The Federal Government has appointed a journalism professor Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Kashere, Gombe State, in northeast Nigeria, the new VC, Umaru Pate, is a Professor of Mass Communication in the university.
Prof. Pate, the Kaigamma of Adamawa, was pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Communication, Bayero University, Kano. He is currently the Dean, School of Postgraduate Bayero University, Kano.
Pate was a professor in the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Maiduguri. He was elevated from a Graduate Assistant in 1988 to become an Associate Professor in 2002 and full Professor in 2007.
Prof. Pate was appointed by UNESCO headquarters in Paris as a Director representing Africa on the six person-Board of Directors of the prestigious International Network of UNESCO Professors in Communication (ORBICOM) with headquarters at the University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada in November 2017.
He was appointed into the UN system in Afghanistan, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Cameroons. Prof. Pate made regular contributions on national and international media. He was a member of some committees of the federal and some state governments at different times.
Pate supervised the establishment of various community radios, modeling them for reliable and fast means for social mobilisation and development.
Prof. Pate held the chair of $700,000 (N236 million) grant he successfully completed and secured for his Faculty from the MacArthur Foundation.
There are expectations that Pate’s wide experience will help to re-position the university for better human capital development and growth of productive manpower for socio-economic activities in the country.