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Jamiu Folarin, Ph.D
In 2022, I was in Norway to attend the Global Fact Check conference weeks after arrival from Utah, the United States of America as one of the participants at the Solutions Journalism Network Summit.
My partner in progress, Dr. Rasheed Adebiyi had co-opted me into a panel session at the 2022 Lagos Studies Association (LSA) conference to dissect issues around solutions journalism. We were both pioneer fellows of the Solutions Journalism Africa initiatives between 2021 and 2022.
The 2022 Global Fact conference, organised by the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN), brought together stakeholders and players working to improve the information integrity in the world through media literacy, fact-checking, and related projects and initiatives.
It was my first time attending a conference of that magnitude involving hundreds of participants across the globe. I was at the Oslo Metropolitan University, venue of the conference, when I virtually participated in the 2022 LSA conference. At the event, held at the University of Lagos, we reviewed our efforts in institutionalising solutions journalism in the newsrooms and tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Fast forward to 2026, Dr. Adebiyi again reached out to me asking us to collaborate in order to organise a panel at the 10th edition of the LSA conference scheduled for 16th to 20th June 2026 at the Trinity University, Yaba, Lagos. He suggested that we should use the panel to evaluate our five years advocacy and efforts at integrating solutions journalism into practice and academics.
I did not hesitate a bit to accept the offer. We applied for the panel and after approval, we received over 15 papers from lecturers, researchers, journalists and civil society actors.
The title of the panel was “Changing the Narrative: Exploring Constructive Storytelling as Practice, Pedagogy, and Sustainability Models in African Journalism”. I was fascinated by the array of ideas proposed by over 340 panels dissecting the theme of the conference: “The State of African Studies in the 21st Century: The Lagos Studies Association @ 10”. While perusing through the details of the panels, I had to indicate my Interest to present papers at two other panels focused on protests and misinformation, as well as the one related to issues around newspaper stands and online engagements.
As we interacted with the panelists on the submission and acceptance of their abstracts, we received a series of e-mails from the organisers of the conference which highlighted pre and post conference workshops opportunities that participants could explore. These include Teaching Critical AI Literacy, Documentary Filmmaking, Writing Workshops, among others.
As my research interest is at the intersection of media and technology, I applied for the Teaching Critical AI Literacy workshop. I was elated for being selected as one of the beneficiaries of the four days pre-conference workshop with the organisers sponsoring my conference participation as they provided support for transportation, accommodation, and feeding for nine days.
My experience at the workshop and conference was remarkable for a number of reasons.
Firstly, I was fascinated by the high level of coordination, efficiency and professionalism exhibited by the organisers of the LSA conference led by Saheed Aderinto, a Professor of History and African Diaspora Studies at the Florida International University. Being the second time of attending a conference of such standard compared to the Global Fact Check experience in Oslo, I recalled with nostalgia the never forgettable moments at the event. I really commend the ability of LSA to effectively organise such an international conference for over nine days with hundreds of participants. In fact, academic conferences used to be boring but LSA proved otherwise. Conversations and activities at the conference were not only intellectually stimulating but entertaining. I thought this experience could only be achieved through the unconference approach I witnessed at the Solutions Journalism Summit in Utah, USA.
Secondly, the conference did not only serve as bridging gap between Town and Gown as participants cut across professional and academic fields, it brought under the same roof, students, young scholars, accomplished academia, local researchers, international scholars, policy makers and members of the civil societies who are working at the intersection of diverse field and African Studies.
The conference provided a platform for mentors and mentees relationships. As the graduate student with the best paper presented and the outstanding Ph.D thesis received awards during the conference, accomplished researchers were also recognised. In the panel I chaired, aside my colleagues who used the academic lens to interrogate issues around solutions journalism, the likes of Adakole James Ojo of Legit.ng newspaper and Oluwaseun Dorojaiye of Social Voices advocated for the need to change the narratives through the prism of their field and professional work.
I sum up my experience at the end of one of the three sessions of the panel thus: “After this conversation, we have been able to identify the gaps as observed by the Town and the Gown, identified the challenges and provided evidence of responses to the social problems, highlighted their limitations and offer relevant insights for present and future change agents.”
Thirdly, one key takeaway from the LSA conference is that Africa should critically interrogate whatever idea, innovation or policy imported into the continent for replication. This became clearer to me after participating in the four days’ workshop on teaching critical AI literacy facilitated by Prof. Eric Covey of the Grand Valley State University in West Michigan and Prof. Helen Olojede of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). Despite my assumed knowledge of media and technology in which generative AI and machine learning are subset, many of my assumptions and convictions were challenged .
In my interrogation of media technology, I did not give adequate attention to the part of decolonisation and Afrocentric media. That the challenges and trade-offs identified with the use of GenAI and machine learning in research and other aspects are not accidental but a system designed to work the way it does (a form of black box).
That the configuration of all technologies including the ones associated with the media are underpinned by a particular philosophy. And in the words of Nizamuddin Siddiqui in an article published in the Medium on April 22nd 2026: “AI Is Not Just a Tool. It Is a System That Learns You….These systems slowly influence what you do, how you act, and even how you think. This is not a conspiracy; this is design.” Resulting from this, we must not take the diffusion of AI in research and other fields in Africa just on the surface level.
Sincerely, the critical lens through which we were made to interrogate the all talk about technology should be the minimum level of knowledge of all African researchers and other adopters of technologies.
Worthy of mention is the need for lecturers and teachers not to only focus on the ethical and responsible use of GenAI by students, but similar advocacy should be propagated among researchers and instructors.
