Is’haq Modibbo Kawu
Is’haq Modibbo Kawu was born into a distinguished family of Fulbe Islamic scholars in Ilorin. He is also a scion of the Sheikh Alimi dynasty, the very famous Fullo Islamic scholar whose descendants are the Emirs of Ilorin.
Kawu has had a very sterling career in broadcasting and journalism, over the years in Nigeria, and on the international scene. He was recruited by Radio Nigeria, as an Announcer; and would eventually be a Newsreader (including reading news on the National Network Service of Radio Nigeria). He produced and presented several programmes; was a sports and ceremonials commentator; as well as a News and Current Affairs commentator. He reported for the Co-operation Service of Radio France International; and the BBC World Service.
Subsequently, He was recruited as the pioneer General Manager of the Kwara State Television Service; the pioneer Editor of DAILY TRUST Newspaper; Chairman of the Editorial Board of DAILY TRUST and its Africa Editor as well as a weekly columnist. He was similarly, the pioneer Chairman of the Editorial Board of BLUEPRINT Newspaper; an editorial consultant as well as a columnist for the same paper, while simultaneously, being a syndicated columnist for VANGUARD Newspapers. He became a Fellow of the Nigerian Guild of Editors in 2013. And was appointed Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from May 2016 till 2020.
He was a Distinguished Delegate at the Nigerian National Conference in 2014. He graduated as Best Student in Mass Communication from the Bayero University in Kano, in 1994, winning the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Award, for best graduate in Mass Communication. He had won a university scholarship every session in University, for being top of the class. He holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science from the same, Bayero University; and a Ph.D. in Defence and Strategic Studies, from the Nigerian Defence Academy, in Kaduna. His Ph.D. thesis studied the interface between press reportage of the farmer-herder conflicts and national security in Nigeria. He has also studied at the University of Lagos; the Hochschule Der Gewerkshaften in Berlin, Germany; the School of Communications at the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, the USA, and the Lagos Business School.
Kawu is multi-lingual, speaking Yoruba, Hausa, English, and French, and working in many others.