A Tribute by the Department of Communication Studies, University of Ghana

For the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Ghana, Dr. Abubakari Sidick Ahmed’s passing is more than the loss of a national media icon. Known as Alhaji, he was a son of the department and a colleague in training.

From the earliest days of Radio Univers, our department played a key role. We provided space, intellectual support, and foundational infrastructure for its launch. What began as a bold academic-media experiment became a key broadcasting training ground in West Africa. Alhaji stood at the heart of that transformation.

His journey from student volunteer reporter to Station Manager mirrors the very philosophy we uphold. Theory must meet practice, and scholarship must serve society. As a proud alumnus of the Department, Alhaji embodied this philosophy with rare conviction. He did not merely manage a station; he extended the classroom.

For decades, Radio Univers became our laboratory, and Alhaji its chief instructor in practice. He opened the airwaves to our students and gave them invaluable real-time experience in journalism and broadcasting. He worked with them patiently. In those moments, he was not just a station manager; he was faculty in action.

As the only professionally trained broadcaster and media scholar at the station for many years, he ensured that our pedagogical objectives were not compromised. He developed and enforced a Code of Conduct that elevated professionalism in reporting, production, and presentation. He demanded discipline not for its own sake, but because he understood that credibility is the currency of journalism.

Under his leadership, the station flourished.

He built people, not just a station.

Today, his protégés fill the newsrooms of TV3, Joy FM, and Citi FM, as well as international platforms such as the BBC, Voice of America, and Deutsche Welle. Distinguished alumni, including Bernard Avle, Bola Ray, Kafui Dey, and Paa Kwesi Asare, have testified to his mentorship and belief in their potential.

Their tributes echo what we, as a department, have always known: Alhaji believed in people and invested in their growth.

But his impact did not end in the newsroom. Through his close collaboration with our department, Alhaji also helped nurture a generation of media and communication academics. Among those who passed through his hands are Dr. Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey, now a Senior Lecturer of Journalism, Media and Communication Studies at Durban University of Technology in South Africa;  and Dr. Kwaku Botwe, a faculty member in our department who now serves as General Manager of Radio Univers, assuming leadership after Alhaji’s retirement. In this, we see a profound truth: great leaders do not merely build institutions; they create reliable succession plans. Alhaji did both.

His introduction of programmes such as Behind the Headlines and Research & Innovation Agenda further demonstrated his commitment to bridging academia and society. He made Univers not just a broadcasting station, but a platform for intellectual engagement and policy dialogue.

He championed Ghanaian music and languages at a time when Western content dominated the airwaves. And his pioneering newspaper review programme earned national recognition, a format that would later define morning broadcasting nationwide.

His service was recognized with the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Service Award and the National Award of the Order of the Volta. Yet, for us, his greatest honour was the integrity with which he represented the department and the university in the public sphere.

Today, as we mourn, we also give thanks. Radio Univers stands stronger because he guarded its vision. Our graduates stand taller because he strengthened their confidence. Our department’s mission of training ethical, skilled communicators found in him a faithful partner.

Alhaji has signed off from this earthly frequency, but his signal remains strong in every newsroom, every studio, and every classroom shaped by his influence.

There will never be another Alhaji.

And as his department, we are proud to have called him our own.