The Publisher of Premium Times, Dapo Olorunyomi, and his friend and former colleague at the Independent Communications Network Limited (ICNL), publishers of The News and Tempo Magazines, Idowu Obasa, are set to return to their alma mater, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, for the Faculty of Arts distinguished alumni lecture.
Mr Olorunyomi, a 1981 graduate of the university’s Department of English Studies, Faculty of Arts, and holder of a Master’s in English Literature from the institution, will, on Tuesday, 18 November, speak on the theme: “AI, Social Media, and the Reconfiguration of Democratic Power in Nigeria”.
It is the maiden lecture of the faculty’s distinguished alumni lecture series in the 2025/2026 academic session.
On his part, Mr Obasa, a chartered accountant and former Chairman of Onigbongbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA) in Lagos, who graduated from the Economics Department on the campus in 1980, will be serving s the chairman of the event.
Importance of lecture
According to the Dean of the faculty, Professor Gbenga Fasiku, the lecture is part of the faculty’s strategies aimed at strengthening “its ties with its former students who have not only excelled in their chosen paths but also contributed immensely to national development and humanity.”
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“The series aims to contribute to knowledge since it provides an intellectual platform for the guest lecturer to share ideas on issues of national/global importance. Our students, members of staff, and indeed, the entire university community will benefit from the perspective to be offered on the theme of the lecture,” he added.
Mr Fasiku further noted that the programme “provides a suitable atmosphere for all alumni to interact with staff and students, and in any way possible, support the faculty.”
Lecture snippet
Sharing a snippet of what is expected of his presentation, Mr Olorunyomi said, with the technology revolution sweeping through the globe, Nigeria currently stands at a critical juncture, even as he claims that the foundation of its democracy is being reshaped.
“This lecture argues that artificial intelligence and social media constitute a new, digital arena for the age-old struggle over power, acting as both a weapon for emancipation and a tool for control. We will dissect this dualism through two pivotal reference points: the electoral arena, where digital platforms simultaneously empower citizen mobilisation and enable sophisticated disinformation and surveillance, and the educational arena, where AI promises to democratise even as it threatens to exacerbate existing inequalities,” Mr Olorunyomi wrote.
Mr Olorunyomi noted that his lecture will be beyond what he described as the usual “dogma of ‘tech-for-good’ or ‘tech-for-evil’ narrative.”
“Instead, it reveals how these digital systems are actively reconfiguring struggles over truth, legitimacy, and authority, forcing a re-interrogation of what democratic citizenship means in 21st-century Nigeria and its region,” he said.
