duty on January 1, 2023 and going by history, convention and tradition, Bogdan-Martin should serve till 2030.

Bogdan-Martin’s immediate predecessors are, African Hamadoun Toure of Mali (2007-2014), and the outgoing, Asian Houlin Zhao of China (2015 to 2022).

Capacitymedia.com reported that Bogdan-Martin “has been chief architect of ITU’s development work in recent years, emphasising the need for digital transformation to achieve economic prosperity, job creation, skills development, gender equality, and socio-economic inclusion, as well as to build circular economies, reduce climate impact, and save lives.”

The medium equally placed in contextual record President Joe Biden’s support for the candidature of Bogdan-Martin: “Ms Bogdan-Martin possesses the integrity, experience, and vision necessary to transform the digital landscape.” My sources also revealed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, among other US officials supported Bogdan-Martin, “believing that she will oppose moves to bring the Internet under control of national governments.”

After her victory, Bogdan-Martin was quoted to have said: “The world is facing significant challenges – escalating conflicts, a climate crisis, food security, gender inequalities, and 2.7 billion people with no access to the internet. I believe we, the ITU and our members, have an opportunity to make a transformational contribution. Continuous innovation can and will be a key enabler to facilitate resolution of many of these issues.”

By my reckoning, Bogdan-Martin’s vision fits perfectly in congruity into the Federal Government’s agenda for a robust digital culture sector.

President Buhari, in October 2019, approved the rechristening of Nigeria’s erstwhile Federal Ministry of Communications to Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

The following month, at the eNigeria Conference, the President unveiled the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030.

In March 2020, the President launched the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025. The Secretariat of NNBP, i.e. the National Broadband Plan Implementation Committee, (headed by NCC’s Executive Commissioner Technical Services, Engr. Ubale Maska), is at NCC.

The overarching objective of NDEPS is to provide the policy context/blueprint for Nigeria’s prosperity with robust digital culture as the pivot, while the NNBP is to accelerate increase and improvement in broadband infrastructure as a key structural enabler of the emergent digital paradigm for Nigeria’s socioeconomic development.

As the regulator of telecommunication in Nigeria, and a leading light of the communication and digital economy sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) prepared and launched in July 2020, a new Strategic Management Plan (SMP) 2020-2024 to align its operations in a granite fashion with the Federal Government’s vision for the ICT sector as well as the ITU Strategic Plan 2020-2023.

The Commission proceeded to streamline the extant policies, plans and strategies into a readily implementable component that aligns with its functions, powers and mandate within the framework of its enabling law, the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003. 

In the first phase of the streamlining, the Strategic Vision Plan 2015-2020, otherwise called The Eight-Point Agenda, the Commission achieved a leap in its contribution to national socioeconomic prosperity, including the multiplier effect of its operations in other commanding heights and strategic spheres of the economy including agriculture, finance, health, education and security. 

Just last year, NCC released a sequel to the SVP 2015-2020. The SVP II (2021-2025) which provides a roadmap for Commission’s vision for the telecom industry, also called the Five-Point Agenda is focused on:  

1. Organisational renewal for operational efficiency and regulatory excellence.2. Facilitation of the provision of infrastructure for a digital economy which fosters national development.3. Promotion of fair competition, inclusive growth, increased investment, and innovative services.4. Improving Quality of Service (QoS) for enhanced consumer Quality of Experience (QoE).5. Facilitation of strategic collaboration and partnership.

Today, the digital economy sector contributed an unprecedented 18.44 percent to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at the second quarter of 2022, going by the statistics released by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Nigeria has also achieved a broadband penetration of about 45 percent. 

It is, therefore, gratifying that the ITU has elected a revolutionary backed by liberal ideological groupings, to oversee the administration of a global body whose mandates resonate with human and national aspirations for a better universal digital service that is available, accessible and affordable. 

More gratifying is the fact that Nigeria has done remarkably well in this sphere and therefore in good moral standing to stand shoulder to shoulder with other global actors to harness the derivable benefits of the emergent digital culture for the prosperity of her citizens.

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NIPR

The Institute was established in 1963. The body attained the status of a Chartered Institute in June 1990 through Decree No. 16 (now an Act of the National Assembly) from which it derives the power and responsibility to register members, set parameters of knowledge to acquire to qualify to practise, regulate the practice and development of the PR Profession as well monitor professional conducts through an established Code of Ethics, amongst others.

As it is the practice with respectable professional organizations everywhere, the law stipulates standard academic and professional qualifications for admission into the Institute.

Mr. Reuben Muoka

To this end, Muoka, who was recently appointed the DPA at NCC, bagged the fellowship of NIPR.

Muoka was in 2021, appointed to head the Special Duties Department, which superintends the International Relations Unit; Emergency Communication Centres Unit; the Public Private Partnership Unit; and the Security Services Unit of the Commission.

