Alofe Faith Opeyemi of the department of English and Literary Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) has been elected the 50th and first female President of the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ) of the institution.
She was elected along with other executive members on September 25, 2021.
Other Executive council members:
Vice President ( Administration ) – Oyeleye Victoria, Chairman Guild of Editors – Ajibade Abdullah Adewale, General Secretary – Agunbiade Kehinde John, Public Relations Officer – Adekunle Solomon Famuyiwa , Financial Secretary – Latinwo Gbolahan and Assistant General Secretary – Olufajo Iseoluwa.
Opeyemi shared with MCDN her journalism career and programmes she plans to implement in the article below:
JOURNALISM CAREER: A JOURNEY STILL IN THE PROCESS.
My Journalism career started quite early. As a young girl of 15 years in secondary school, the desire to always read news on the Friday assembly was something I always looked forward to. Down to my last class in high school when we were to fill in our intended course of study during JAMB registration, I filled in Law as my course of study but as God will have it, I found myself in the department of English and Literary Studies to study Literature in English.
The passion for journalism has always been in me and I met the best set of Individuals; Oludiran Cyrus who was the serving President at the time, Adejumo Kabir, Alfred Olufemi, Omotosho Omowunmi, Kehinde Babajide, Uthman Samad amongst a host of other amazing individuals who were at the helm of affairs of the Association of Campus Journalists (ACJ), OAU and their passion for journalism is what motivated me to also take the bull by the horn and make something out of here.
In a report by Lekan Otofodurin tilted Salute to ‘Ife School of Journalism’. He said, “The former University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State does not have a department of Mass Communication or offer any course in Journalism but it has a vibrant Journalism community that has provided a training ground for interested students in a journalism career.” This is nothing far from the truth. Many of the things I have learnt in journalism, opportunities and things I consider as my little wins were achieved from my being an active member of ACJ OAU.
2020 – the COVID year, was when I landed my first news reporting gig outside campus reporting. UDEME, an accountability project under PREMIUM TIMES CENTRE FOR INVESTIGATION JOURNALISM. I remember clearly that the first report I submitted that first month was met with a lot of critique from the Editor, Mr. Nicholas Ibekwe. However, I saw that as a need to perfect my writing skills which has greatly improved and I must say that I am still learning.
I was appointed as the Vice President (Special Duties) for the former administration at the ICONS news agency where I primarily worked as a campus reporter and it wasn’t an easy journey but we were able to achieve great feats to move the association forward. The Student Union which had been suspended for four years was reinstated and we were saddled with the responsibility of handling the debate session and monitoring the elections which went smoothly.
All my experiences served as a motivation for me to contest for the post of the President of ACJ OAU. I saw the need to also impact the new crop of campus reporters that joined and will join the association. It was also my desire to take campus journalism to a place of high esteem and preference within and outside the University environment.
The office of the President comes with a lot of responsibilities as you are seen as the final decision maker of the association. It is therefore important to make decisions that will not affect the tenets, laid down rules and precedence that has been followed over the years. The aim of the association is to train campus reporters on the principles of true journalism and what is expected of them outside the purview of campus reporting.
For this administration, plans have been drawn out to accommodate every campus reporter and disciplined students who will like to join the association. We plan to organize trainings for our campus reporters through partnerships with mainstream media outfits and we are grateful to Premium Times, The Cable, The Nations, Dataphyte, Oduduwa News amongst a host of others who have always reached out to us to give opportunities to our members to learn.
In addition, there is a plan to take our reporters on a media tour to media outlets (broadcast and prints inclusive) for them to see how these platforms operate which will help them carve a niche in whichever aspects they deem fit.
Recently, the last administration launched a platform tagged “SEE SOMETHING SAY SOMETHING”. This was created with the aim of investigating and reporting everything that concerns the welfare of the students. This current administration is therefore building on the already laid precedent and we have the responsibility of publicizing the report portal so that students can make use of the portal when they are faced with challenges. This Administration is set to unveil projects which are all tailored to help train our campus reporters for the life after campus journalism and systems will be put in place to ensure its success.