The Mass Communication Department Alumni Association (Jacksonites) of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) have unveiled plans to commence the construction of an expansive legacy centre at the school’s main campus in Nsukka.
The facility, estimated to cost $150 million, would house the Jackson building, which is the department’s complex, a 20-storey Senate building, an Executive Education edifice and a 1,000-seat state-of-the-art lecture theatre. The project is part of the alumni’s effort to lift the university into global reckoning.
The project was unveiled on Saturday at a meeting in Victoria Island, Lagos State, where the body hosted the News Editor of The Guardian, Mr. Marcel Mbamalu, as part of activities to mark his birthday.
The event attracted scholars, media executives and professionals from all walks of life.
President of the association and founder of Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL), Prof. Pat Utomi, disclosed that the structure would be an iconic infrastructural statement that will define the university as it moves to become a world-class institution. He commended the versatility of the journalist.
Responding, Mbamalu said: “I thank everyone, especially Prof. Utomi who has for a very long time been a mentor to me. He was my mentor without knowing it until we eventually met and the relationship has been sustained till date.
He described journalism as “a job only the passionate can do” and decried the emergence of fake news and corruption in journalism practice. He, however, expressed confidence in the potential of good journalism to turn the country around and keep it on the path of development described Mbamalu as “a lover of human development.” , who according to him, continues to inspire and mentor younger through his works, acts and deeds. – Guardian.