Fourthly, there was a remarkable connection of all the over 340 panels, workshops, exhibitions, keynote address, stage play, film screening, and even food. They did not only sync with the conference theme that speaks partly to the ideals of solutions journalism, it established in unambiguous terms that Africans should tell their own stories with positive narratives.
And lastly, there are loads of interventions by diverse stakeholders to strategically place Africa at vantage position and having comparative advantage in its business with other continents.
Borrowing from our own five years of advocacy with respect to solutions journalism, the social agents and actors in the implementation of this ideological shift should extend beyond Africans. But before this should be done, there must be Afrocentric manufactured philosophy that serve as foundation for the execution of this ideology.
Just as I suggested in one of the panel sessions, it is not enough for us to advocate that Africans should tell their own stories in positive ways, we must establish frameworks, models and policy directions to guide its implementations.
For instance, the Normative Theories of the Press (Libertarian, Authoritarian, Soviet Communist and Social Responsibility) were criticised for not capturing the needed media environment in Africa.
This criticism was anchored on the premise that the African media environment should be structured to spotlight community driven participation and developmental orientation. These gave birth to the Democratic Participant and Developmental Media Theories.
Attempts were made to implement the assumptions of these theories in Africa through promotion of indigenous language in the creation and dissemination of media content, establishment of community media and integration of development communication in social interventions.
Meanwhile, these interventions seem isolated with the results and impact limited in scope as it is not tied to any communication policy (Many African countries do not have functional communication policy). I got a broader understanding of this foundational problem when one of the panelists at the conference referenced some African scholars’ position on the phenomenon saying: “We have African philosophers but we do not have African philosophy.”
Three examples from the conferences that speaks to this reality include the work of the keynote speaker on narratives around framing of the activities of road union workers in Lagos state.
The second one was the documentary produced and directed by Prof. Saheed Aderinto titled: “The Women of Fuji”. While the third is the book on Migration and Identity.
When Prof. Laurent Fourchard of Science Pro presented his keynote lecture at the 2026 LSA conference, it resonated and aligned with our advocacy on the need to change the narrative. Despite being from France, Prof. Fourchard painted, through ethnography study, another side of the NURTW in Lagos State in departure from the negative framing especially from local and international media.So, this enticed me to his work and I was part of the participants at the conference who visited the Obalende motor park on Saturday 19th June 2026 as part of activities lined up for the conference. The question now is, how sustainable is the narrative and depiction of the transport union members?
I was initially not that interested in the work of Prof. Aderinto “The Women of Fuji”. This is because I am not currently a fan of Fuji, though a former fan of Saheed Osupa. I was however obligated to watch the screening of the Fuji documentary as it was joined with dinner and I was determined to further have a taste of my favourite food at the conference – Amala), and the award presentation (I was to be presented the certificate of award of scholarship to participate at the Critical AI literacy workshop). After watching the documentary, I concluded that it was not a waste of my precious time. I really appreciate and admire the creativity of Prof. Aderinto in documenting the women in Fuji. He documented narratives contrary to the negative framing of women in Fuji. Meanwhile, Prof. Aderinto intervention seems to be in isolation. What framework will make this approach dominant in the narrative around the work of African artists?
The third example was from the panel which involved my roommates during the conference, Dr. Olaolu Oluwasanmi from Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State. Motivated by our conversation on area of his research interest, migration and diaspora identity, I joined him during his panel session where he reviewed the book of Prof. Rasheed Olaniyi with incubation of 17 years before it was eventually published. Unlike the negative narration we hear about migration issues, the author excellently showed how Yoruba migrants were able to maintain their identity in Northern Nigeria and Ghana. It also spotlighted how they contributed positively to their host communities. The question however is, do we have a framework that will institutionalise this approach in the study of African Studies. Remember the concern that we have African scholars, not African philosophy.
What also got my attention was the conversation around the victimhood problem in which we presented our case in Africa. Rather than looking inward to understand whether the challenges we are facing in the continent are self-imposed, we are quick to blame outsiders.
There are a lot of lessons this space will not allow me to highlight. But in all, the interrogation of issues at 10th edition of the Lagos Studies Association clearly indicated that Africa has potential and exhibits signs of progress. This is evidence in the array of ideas, interventions, interrogations and learning curve ingrained in the conference.
Using the phrase of the facilitators at the Teaching Critical AI Literacy Workshop and some of the recommendations of the participants at the LSA conference, “looking forward”, it is high time for African Philosophers and other layers of stakeholders at the frontline of Afrocentrism to develop African Philosophy. For the sustainability of the impact resulting from the interventions so far highlighted at the conference, stakeholders should continue to set the agenda for Afrocentrism.
As a way of internalising the knowledge, skills, experience and exposure received through the generous support of the organisers of the 10th LSA Conference, my colleagues (Dr Sade Adebimpe, Dr. Oluwatoyin Salami) who attended the workshop and conference together have agreed to drive the change at Crescent University through series of initiatives especially developing an AI policy for the University. I hope other participants will not take the conversation at the conference as the regular talk show but fill necessary gaps in their own space.
To sum it up, they say “a problem identified is a problem half solved.” My experience at the 10th LSA conference showed that Africa has the potential. There are numerous inhibiting challenges preventing the continent from maximising these potentials. Over the years, there have been wrong diagnosis of the problems but with the type of conversations at the conference, it is crystal clear that Africa is exhibiting the signs of progress.
Jamiu Folarin, Ph.D
Researcher/Journalist
Mass Communication Department,
Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State
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