LASU loses Communications Prof, Lai Oso

Prof Lai Oso of the Faculty of Communications and Media Studies at the Lagos State University (LASU) is dead.

The don died in a tragic motor accident along the Benin-Sagamu Expressway on Saturday, June 25, 2023 while returning from Delta State University (DELSU) where he served as external examiner at the University till the day before.

He was 67.

In a statement on Sunday, the Association of Communication Scholars & Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN) described Oso’s passing as a monumental loss to the Nigerian and global Mass Communication and Journalism community.

The President of the Association, Prof. Umaru Pate, who is also the Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State, said, “Professor Oso held the firm conviction that the meeting of the gown and town would benefit the mass communication and media fields for the maximum impact of both professions on democracy and development. He pursued this conviction relentlessly and his death is a collective loss.”

The General Secretary of ACSPN, and Vice Chancellor of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie, said, “Under his tenure the Association began the process by producing in collaboration with UNESCO and other stakeholders, the first draft of what has now been launched as the Unbundled Mass Communication curriculum, following a curriculum development workshop for communication and journalism courses in November 2015.”

“He was a scholar who helped to make scholars out of others through knowledge building, scholarly articles and book publications, and it was also under him that ACSPN commenced many niche programmes, including its mentorship series, and organised town-meet-gown training and knowledge sharing events across the country”, Owens-Ibie further stated.

Oso taught Media and Communications at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta; Caleb University, Imota, Lagos; and the Lagos State University, Ojoo.