He was promoted as Director of the Department before his current redeployment to lead the Public Affairs Department, the arm of the Commission mandated to manage the image and visibility of Nigeria’s telecom regulator and a leading light of the Nigerian public service.

Muoka is expected to bring his rich and versatile experience in both specialized and traditional journalism, public relations, integrated marketing communications (IMC), corporate communication and people management, to bear on the Commission’s vision to expand the frontiers of its public goodwill and the impact of its reputational assets.

A former Deputy Communications Editor of the Vanguard Newspapers, former Deputy General Manager at MTS First Wireless (Nigeria’s first mobile telephone operator), Muoka joined the NCC in 2007 as a Principal Manager, and was deployed to the Public Affairs Department where he headed the Media and Public Relations Unit.

He later rose from the rank of Principal Manager to the position of an Assistant Director in 2010, and by 2015, as a Deputy Director, appointed to head the re-engineered Public Relations Unit of PAD. In 2017, he was redeployed to the Policy, Competition and Economic Analysis Department to head the Economic Analysis unit of department.

Reuben Muoka earned M.Sc. degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos, specialising in Public Relations and Advertising, where he had earlier successfully completed a Postgraduate Diploma (PGD) in the same field of Mass Communication. Much earlier, he had obtained a bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts at the University of Ilorin.

As a mark of his distinctive journalism career, Reuben Muoka received a fellowship of the Egyptian Embassy in Nigeria to undertake a Pan-African training and tour of Egypt in 1999, leading to an award of a continental Diploma Certificate in Journalism at the instance of the Egyptian Ministry of Information, and the African Journalists Union (AJU) in Cairo, Egypt.

The focused, innovative and illuminating coverage and analysis of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the pre and immediate post liberalisation period of telecom industry in Nigeria is credited to the insights of visionary journalists like Muoka, whose pioneering initiative led to the establishment and institutionalisation of the Hi-Tech Desk in Vanguard Newspapers in late 1990s.

As the Chairman of the League of Communications Correspondents (LECCO), Muoka led his colleagues to give voice and focus to the advocacy for the liberalisation and deregulation of the telecom industry in Nigeria in the 1990s. 

During his active days in journalism at Vanguard Newspapers, Muoka served concurrently as Africa’s contributing editor to the London-based CommunicationsWeek for four years beginning from 1998, during which he undertook copious reportage of the African telecom landscape.

The London-based magazine shared Muoka’s work to an enthusiastic global audience in a rare showcase of Africa’s promise as a flourishing point for the emergent converging telecommunications industry.

Between 1995 and 2001, Muoka leveraged his expertise to provide part-time public relations consultancy to notable companies and institutions in the telecommunications industry, including the Nigerian Mobile Communications Limited, Abuja; Multi-links Telecommunications Limited, Lagos; Satellite Telecommunications Limited, Lagos; Pulse Marketing Communications Ltd, Lagos; and the Nigerian Communications Commission, Abuja, years before he joined the Commission as a staff.

Reuben Ejike Muoka is a member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ); a full member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (mnipr); and an associate member of the Registered Practitioners of Advertising (arpa), regulated by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).

On behalf of the Board and Management of the Commission, I heartily congratulate Reuben on his new role and look forward to working closely with him and his team in Public Affairs Department, as key internal stakeholders in the Commission’s re-engineering processes to meet and surpass Federal Government’s expectations for a robust telecommunications sector and a remarkably emergent digital economy.

Omoniyi Ibietan, PhD

Ibietan is a certified regulation specialist, multi-stakeholder relationship and communication management professional, and social entrepreneur.

He was the Senior Manager Media Management and earlier, he served the Commission as Senior Manager Legislative Relations at the Commission. In that capacity, he was a frontline relationship manager of the Commission with the National Assembly (Nigeria’s Federal Bicameral Parliament). Omoniyi was also Manager, Media and PR at the Commission in 2011.

Before he joined the NCC, in the summer of 2007, Omoniyi signed on with the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited, set up its Corporate Communications Department and later managed its Media Strategy and External Relations responsibilities.

Between February 2006 and May 2007, he served as Special Assistant (Media) to Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Information and National Orientation (later Information and Communication).

Omoniyi also worked with Freedom House (Nigeria Project, first in sub-Saharan Africa) as Regional Media Researcher in charge of Niger Delta region, during which period he was also commissioned to conduct baseline studies of civil society groups in the Niger Delta as a preface to the Youth Leaders Training Workshop on Non Violent Transformation of Conflict, organized by the Costa Rica-Based United Nations-mandated University for Peace.

The workshop held in Port Harcourt and he also served as a rapporteur at the workshop. Very early in his carrer, he worked as Staff Consultant with Set and Sell Communications Limited, publishers of Waterlink, the official journal of the Nigerian Water Supply Association. Equally, he was for a long time a volunteer staff of ECO-OUTREACH, a non-governmental environmental rights advocacy group in the Niger Delta where he served as Programmes Officer.

He’s an advocate of popular, representative & participatory democracy.