The President of MacArthur Foundation, John Palfrey, on Tuesday visited Kano State where he commissioned a multi-million dollar TV station at the new campus of the Bayero University, Kano (BUK).
Palfrey, who expressed delight over the development, said the foundation had been investing in journalism and media around the world and placed emphasis on gender equity and social inclusion because of their importance to world peace.
He said with the TV, “More people will have access to more information to be able to bring about strong democracy in Nigeria and also for those of us elsewhere in the world to understand what is really happening here in Kano State, in Nigeria and in Africa.
“At the same time, I believe that change in the world in which we communicate at a very rapid pace, just as today, we gather in person, there’s so much discussion and communication happening online in the cyberspace.”
He added, “As a university, apart from the beautiful building you erected and the beautiful campus with features that support so many students, you will now think of what you will be building in the cyberspace, the digital space, which is so much more important than ever before for getting reasonable information.
“So as a university, if we are not thinking of building something in the cyberspace, we are making a terrible mistake.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the MacArthur grant implementation committee for the Faculty of Communication in BUK, Professor Umaru Pate, currently the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University Kashere, Gombe State, said since 2017 when the faculty joined the league of beneficiaries of the MacArthur Foundation, it had got almost $2million grant.
He said the grant included support for capacity training and research in investigative and data-driven journalism as critical instruments for reducing the prevalence of corruption in the country.
On his part, the BUK Vice Chancellor, Professor Sagir Adamu Abbas, said apart from the Federal Government of Nigeria and possibly the World Bank, the MacArthur Foundation ranked highest in contributing to the growth and development of the institution in recent times.
