UNILAG Lecturer, Dr. Suraj Elevated As Global Co-Lead UNESCO MILID University Network
Posted by Ahmed Iyanda | 5 months ago | 654 times
Dr Olunifesi Suraj, an Associate Professor in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos and UNESCO Consultant on Media and Information Literacy, has been elevated along with two other professors, Jose Manuel of the University of Autonoma Barcelona (UAB), Spain and Esther, of the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil to take over the leadership of UNESCO Global Universities Network on Media and Information Literacy (MILID).
According to the UNESCO MILID network, the newly elevated professionals will now lead the UNESCO Global Network for the next two years (2023-2025).
MILID is a UNESCO initiated network of Universities around the world that focus on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) research, policy and advocacy as a means of checking the menace of information disorders in the form of fake news, disinformation, misinformation and hate speech.
The UNESCO University Network is committed to fighting fake news through collaborative research usually culminating in a global MIL week.
The Global MIL week is an annual event to commemorate all the global MIL activities and it is usually hosted by different countries yearly.
The MIL Global Week in 2022 was hosted by the Nigerian Government in Abuja. The event convened universities, MIL practitioners, civil organizations, and government officials to discuss research findings on Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in combating fake news. However, the global MIL Week scheduled for the following year, 2023, to be hosted by Jordan, could not take place due to the ongoing unrest in the Middle East stemming from the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Dr Olunifesi Suraj was a member of the central working committee that successfully hosted the event in Nigeria and was instrumental to the country’s intention to establish an MIL Institute.
He is also a member of the UN/UNESCO global experts in addressing hate speech through education.
