Biography
Dr. Nwachukwu Egbunike is a Senior Lecturer, School of Media and Communication and the Head, Pan-Atlantic University Press. He was Global Voices’ Regional Editor for Sub Saharan (Western, Central and Southern) Africa. His research agenda encompasses digital media, youth political participation, freedom of expression and digital authoritarianism.
Dr. Egbunike holds a Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Sciences (B.MLS) degree (specializing in Haematology and Medical Microbiology) from the University of Nigeria. He holds two Master degrees Master of Communication Arts and Master of Arts, and a PhD from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Dr. Egbunike started his journalism career as a cub-reporter in the Enugu bureau of National Light and Spokesman newspaper. He was formerly the Editor-in-Chief of AfricanHadithi and Global Voices’ Community Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Egbunike has been active in Nigeria’s book publishing space since 2005 – as a book editor or publishing consultant for Spectrum Books, Evans Brothers Ltd, Bookcraft Nigeria and Feathers & Ink, respectively. Since 2011, he has been equally active in Africa’s online freedom of expression and digital rights space, as an advocate, journalist and digital media scholar.
Dr. Egbunike was the 10th Director of Irawo University Centre, Ibadan – a private hall of residence affiliated with the University of Ibadan. Under Egbunike’s watch, Irawo aided the development of young people in ‘character and learning’ as stipulated in the Act of Parliament establishing the University of Ibadan.
Dr. Nwachukwu Egbunike is the author of five books: Dyed thoughts: a conversation in and from my country (2012); Blazing moon (2015); Hashtags: social media, politics and ethnicity in Nigeria (2018); Nka (2021) and Digital Youth and Social Movements – Perspectives from Nigeria (2024)
Dr. Egbunike is a member of the Board of Directors of African Digital Rights Network.
Publications
- Egbunike, N. (2021). Digital Africa – from youth movements to government bans. Democracy & Development: Journal of West African Affairs (Special edition, #EndSARS and beyond: protest, politics and the public sphere), 2021, Volume 5, No 3, pp 11-17.
- Egbunike, N. A. and Onyechi, N. J. (2021). From digital advocacy to age reduction legislation, the story of Nigeria’s #NotTooYoungtoRun. IMSU Journal of Communication Studies, Vol. 5, pp 60-66, 2021.
- Ojebode, A., and Egbunike, N. (2019). Birds of a feather, flocking apart: a communication infrastructure study of two student religious communities in a Nigerian university campus. Ibadan Journal of Humanistic Studies, Vol 29(1), pp 1-14.
- Egbunike, N. A., Kezie, C., and Enahalo, P. (2018). If sharing is the answer, what then is the question? A critique of sharing in Web 2.0. Journal of Communication and Media Research, Volume 10, Number 2, 115-124, October 2018.
- Egbunike, N. A. (2017). Social media, Nigerian youths and political alignment in Nigeria: a methodological and thematic review. International Journal of Civic Engagement and Social Change. Volume 4, Issue 4, October-December 2017. DOI 10.4018/ IJCESC.2017100104
- Egbunike, N. A. (2017). ‘Us and Them:’ The cross-cultural communication clash of the Big Brother Africa Reality Show. International Journal of Communication, 20(1), April 2017.
- Egbunike, N. A. and Onyechi, N. J. (2016). Facebooking ethnicity in the political storytelling of Nigerians. Journal of Communication and Language Arts, 2016, 7 (1), 21-42.
- Egbunike, N. A., Ihebuzor, N. and Onyechi, N. (2015). Nature of tweets in the 2015 Nigerian presidential elections. International Journal of Civic Engagement and Social Change, 2(2), 34-52, April-June 2015.
- Egbunike, N. A (2015). Framing the #Occupy Nigeria protests in newspapers and social media. Open Access Library Journal 2, e1486. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1101486
- Egbunike, N. A., and Olorunnisola, A. A (2015). Social media, igniting or damping the Nigerian Harmattan storm? Journal of Africa Media Studies, 7 (2) pp. 141–164.
- Valenzuela, S., Valdimarsson, V., Egbunike, N., Fraser, M., Sey, A., Pallaev, T., Chachavalpongpun, P., Saka, E., & Lyubashenko, I. (2014). The big question: have social media and/or smartphones disrupted life in your part of the world? World Policy Journal,September 2014, 31: 3-8.
