Recently elected President of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism Alumni Association (NIJAA), Muyiwa Akintunde explains to the association’s Media and Publicity Directorate what inspired the ongoing membership registration and the desired benefits
What informed the decision to make the Alumni Directory one of the early initiatives of your administration, and what do you hope it will ultimately achieve for the Nigerian Institute of Journalism Alumni Association (NIJAA)?
Leadership starts with knowing your people.
NIJAA has produced exceptional professionals who are shaping journalism, public relations, advertising, broadcasting, digital media, public service and entrepreneurship across our country and beyond. Yet our association did not have a single, credible, searchable database of who and where they are. That gap informed our decision.
We cannot build a strong alumni association without first knowing your members. We cannot advocate for the alumni and connect them to opportunities; we cannot mobilise for our alma mater, if we cannot find ourselves.
The Alumni Directory is therefore a foundational one. It is not just our census and map, we design it to grow into our marketplace.
The Alumni Directory will reconnect a scattered family. Many of our members left our school and thereafter lost touch. The 1986 set, to which I belong, is planning a reunion for December. Many of us will be meeting ourselves for the first time in 40 years! The Directory is the bridge back home.
It will also help in transitioning NIJAA from a WhatsApp-based association to a data-driven institution with proper records for effective planning, welfare and engagement.
We are also confident that the Directory will unlock values because, inside NIJAA is a goldmine of jobs, mentorship, business partnerships and expertise. But value remains hidden when people are invisible. The Directory makes us visible to each other.
With the NIJAA Directory, we believe that, not again will a graduate of NIJ feel alone in his/her professional journey. If you need an editor in Kano, a PR expert in Enugu, a media entrepreneur in Lagos, or a collaborator in London, you can find them in the Directory.
Another goal is to utilise the Directory to build a strong economy around our NIJAA community. When opportunities come – jobs, contracts, trainings, scholarships, etc. – our association should be the first place employers and partners harvest expertise.
With this Directory, we can now plan our interventions and restore NIJ to its rightful place as the training ground for Nigeria’s best journalists.
This Directory is just the beginning. It is the foundation on which the new administration will build a truly global, impactful, and beneficial NIJAA.
NIJAA has already identified close to 1,000 members on its WhatsApp platforms, with 124 members having so far completed the Directory registration. How does the administration intend to reach the many alumni who are still outside the association’s current platforms, particularly those in the Diaspora?
Our number on WhatsApp tells two stories. First, that NIJAA is alive and active – 1,000 members in our digital community is no small feat and I thank all our Chapter coordinators for that work. Second, it means that we still have a lot to do. We estimate that NIJ has produced well over 10,000 graduates since inception; so 1,000 is just a fraction.
The 124 who have completed the Directory registration are our pacesetters, and I commend them for leading from the front.
To reach those who are still outside, we will be pursuing a structured data gathering strategy, which includes encouraging class captains or set representatives to mobilise their colleagues towards registration. We will be working through these leaders in ND, HND, PGD and short courses from as far back as the 1960s. People respond faster to their own set mate than to a general broadcast.
NIJ alumni are not only on WhatsApp. They are on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, and Instagram. In the next few weeks, you will see a targeted campaign across those platforms, led by our Directorate of Communications. We will also leverage NIJ’s own official records, with the permission and support of the Institute, to reach old students.
The Diaspora is a critical priority for us. We have many of our members in the UK, US, Canada, France, Japan and other parts of the world who are excelling in their careers and businesses. But distance should not mean disconnection. We hope to inaugurate NIJAA UK, NIJAA North America and other Diaspora chapters. The Directory itself was built to be Diaspora-friendly – you can register from anywhere in the world, and your location helps us cluster you to your nearest chapter.
People ask, why should I register? Our answer is to attach tangible value to the Directory. Only those in the Directory will be eligible for our upcoming mentorship matching, job alerts, professional masterclasses, discounted programmes with NIJ, and our welfare and verification services. With the realisation that the Directory is not just a list, but a gateway to opportunities, we believe that the numbers will move.
Beyond having a database of members, what practical benefits do you envisage that the Directory will provide — particularly in areas such as professional networking, mentorship, welfare, recognition and opportunities for members?
We realise that if the Directory ends as just a PDF of names and phone numbers in files, we have failed.
The Directory was conceived as a platform for value, not just for records. Let’s look at professional networking, which is a major driving force of this initiative.
Right now, if you need a reliable cameraman in Port Harcourt, a PR expert in Abuja, or a media buyer in Lagos, you may choose to ask on WhatsApp and hope someone will answer. With the Directory, that search becomes structured. You will be able to filter by location, specialty, year of graduation, industry, and organisation. It transforms NIJAA from a chat group into a business network. We are essentially building LinkedIn within NIJAA, but with trust, because we all share the same root: NIJ.
Because we are committed to mentorship, which will enable us to bridge the gap between generations, the database will help greatly in this direction.
