TITLE (PROF/DR/): DR.

NAME: Unwana Samuel Akpan

POSITION: Lecturer I            

SPECIALISATION: Broadcast Journalism, Sport Communication, African Indigenous Communication and Media Systems, Diaspora Communication.

EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with Bachelor’s degree or other initial professional education, such as nursing, include postdoctoral training and residency training if applicable. Add/delete rows as necessary.)

Personal Statement

I am a multidisciplinary media scholar-practitioner with over two decades of broadcast experience. I am also a multidisciplinary communication and media scholar whose research approach involves investigating themes and concepts from multiple disciplines, especially in the area of sports communication, with special interest in football in the African continent, as well as broadcast journalism, communication and culture to redefine problems outside of the normal boundaries of core communication and media as a discipline, in order to reach solutions based on a new understanding of complex situations. I have been a Visiting Scholar at the Department of Communication, Culture and Media Studies (CCMS), where I completed my Postdoctoral Studies in the School of Communication and Media Studies, Howard University, Washington DC, USA. I currently serve as the Editor of The Communication Review, the official academic journal of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos. I started my career with The Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, and was deployed to The National Broadcast Academy, its training arm, after obtaining my PhD in Mass Communication. I am presently a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria. I have publications in the form of book chapters and research articles in prominent national and international journals. I have presented several research papers at international conferences, and have published journal articles, book chapters and books in both prominent local and international journals and publishers such as Lexington, Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature), Routledge (Taylor and Francis), Peter Lang. My classes are where research, teaching and learning interface, and I am dedicated to making students succeed in the classroom and beyond. My research and teaching investigates and explores Sports Communication, with special interest in football in the African continent, Broadcast Journalism, African Indigenous Communication and Media Systems, Communicativeness of Afro Hip Hop Music, Diaspora Communication Studies, Media Aesthetic.

Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honours

• Editorial board member, Howard Journal of Communication (The journal of the Cathy Hughes School of Communications and Media Studies, Howard University, Washington DC, USA). 2024 till date.
• Editor, University of Lagos Communication Review (The departmental journal of Mass Communication, University of Lagos), 2023 till date.
• Editorial Board Chairman, The Southern Examiner Newspaper, Washington DC, USA. 2019 till date.
• External Examiner for the Department of Communication and Language Arts, University of Ibadan (Undergraduates). 2025 till date.

Selected Most Recent Publications/Contributions to Knowledge 

1. Akpan, U. S, Onwumechili, C, Adisa, A. B and Ogwezzy-Ndisika, A. (2025). African Language Media and BBC Yoruba Service Sports Headlines: Influence on Audience Engagement Online. In U.S Akpan and E. M. Mutua (Eds.) Indigenous African Communication and Media Systems in a Digitized Age. Maryland: Lexington (Pp. 81-105). https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666965308/Indigenous-African-Communication-and-Media-Systems-in-a-Digitized-Age (This article demonstrates how the audience is tilting toward the BBC Yoruba sport headlines because of the dramatization involved)
2. Nwamuo, A. N and Akpan U. S. (2025). Use of digital media in communication and media studies programmes in select Nigerian universities-A study of lecturers in Southeast, Nigeria. Communication Review. 9(2). (This study shows the importance of incorporating digital media into communication studies).

3. Akpan, U.S. (2025). Theorizing Nsibidi as Confraternized Communication. In: K. Langmia. (Ed.) Black Communication Theory Volume 2. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10. (This article exposes the fact that local content can be theorized).

1. Onwumechili, Chuka, & Akpan, U.S. (2024). African Cultural Case: Reexamining Apologia in Communication Theory. International Journal of Sport Communication. (aop), 1-9.https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2024-0105. ((This article exposes the fact that local content can be theorized).
2. Akpan, U. S. (2024). Exploring and navigating the chasm: The incompatibility of Western gatekeeping theory with Akwa-Cross Akata indigenous media. Howard Journal of Communications, 35(3), 311–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2023.2264227. (This research article challenges the incompatibility and the blanket application of the Western theories on our local experiences).

Collaborators/ Networks (International inclusive)

1. Prof. Jennifer Thomas, Howard University, Washington DC, USA.
2. Prof. Wei Sun, Howard University, Washington DC, USA.
3. Prof. Thomas Horky, Macromedia University for Media and Communication) in Hamburg. Germany.
4. Prof. Fatma Elzahraa Elsayed, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
5. Prof. Chuka Onwumechil, Howard University, Washington DC, USA