Books And Book Chapters
- Egbunike N. A (2022). “WhatsApp political campaigns in Nigeria.” In Hassan, I. & Hitchen, J. (Eds), WhatsApp and Everyday Life in West Africa: Beyond Fake News. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, Chapter 3, Chapter DOI: 5040/9781350257900.ch-3
- Ihebuzor N and Egbunike N. A (2018). “Fencism, an unusual political alignment in twitter Nigeria” In Chhabra, S (Ed). Handbook of Research on Civic Engagement and Social Change in Contemporary Society. Hershey PA: IGI Global. February 2018. Chapter 21, DOI 10.4018/978-1-5225-4197-4.ch021
- Egbunike N. A and Ihebuzor I. (2018) “Online ethnocentric hate speech and Nigerian youths”. In Omenugha, K. A, Fayoyin, A., and Ngugu, C. M. (Eds). New Media and African Society: Essays, Research and Reviews. Nairobi: Nairobi Academic Press, Chapter 8, pp 130-142.
- Ihebuzor N. and Egbunike N. A (2018). “Twitter as a tool of political discourse in Nigeria: dialogue, self aggrandizement or party politicking?” In Omenugha, K. A, Fayoyin, A., and Ngugu, C. M. (Eds). New Media and African Society: Essays, Research and Reviews. Nairobi: Nairobi Academic Press, Chapter 11, pp 178-202.
- Egbunike N. A (2011) “New Media and Health Communication: Communication Strategies in Malaria Control in Nigeria”. In Wachanga Ndirangu D (Ed), Cultural Identity and New Communication Technologies: Political, Ethnic and Ideological Implications. Hershey PA: IGI Global, USA, pp 197-212.
PUBLISHED BOOKS AND CREATIVE WORK(S)
- Nwachukwu Egbunike (2021). Nka (a collection of poems). Ibadan: Winepress Publishers.
- Nwachukwu Egbunike (2018). Hashtags: social media, politics, and ethnicity in Nigeria. Lagos: Narrative Landscape Press (Prima imprint).
- Nwachukwu Egbunike and Emmanuel Nwobi (Editors, 2017). Irawo (a collection of poems). Ibadan: Feathers and Ink.
- Nwachukwu Egbunike (2015) Blazing Moon (a collection of poems), Ibadan: Feathers and Ink. [Joint first runner up of the 2015 Association of Nigerian Authors Prize for Poetry].
- Nwachukwu Egbunike (2012) Dyed Thoughts: A Conversation in and from my Country. Ibadan: Feathers and Ink.
- Nwachukwu Egbunike (1997) “Help” a poem published in Okike: An African Journal of New Writing, Number 37, June, p 73.
Awards
Nka (a collection of poems): Joint first runner up of the 2021 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Poetry.
Blazing Moon (a collection of poems): Joint first runner up of the 2015 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Poetry.
Conference Presentations
- Moderated a panel discussion on: How to End Government Abuse of Social Media; and Workshop participant: Leveraging the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Mechanism to Advance Digital Rights in Africa at the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica22), Lusaka, Zambia (September 26-30, 2022).
- Virtual keynote address: Africa’s digital authoritarianism and democratic tyranny at the Dar es Salaam School on Internet Governance (August 22, 2022).
- Virtual paper presentation: Humanizing Twitter Nigeria, from toxic to dignified conversations by the Institute of Humanities, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, (August 19, 2022).
- Virtual Roundtable by Meta’s [formerly Facebook]Oversight Board (July 13, 2022). The roundtable, comprising of African activists and digital scholars, discussed Facebook and Instagram’s impact on Africa and the upcoming elections.
- The Belt and Road in Africa Virtual Workshop (June 28 – 29, 2021), organized by the Council for Foreign Relations and the South African Institute of International Affairs.
- Africa Digital Media Conference (February 27-28, 2020), Valenti School of Communication, University of Houston.
- Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (September 23-26, 2019), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- RightsCon (June 11-14, 2019), Tunis, Tunisia.
- Re: publica (December 13-15, 2019), Accra, Ghana.
- Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (September 24-30, 2018), Accra, Ghana.
- Global Voices Citizen Media Summit, Colombo, Sri-Lanka: December 2017.
Subject(s) Taught
Courses
