Making ‘One World, One Network’ as Port Harcourt strategises for ICA 2022 conference

…Election coverage, social justice and artivism, climate issues as sub-themes

By Editor

INTERNATIONAL Communication Association (ICA) WILL has hold its 72nd Annual Conference from May 26 through 30, 2022 in the French capital, Paris. Port Harcourt, Nigeria, is hosting the only Regional Hub in West Africa, with the University of Port Harcourt, as West Africa’s regional hub headquarters. Already, lead organiser of the hub, Ekaete George and her team are working hard to make the hub’s participation a success. Port Harcourt Regional Hub will combine activities of the main conference in Paris with local ones peculiar to the hub’s environment to give attendees great experience.

The ICA Hub event, which will take off in a hybrid format, will begin with a guest panel session titled ‘Media Coverage of Nigerian Elections: Recurring Themes from 2015 and 2019 Presidential Elections with the 2023 Campaign in View.’ The guest session will have as speakers scholars such as Charles C. Okigbo (PhD) of North Dakota State University, U.S.; Bala Musa (PhD) of Azusa Pacific University; Muhammad Musa (PhD) of UAE University, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Gregory Ugbo (PhD of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State. Also on the panel will be communications and media professionals like the Resident Electoral Commissioner, INEC Rivers State. Obo Effanga, the CEO of Infographics Nigeria, Chinenye Mba- Uzoukwu, broadcast journalist, Chioma Ezenwafor, and the Manager of Today FM, Port Harcourt, Anni Abdulsalaam.
Special guests at the event will be global communications scholar and ICA President, Mary Beth Oliver, Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Owunari Georgewill, and Dean, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Walter Ihejirika.
Then on Friday, May 27, 2022, participants will be joining delegates in Paris and across the world to panel sessions on the conference schedule, including two sessions from the Port Harcourt Regional Hub. The Port Harcourt sessions to be viewed by the global conference audience are ‘Communicating Social Justice and Artivism in Nigeria: The Nexus between theory and practice’ and ‘One World, One Network‽: Celebrating and/or Problematizing Situated Differences of Feminist Issues.’
Port Harcourt Regional Hub will also be joining virtual sessions on Saturday and Sunday, May 28 and 29, 2022. Two panel sessions from the hub to be featured on those days are ‘Emerging issues on mass media and global security’ and’ Despoliation, Power & Redress: Issues in Communicating the Environment’ respectively.
As a semi-social event on the sidelines of the ICA conference regional hub programme, Port Harcourt Hub will host three evenings (May 27-29, 2022 – 4-6pm) of cultural fiesta tagged ‘Communicating Culture.’ This hybrid cultural event will weave communication and culture into an engaging but relaxed atmosphere in the vibrant cultural Garden City of Port Harcourt.
Attendees of the Port Harcourt Regional Hub are excited to be part of a global experience locally.
Commenting on activities of Port Harcourt Regional Hub, the organiser, George said, “I hope that the efforts put into the organization of the ICA conference Regional Hub translates to a delightful experience for attendees of the Port Harcourt Hub. I am proud of the work that I and my team, all of us volunteers, have done. We are building a community of interdisciplinary communication lovers that I have high hopes for. The commitment, the enthusiasm, the passion, and most of all, the quality of scholars and professionals that make up this newly minted ICA community in Nigeria is stunning. I can tell you that ICA is already seeing us but hasn’t seen anything yet!
“So, we look forward to having an intellectual, cultural, and social good time at the Port Harcourt Regional Hub. I am excited about the programmes on our schedule on many different levels. The poet and culture producer in me is chumped about the cultural evenings; the scholar in me is giddy about the papers and panel sessions, and the organiser and lover of community in me is eager to meet people and talk with them. So, it is a full package. And we invite everyone to come join us.”