Kankarofi Bags BUMCAA Advertising Award, Urged BUK Alumni to Support Alma Mater
The former Registrar, Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), Alhaji Garba Bello-Kankarofi has urged Bayero University, Kano (BUK) Alumni Association to intensify efforts in assisting members and their alma mater.
Kankarofi who is also an alumnus of the university, Mass Communications class made the call as the Guest Speaker at a lecture on the “Importance of Alumni Association and its Relevance”.
The lecture was organised by the BUK Mass Communications Alumni Association (BUMCAA) of the school, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the department.
The advertising guru who also bagged BUMCAA award of excellence in advertising at the event said that alumni associations, as crucial bedrock of institutions of learning, must maintain stable and friendly relationships with the institutions while safeguarding the welfare of members.
“Alumni relation is not just a bed of roses. There are so many examples of abuses of alumni relations such as turning alumni yto an alternative government or opposition against the university administration; breasch of trust and financial abuses and building a cartel for nepotism and corruption.
He used the opportunity in calling on the BUK Mass Communication alumni association to explore the potential of strengthening participation and raising awareness for the engagement of qualified members as academic and non-academic personnel of the institution.
“Being that alumni relation is an essential tool needed for the improvement of both her members and the institution, maximum efforts supportive of its causes should be taken as an important element for general growth and productivity.
“Public Relations for better understanding resides in our hands as communication professionals bred by one of the leading institutions for journalism and mass communication in West Africa. Let our works serve as a guide to others.
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“Having been groomed as communication specialists, the Mass Communications alumni should be able to constructively exploit the opportunities which the emerging media has availed our profession.
“The diversification of the media, the profession and the business has changed the trajectory and sequence known to the industry four de3cade ago. We must therefore endeavour to excel in any prefered segment where our professional aptitude is demanded, it may be in social media, print media, broadcast media and blogs among others.
The Head of Mass Communications Department, Dr Mainasara Yakubu-Kurfi, said that the department was created in 1978, with 31 students and four academic staff.
He said that the department is now a faculty that has a new FM radio station, tagged “BUK-FM 98.9”, which is serving as a platform for training broadcast students.
Yakubu-Kurfi added that the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has also approved a licence for the establishment of a television station in the institution.
He noted that besides B.Sc Mass Communications undergraduate programme, the department offers professional and academic post-graduate programmes, including PhD as it would soon commence a programme in eight departments.
“With a view to encouraging specialization as what is obtained in the global trend, the B.Sc. Mass Communication will gradually be unbundled into eight different Departments: B.Sc. Journalism and Media Studies; B.Sc. Public Relations; B.Sc. Advertising; B.Sc. Broadcasting; B.Sc. Film and Multimedia Studies; B.Sc. Development Communication Studies; B.Sc. Information and Media Studies; and, B.Sc. Strategic Communication,” he said.
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By PRNigeria
