Introduction

It is with the sense of awesome gratitude to the Almighty God and a fulfilled ambition that I stand before this distinguished audience to give the 20th Inaugural Lecture of this great University, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture. I have prefaced this lecture with a quotation from the Bible. The explanation of this scripture is that God has destined whatever anyone will become in life even before such a person was born. It is my strong belief that my standing on this podium today as a Professor, delivering this Inaugural lecture has been destined by God even before I was born.

It was my father who introduced me to the exciting world of academia. Being born and raised in a University campus, my father, not being an academic staff, wanted any of his children to become a Professor. He made the habit of always introducing his children to lecturers, and then would privately tell us to aspire to be like those lecturers. That fired my imagination and by the time I was in primary four, I made up my mind to become a Professor. Today is a dream fulfilled.

In my final year as an undergraduate at the University of Lagos, Dr (now Professor) Andrew oemeka of the Department of Mass Communication taught us a course, 'Development Communication . The course was on how to use the principles and tools of communication to bring about development, especially in the rural areas. This course represented my career aspiration in life. I had always wanted to be in a position to help rural people to develop. It opened my eyes to how rural farmers can be helped to gain access to agricultural technology on how to improve their production thereby increasing their income. I put all my might into that course and became the best student in it.

On graduation, I applied to the Obafemi Awolowo University, lie- Ife for a Master's degree in Agricultural Extension. I met with the Head of Department then, Prof. E Ekong who told me that it was not possible to be admitted into the Faculty of Agriculture from the Social Sciences, which was my background. I left his office disappointed. As I was walking out of the Faculty, I suddenly heard Prof Ekong running after me. He now told me that he just remembered that the University Senate had just approved for the Department to run a Master's degree in Agricultural Communication.