The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University Kashere, Gombe State, Professor Umaru Pate, has been re-elected as the President of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria (ACSPN).
The journalism guru, WikkiTimes learnt, was re-elected as the association’s president on Thursday, at its 9th conference and annual general meeting in Abuja.
Attended by more than 200 members from Nigeria and other African countries, the 2022 AGM was themed: ‘Communication, Media and Power Relations in Multi-Cultural Society.’
READ: Prof Pate, 33 Others Make History, To Be Inducted Into NAL
The election of new executives of the association established in 2012 was scheduled to hold during the AGM, but the members later unanimously agreed with the progress made under the leadership of its president and obliged him to continue.
The erudite mass communication scholar, Professor Pate was first elected president of the association in November 2020.
Who is Professor Pate?
The erudite, who started his teaching career as a graduate assistant in 1988 at Bayero University, Kano (BUK), would rise to the position of Associate Professor in 2002 and full-fledged professor in 2007 at the same institution. Now heading to FUK in Gombe, below are the things you should know about the erudite:
He was born on January 4, 1964 at the District Head’s Palace, Song Local Government, Adamawa State.
In 1971, Umaru Pate was enrolled into the Nassarawo Jereng LEA Primary School in the old Adamawa Division from where he completed in 1976 and proceeded to Government College Maiduguri.
In 1982, Pate joined the College of Preliminary Studies, Yola, for the IJMB course that qualified him for Direct Entry admission into the University of Maiduguri in 1984.
Upon graduation with a Degree in Mass Communication in 1987, he was retained in the University on the recommendation of the Head of Department for the mandatory NYSC service year.
Pate holds a PhD, Master of Philosophy and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Mass Communication obtained in 1997, 1990 and 1987, respectively.
Professor Pate took appointment as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Maiduguri in October 1988 and immediately left for the University of Ghana, Legon, on fellowship for a Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) Degree in Communication Studies and completed in 1990. In 1993, he enrolled for a PhD Degree at the University of Maiduguri and graduated in February 1997.
He rose on the academic ladder to become a Professor of Media and Society in October 2007.
At different times during his pre-degree and degree study period, he worked as a part-time reporter, newscaster/reader and presenter at the FRCN Kaduna and NTA Yola.
Professor Pate was appointed by UNESCO headquarters in Paris as a Director representing Africa on the six persons Board of Directors of the prestigious International Network of UNESCO Professors in Communication (ORBICOM) with headquarters at the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada in November 2017.
He has served the UN system in Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Cameroons. Pate has featured and contributed regularly to national and international media mostly focussing on current affairs. He was also on some committees of the federal and some state governments at different times.
Professor Pate is a senior councillor and ranking Kingmaker in the Adamawa Emirate Council where he is the Kaigamma (Chief of Army Staff).
He chairs the Board of Directors of Pulaaku FM Radio in Yola and serves on several other boards.
Professor Pate has over sixty-six national and international publications comprising of journal articles, book chapters, monographs and books published in different parts of the world.
He is a recipient of numerous academic awards and recognitions from many institutions and organizations.
