Celebrating Fr. Chijioke @ 50

Fr. Chijioke

Today is the 50th birthday of Fr. Chijioke Azuawusiefe, SJ, PhD, my immediate elder brother.

Dear friends, kindly join me in celebrating and thanking God for His love and protection over this amazing and amiable brother of mine, we fondly call Padre Tikoko.

He is a Jesuit priest and the Head of the Department of Communication Studies as well as the Director of the Center for the Study of African Culture and Communication at the Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

A scholar of media, communication, and film studies, he researches the intersection of media, religion, and culture.

He is a graduate of two Ivy League universities, Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Philadelphia, where he obtained his master’s and PhD degrees, respectively, with distinctions.

He equally earned additional master’s degrees from the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom, and the University of Southern California (Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism), Los Angeles.

With a fourth master’s degree from UPenn and also four PGD/graduate certificates from Harvard and UPenn, Fr. Chijioke also received his bachelor of arts degrees in communication science (with distinction) from the University of South Africa, Pretoria; theology from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya; and philosophy (with first class honors) from University of Zimbabwe, Harare.

A Jesuit for 28 years, Fr. Chijioke is a cosmopolitan and world traveller who has lived and studied in as well as visited about 30 countries on five continents.

He was the director of development for the Jesuits of North-West Africa Province (covering Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia) and the founding editor of the Jesuit magazine, Gratitude.

Padre Tikoko, happy birthday once again, my dear brother.