NIJ has alumni who are editors, broadcast CEOs, commissioners, presidential spokespersons, agency heads and founders, and professors. We also have young graduates struggling to find their footing. The Directory will power our NIJAA Mentorship Connect. A young graduate from the Class of 2024 can easily find and request mentorship from a senior from the Class of 1995 who is willing to guide. We want to institutionalise that senior-to-junior support that used to happen informally.
Regarding welfare, we cannot help who we cannot find. As an association, we want to be there for our members in moments of joy and of need: a new baby, a bereavement, an illness, a job loss. Today, we often hear late because we have no structured records. With a verified Directory that includes next-of-kin and emergency details, we can respond faster, more dignified, and more organised. We are also planning a NIJAA Cooperative and Health Insurance scheme – and only a verified Directory can make that possible.
How many NIJ alumni are doing amazing things but have never been celebrated? The Directory will give us data to celebrate. We will be able to identify our members who are excelling in investigative journalism, in public service, in entrepreneurship and project them. We are thinking of NIJAA Merit Awards and NIJAA Spotlight Series, and the Directory will be our primary source for credible nominations.
We cannot overemphasis opportunities for jobs, gigs and growth through the NIJAA Directory. Media organisations, government agencies, NGOs and private companies constantly ask: “Do you have qualified people”? Now we can say, “Yes, go to our Directory”. Overtime, we will open a NIJAA Opportunities Desk where we push verified jobs, fellowships, international trainings, freelance gigs, and production briefs directly to members based on their profile. If you are in the Directory and your profile says “Documentary Producer in Lagos,” you are more likely to get that documentary brief than someone who is not listed.
So, the Directory is not the end goal, it is the means towards it. The end goal is an association where you belong, where you are seen, where you are supported, and where you can grow. A database tells us who you are. The benefits we are building around it will tell you why you should stay.
There has also been a suggestion that NIJAA should introduce digital membership cards, particularly for members in the Diaspora. What is your view on this, and is this something the administration may consider as the Directory project progresses?
I want to thank the members who raised this suggestion because it shows that we have alumni who are thinking ahead with us. Yes, we will have digital membership cards.
Identity is very important. For many of our members in the Diaspora, their NIJ certificates may be at home in Nigeria, but their NIJAA membership is their current, living connection to the Institute. A digital membership card gives them that sense of belonging. It says, you are not far away, you are only a call away.
In fact, the Alumni Directory we are building is the foundation for that card. Logically, you cannot issue a credible membership card without a credible, verified database. That is why we started with the Directory.
Phase 1 of the Directory is what will commence anytime from next month: Verification. Every entry in the Directory will go through the process of matching the data against set, year, department, etc.
Next will be Phase 2. Once verified, a member will automatically be issued a NIJAA Digital Membership Card with a unique NIJAA ID Number, QR Code, photograph, set and chapter. It will be downloadable to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, and shareable on LinkedIn. We will eliminate physical collection, courier costs or delay, factors that are especially critical for our members in distant locations.
Under Phase 3, the card will not just be for show; that QR code will link back to your verified profile in the Directory. It will be your pass for NIJAA events, discounted programmes at NIJ, our masterclasses, our annual general meeting accreditation, our elections, and for accessing our welfare and opportunity benefits. We will also go into discussions with partners to attach discounts – media equipment, health checks, professional subscriptions – to that card.
The digital membership card is therefore not a separate project from the Directory; it is the natural next step of it.
What is your appeal to NIJ alumni worldwide who have not yet reconnected with the association or completed the registration?
To every alumnus, wherever you are – whether you graduated in 1975 or 2025, whether you did ND, HND, PGD, or a three-month certificate course, whether you are still in journalism or you are now in PR, advertising, banking, politics, public service, business, or you have migrated to the UK, US, Canada, Europe – this is your home, and we are calling you back home.
NIJ gave us more than a certificate. It gave us identity, it gave us craft, it gave us friends who became family. It gave us lecturers who shaped us. You cannot forget your root.
For a long time, we scattered. Life happened. But now, NIJAA is back, and we are building an association that is worthy of you – an association that is organised, valuable and global.
I know some of us are asking, what has NIJAA done for me? That is a fair question. But the better question is, what can we do together, if we all come together? One broom cannot sweep as well as a bunch.
That is why we built the Alumni Directory. It is free. It takes less than three minutes. It is not a levy, it is not a contribution. It is simply you saying, “I am a NIJAA member, count me in”.
So I appeal to you: Go and complete your registration today. Encourage your classmates to register. Let us find each other again.
We have identified about 1,000 of us on our platforms, but we know we are more than 10,000. Imagine what 10,000 NIJ alumni can do for each other and for our great Institute if we are truly connected.
Whether you are in Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Makurdi, Kano, Ibadan, Jos, or you are in London, Houston, Toronto, or Johannesburg – you belong here. Come home. Let us build NIJAA together.
