The Head of Department, Mass Communication, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Dr Chidiebere Ezinwa has commended the Catholic Church in Enugu for organizing the 2024 World Communications Day.

The 58 Edition of the World Communications Day, held on Sunday, May 12, 2024 at the Holy Ghost Cathedral, Enugu, drew crème de la crème in journalism in Enugu including members of ESUT Monitor Newspaper Reporters who attended in their numbers.
This year’s celebrtainon was themed “Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of Human Heart: for full human communication.”

A renowned media practitioner, and head of station, Udoka 100.3fm Enugu was the speaker during the occasion.

Speaking with ESUT Monitor reporters, Dr Ezinwa lauded the organisers for the choice of theme of the event.

He observed that the theme for this year’s celebration is apt given the dangers and opportunities inherent in the new technology.

He commended the Roman Catholic pontiff, Pope Francis, on his message on the occasion which he described as incisive and insightful.
He thanked the bishop of the diocese, Most Rev Calistus Onaga who encouraged the congregation to continue their conversation on the theme of the event in their families to effectively utilize the opportunities provided by the technology and also avert its possible threats.

He noted that the department has introduced courses in the new curriculum to prepare the students to face the inherent challenges and opportunities provided by Artificial intelligence such as Fundamentals of Media Literacy.

On the fear that the Igbo language would have been used by the media to disseminate the message is going into extinction, Dr. Ezinwa explained that the department in the curriculum has introduced communication in the Igbo language as a 100-level course.

In his presentation, Mr Ụka charged the media practitioners to leverage on the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence by acquiring more knowledge in that regard.

On the fear that the technology has come to replace human intellect in performance of duties, the AI consultant noted that like every human inventions, AI provides a platform for journalist to upgrade their skills and be more professional.

Earlier in his homily, the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese, Most Rev Calistus Onaga admonished media practitioners to be circumspect in the discharge of their duties. He noted that while the media is battling the intrusion of social media and it’s attendant propagation of fake news, Artificial Intelligence posses more dangers to the medai people and urged them to be professional and fine-tunie their report always before pushing it to the public.