Professor Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika
She holds a B.A. in Linguistics, University of Port-Harcourt; PGD, MSc in Mass Communication, University of Lagos, M.A. in Gender and Development, University of Sussex, England; and PhD in Communication Arts, University of Ibadan. Professor Ogwezzy-Ndisika started her career as an academic in the Department of Mass communication, University of Lagos on March 22, 2001 as a Lecturer II and rose to the rank of a Professor, on August 11, 2016. She is currently the substantive Head of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, after two acting appointments; and the Department’s first female professor.
She has industry experience in television broadcasting, public relations and advertising; and engages in professional activities seamlessly. Specifically, on marketing communication, she has been involved in various activities and programmes. She was part of the team that facilitated APCON accreditation of the Department of Mass Communication Department, University of Lagos in July 2014; and acted either as a resource person, jury or chair of a panel of Judges for advertising related, media and communication activities.
She was a member, Panel of Judges “Advertising Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) Awards For Marketing Excellence West Africa” 2017, 2018, and 2019; Chair, Panel of Judges “The 10th OAAN Poster Awards” Sponsored by Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) in 2016; member Panel of Judges “The 9th OAAN Poster Awards” Sponsored by Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) in 2015; and resource person, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) training workshop on “Public/Corporate Communication Management” in 2016. Furthermore, she was a member, Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting Award (WSIRA), 2008, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 2018 and 2019 editions; panellist, African Media Barometer-Nigeria 2011; reviewer of several technical documents; chair, keynote/guest speaker, discussant and panellists at various fora; and producer of several development documentaries. Recently, she was a panellist at ‘BBC World Questions’, and here is the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz0tg
Apart from teaching various advertising and public relations courses at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels over the years; under her leadership as acting and substantive Head of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, the Department prepared students who emerged as the first prize winners of the Future Creative Leaders Academy (FCLA) competition and had all-expense-paid trips to Cannes, courtesy of APCON, to participate in the Roger Hatchuel Academy; and the 2018 winner of the Roger Hatchuel Academy, who spent a week in California in the second half of the year under a new Google global education programme, called Google Campus in partnership with Cannes Lions.
Furthermore, the students of the Department over the years have been participating in ADVAN Future Leaders of Marketing Award competition, which seeks to groom potential leaders of marketing from our nation’s tertiary institutions and connect them with leaders and professionals in the nation’s marketing industry. She is part of the Departmental teams that have been preparing the students for ADVAN Future Leaders of Marketing Award since 2008 when the Award began; and the students won awards as the first and second runners up as various times.
While working as a corporate communication officer in a leading financial institution, she was part of the team responsible for the Bank’s corporate communication activities with its publics (media, customers, employees, investors, advertising agency and government). She was in charge of corporate advertising, photography, collation of materials for annual reports & accounts; identifying and advising the Bank on community development projects (Sponsorship and donations); development & production of brochures, leaflets, etc; preparing articles, press releases, news reviews and analyses, speeches for the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer; arranging, co-ordinating and preparing presentations during conferences meetings and seminars; arranging press interviews and liaising with the media on sundry issues; and events management.
In addition, she was a news reporter/editor attaché at Katsina State Television from October 1991-August 1992, where she was a news reporter; and also produced development documentaries among, which are documentaries on irrigation in Katsina State, civil society in politics and embracing EPI (now NPI)/ORT.
Also, she is currently part of a global team working on a research powered by C&F Porter Novelli, Lagos, Nigeria; ORBICOM-UNESCO, Montreal, Canada; and North Dakota State University, Fargo, USA on “Advertising, Media, and Public Relations in the 2019 Nigerian Presidential Election Campaign”, which is sub-divided into print, radio, TV, social media, advertising and public relations; and she is the team lead for the advertising group, meaning that she provides intellectual leadership for the study. The researchers for this project are drawn from 12 Nigerian Universities, four Nigerian regulatory bodies and three American universities.
Again, since 2003, she has been a course facilitator and business development partner for a management consulting firm that offers Learning Solutions, Strategy and Advisory consulting, Risk and Talent Management consulting; and over the years, she has developed competences in business communication, project management, learning methodologies, leadership and management, and marketing communication.
On strategy development, she has about two decades hands-on experience on strategy development and review, having championed the development of various professional, national and regional strategy documents.
