MIPAN Unveils Media Academy to Train Advertising Practitioners

Raheem Akingbolu

Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN) has launched Alphabet Media Academy (AMA), the first of its kind media academy in the country, with the aim of creating a pool of well-trained talent that will shape the future of Media & Marketing Communications Industry in Nigeria and Africa.

The media academy was unveiled on Tuesday to newsmen, media advertising practitioners and other stakeholders. AMA is a unique project borne out of the ingenuity of the promoters, MIPAN. A gap analysis initiated by association revealed the deficiencies in the skill sets of the current middle management staff of Media Independents quite clearly.

According to the statement released by the management of the academy, the objective of setting up the school is “To provide a Post Graduate Media Advertising Training for new entrants approaching the media advertising profession and young executives already working in the industry. To train students who would like to improve their current employment while others would be trained to be ‘employable’ and the Academy shall assist them in job placement with prospective employers and to contribute to the Ecosystem by providing a constant flow of trainees/students who are well-trained with hands-on practical experience.”

Chief Executive Officer, Alphabet Media Academy, Eki Adzufeh, disclosed that the academy will run Post Graduate Programme in Media Management, with two specialized courses: Post Graduate Certificate in Media Management (PGCMM) for 10 Weekends and Post Graduate Diploma in Media Management (PGDMM) for 23 Weekends.

“Courses (Certificate and Diploma) commences from April 2018. Lectures will be held at Grange School, Ikeja (Lagos) during the weekends (Saturday, Full day from 10 am to 5 pm, with one hour of break and Sunday 1 pm to 5 pm),” he explained.

AMA is, therefore, a project ‘For the Industry, by the industry’ as both the Board of Directors led by a veteran in the industry, Mr. Vincent Oyo, as Chairman and the faculty members are all Advertising industry related people. Emphasising the importance of the course for practitioners, Oyo stated, “Because of the world we are in today, we are living in the world of technology and things have gone digital and therefore, we require people whose set skills can develop to be able to meet the world-class standards and we think with Alphabet Media Academy we can help them achieve that goal.”