By Felix Khanoba
A Professor of Mass Communication at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Henrietta Chidinma Onwubere, has urged the media to take a more active role in defending maternal and child health rights and holding authorities accountable for healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Onwubere made the call on Thursday, August 27, 2026, while delivering the university’s 42nd Inaugural Lecture, titled, “Bridging the Airwaves and Lifelines: Broadcasting, Healthcare Journalism and the Struggle for Maternal and Child Health Rights in Nigeria,” at the NOUN headquarters in Abuja.
She argued that the media should move beyond entertainment and conventional news reporting and deploy its influence towards public enlightenment, advocacy and accountability, particularly on matters concerning women and children.
According to her, healthcare access should not be measured solely by the availability of hospitals, medical facilities and health personnel, stressing that citizens must equally have access to accurate, timely and understandable information about their health and healthcare rights.
A statement signed by Omotola Ojudu – Acting Director, Media and Publicity , NOUN, on Thursday said Onwubere recommended wider use of local languages in broadcasting, stronger partnerships between media organisations and health institutions, as well as more empathetic and people-centred approaches to health reporting.
She said these measures would enable citizens to better understand their healthcare rights and equip them to demand accountability from relevant authorities.
The don also raised concerns over the increasing spread of misinformation through digital platforms, urging journalists and communication students to sharpen their fact-checking and verification skills to ensure that health information reaching the public is accurate and responsible.
As part of her recommendations, Onwubere called on the government and other stakeholders to increase investment in media capacity-building, provide stronger support for healthcare journalism and ensure that the interests of women and children remain central to communication policies and intervention programmes.
She also appealed to the university management to improve practical training facilities for Mass Communication students, noting that hands-on exposure remained crucial to producing quality professionals and meeting the standards prescribed by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Professor Uduma Oji Uduma, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Professor Shehu Usman Adamu, described inaugural lectures as important avenues for academics to present research findings and offer solutions to societal problems.
He commended Onwubere for using her multidisciplinary background in nursing, education, law and mass communication to examine the pressing issue of maternal and child health.
The Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Sonnie Oniye, who delivered the closing remarks, commended the lecture for linking academic research with real-world societal challenges and improving public understanding of the role of communication in national development.