Furthermore, she has brought various local and international honours and linkages to the University. She was a visiting scholar under the Erasmus+ staff mobility teaching programme at Birmingham City University (BCU), United Kingdom in April 2018; a recipient of ELF Petroleum Coy Ltd and British Chevening scholarship; laureate of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA); laureate of the African Association of Political Science, (AAPS)/Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation (HFGF); laureate of Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Washington, DC; and 1991 best graduating student in Department of Linguistics, University of Port Harcourt. She also won grants to attend Women Deliver 3rd Global Conference, at Kuala Lumpur in 2013; Women Deliver 2nd Global Conference at Washington, DC in 2010; and International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM), to attend a conference on “The Search for Solutions: Achievements & Challenges” on forced migration at Pontifical Catholic University, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2005. She also won the Future Creative Leaders Academy (FCLA) Best Teacher of the year in 2018, a competition, sponsored by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).
She championed the application for Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility, funded by European Union in collaboration with Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham City University, Birmingham, United Kingdom, which was successful. Thus, she was among the five visiting scholars under the Erasmus+ staff mobility teaching programme at Birmingham City University (BCU), United Kingdom in April 2018. In addition, under her leadership, the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos (Unilag), Nigeria, did not only retain the full National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation in 2014, but had 37 students added to the annual admission quota; and made progress with the proposal for the alignment of its courses to reflect the changing trends in the world. Similarly, she was the team lead for the Departments’ 2019 NUC accreditation exercise. Also, based on the Erasmus Grant that she won – five lectures went on one week teaching exchange programme; while two Graduate Assistants (GAs) went on student exchange programme to the United Kingdom for three months in 2018. Similarly, she was the arrowhead behind the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) training of three Mass Communication Doctoral students (out of which two are Assistant Lecturers) under the ‘Cross Check Nigeria Project’, initiative of First Draft, a United Kingdom, UK, verification training programme that enabled them to learn skills on handling the new technology towards combating fake news and misinformation.
Again, under her leadership, the external relations activities of the Department of Mass Communication continues to expand, especially in the aspect of industry partnerships as the Department relates with the following bodies: Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON); Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR);Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN); Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN); Roger Hatchel Academy; Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Nigerian Press Council (NPC);Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE); Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ); United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); United Nations Information Center (UNIC); Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN); and US Embassy (Public Affairs Section) among others. In a related development, she facilitated the collaboration between Unilag and The University of The Gambia (UTG) School of Journalism and Digital Media (SJDM) 10-week student exchange programme for the first cohort, which comprised of classroom/hands-on training and examination in the courses offered; and internship programme; and worked with the Centre of Excellence (CoEx) to actualise the collaboration of the Department of Mass Communication with the following- Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa (BMIA); Africa Check; Sahara Reporters; and Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Washington DC.
Her researches are on the gender and communication dimensions to development, particularly, media representation of women in politics and advertisements; and the activities of women in achieving environmental sustainability and better health for all. She has published articles and books locally and internationally, totalling 66 (50 academic publications [19 international spreading across America, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Australia, Russia, and Norway; and 31 national]; 16 non-academic publications [one {1} book and 15 technical papers]). The findings of her researches find expression in her community service activities, which focus on inclusivity and reducing gender imbalance in development. Also, she has mentored 416 students (supervised 276 projects; 133 postgraduate diploma projects/masters dissertations; and co-supervised six [7] doctoral theses).
In addition, she is a member of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (MNIPR); Associate Registered Practitioner of Advertising (arpa); member, Network on Behavioural Research for Child Survival in Nigeria (NETBRECSIN); member, Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN); African Council for Communication Education (ACCE); Association of Women in Development (AWID); Association for Promoting Nigerian Languages and Culture (APNILAC); and International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR).
Also, she has presented several keynotes on gender; delivered many empowerment lectures to girls, women and youths in different fora (churches, schools and during special events); and written so many editorials on gender and social issues being a member of the editorial board of the defunct Compass newspaper and currently The Guardian, a leading national newspaper in Nigeria. Her membership of the editorial Board of newspapers has afforded her the opportunity to advocate for gender equality and women empowerment among other social issues. Again, she is a member of the Editorial Boards of Journals of Media and Communication Studies; and an external examiner at the undergraduate and post graduate levels to various universities.
Apart from being a keynote speaker at different fora, she has attended various local and international conferences; and she has research collaborators within and outside Unilag. She has published articles and books locally and internationally.
She is pro-active and result oriented; and she is a professional and confident communicator, who understands the different communication styles required when working with different groups. Above and beyond her experience and capabilities, she has been commended for her high level of interpersonal skills and her naturally engaging personality. Also, she has taken up consultancies that gave her the opportunity to work in multicultural environments, as such she can easily work in any cultural environment.
In all her activities, Professor Ogwezzy-Ndisika has brought distinction to Unilag through her teaching, research and community service activities. In addition, she continues to add value to the discipline of Mass Communication locally and internationally as can be seen from the above.
So, her verifiable records of superior performances in various spheres, plus her rich blend of academic trainings and experiences, place her in a good stead to serve on the Council of Superbrands Nigeria.
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