Estimated reading time: 12 minute(s)
…says It’s better late than never
An 80-year-old journalism guru, Chief Dayo Duyile, has emerged the University of Lagos 3rd oldest Ph.D. holder.
Duyile, who hails from Ondo town, Ondo State, has successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on ” A Historiography of Emergence of Development of Early Newspapers in Nigeria”
He will be among post-graduate students who would graduate from the over six decades tertiary institution.
The university had in two of its previous graduation ceremonies produced two Septuagenarians as Ph.D. holders.
Felicia Marinze, 71, in 2021 emerged the university’s oldest graduating Ph.D. student. She bagged Ph.D. in French from the Department of Languages and International Studies.
The second oldest student to bag the Ph.D. in the over 60 years old institution is 70-year-old Pa George Anacious Asuelinmen. He achieved the feat last year.
During an interview, the former director of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, NIJ, Ogba and currently a senior lecturer at ELIZADE University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, expressed gratitude to God for seeing him through the programme.
“I have been anxious about embarking on the programme, but the opportunity did not come until recently.
He speaks further:”what you described as a feat is not my own glory, but that of God, the creator of heaven and earth who also makes thing happen. He alone made it possible for me to start and complete the Ph.D. programme.
“For me, the successful completion of the programme was a dream comes true. I have always longed for the programme, but for one reason or the other, I could not embark on it until lately and I thank God for this. It is better late than never”.
Duyile, who said he covered the foundation laying of UNILAG as a reporter with the defunct Daily Times, added that the university had always been his choice.
“Aside witnessing the foundation laying ceremony of UNILAG as a Daily Times reporter, I also witnessed the appointment of a council led by Prof. N. Njoku, who also later became the institution’s chancellor.
” I also began my mass communication diploma programme with the university in 1972. I returned there a year after for a degree programme. Thereafter, when I was a lecturer in NIJ, I also went for a master’s degree programme”.
Duyile who reminiscences on the programme said he attended classes for the programme from Ondo.
“It may surprise you to know that I ran the Ph.D. programme from Ondo, leaving home as early as 4.30am on lecture days”.
“I used to leave Ondo town as early as 4.30am and arrived at the Akoka Campus around 9.00am, about an hour before lectures start. I thank God for journey mercies”.
Responding to the notion that he’s too old to make any meaningful academic impact with his new status, he said: “I disagree with you. There is no age limit to learning, just as there is no end to education. So also, there is no time that one could not impact knowledge on others.
On what he intends to achieve with the Ph D, Duyile, who arguably remains the current oldest Ph.D. in the country said: “I intend helping the society with it”
“As a lecturer at the ELIZADE University and as a consultant, author and publisher, I will use the doctoral degree to aid my research efforts on journalism, communication and societal issues. I did not pursue the programme in order to sit at home. I intend to use it to work until I die”.
Duyile, charged practising journalists to embrace the new media, which he described as a phenomenon that will continue to aid the journalism practices.
“Unlike in the past, the newsroom is now a mobile phenomenon. Thanks to the new media, reporters do not have to necessarily mark attendance in the newsroom as they used to do in those days. You can now file your reports for vetting to your editors at a far distance at your convenience”.
“The journalists of today need new skills, new arrangements, new knowledge and new approach. The young journalist of today must move with time. If he or she wants to remain in the profession, they must take active interest in attending training workshops, seminars, conferences and other training opportunities that would expose them the more to modern trends”
“As journalists, we must continue to learn new things and ideas until death comes around. The more you learn new things, the better for your brain as it expands your horizon and longevity. As for me, I have chosen to learn and read until I die”, he concluded.
Estimated reading time: 1 minute(s)
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