I’m Developing a 20-Year Mission Statement — Dean of Faculty of Comms and Media Studies

The Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Professor Oloruntola Sunday, assumed office as the pioneer dean of the faculty in 2025. In an exclusive interview with Barakat Lawal, Iman Aiyeola and Akemini Udoh, he shares his vision for the newly birthed faculty.

Currently, the faculty has about 15 academic staff. Considering the expected increase in student intake in the coming years, are there plans in place to recruit more lecturers to ensure quality teaching and learning?

Yes. The Vice-Chancellor (VC) has just approved. For the past two or three weeks or one month, we advertised for staff and we have done the shortlisting. There are stages. First, you shortlist. Second, you do micro-teaching with them. Then you take the A&P, that’s the Faculty Appraisal and Promotion Committee. We now look at the shortlisted candidates. And then we now recommend to the VC.

I will now send the VC the list of shortlisted candidates and tell her how we shortlisted them. If somebody is not qualified, why did you disqualify the person? All those processes have been completed. We have sent our list, they have approved it, and we have constituted a panel for interviews.

So, what remains now is a physical interview. They have even told us. They have sent a letter that we should invite them for an interview. The university is making efforts to recruit more lecturers for each of the departments.

Although the faculty now operates independently, new students are still admitted under the Department of Mass Communication. What steps are being taken towards full accreditation for the faculty that is for the other courses?

They have approved the splitting. We are starting with three departments and five Programmes. We are still admitting into Mass Communication now. The first thing you said was the number of staff for a department. It’s a minimum of five or six full-time staff. The National Universities Commission (NUC) will come and do resource verification.

Resource verification, they will look at both human and material resources. They will look at classrooms, offices, and humans. So, if you have not completed the human resources and

they come as it is now, they will not likely ask us to start. When they come and they look at our human and material resources and they pass us, we will have passed. They will write to the university that we can now admit students. NUC will write to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) that UNILAG can now admit students to those other departments. It is now JAMB that will advertise. They can now advertise Mass Comm, Public Relations, Journalism, Broadcasting and Media Studies.

So, that’s when we can start admitting students into those different departments. It will now be a choice between which one do I want to go for. Because it is what you enter with that you will graduate with. If you enter with Mass Comm, you cannot graduate with public relations and advertising. 

What timeline do you give that?

 I’m sure by January. We are conducting our interview. And immediately we are, maybe we set one day for each department, three days. Then A&P will meet on the interview and that’s the faculty A&P. Then we will send our recommendation to the VC for approval. So, if they approve, they will now send it to the council. So I hope that by second semester, the new staff will join us.

And with the increase in students that will have new departments, are there plans to expand the infrastructure?

We are planning, like right now, I’m developing a 20-year mission statement, a strategic plan for the faculty. So definitely, I’m thinking of something that will grow my tenure. My tenure is just for two years. If I re-contest, I still have the opportunity of re-contesting. If they vote me in, then I will have two more years, which means I will have a maximum of four years. 

I’m developing something that anybody who is coming can improve on or follow. So definitely, part of our plan is to look for donors who will give us buildings. You know, somebody gave us this building. I have to look for donors who will give us buildings. Because I know that at first, they will not give us more than 50 students to each of those departments here. The previous one will still have its own. Mass Comm has been there for a long time, and it will still have its own full complement of maybe 180 students or something. They will give us 50 students for it. So, I think we can still cope with Afe Babalola Hall; we’ll still manage ourselves. 

The current library space appears insufficient to accommodate the growing student population. Are there plans for expanding the library facilities? 

Yes. We have contacted Dr Johnson in Architecture to remodel. He has drawn a plan for remodelling the library. I have forwarded it to alumni; they are the ones who will now help us search for people who can do that. But apart from that, we have also done something like an extension of this building, which will include all these places where the photocopier people are. So about a three- or four-story building. So, on the library issue, it’s in the drawing.

From your perspective, what is the ideal student-lecturer relationship, and how can it be strengthened within the faculty?

You know, they call us your Lucus parentis, which means we are like your parents. We should be friendly, but firm. Because we are not expected to spoil you. The problem we are having nowadays is, “I’ve suffered.” “I don’t want my children to suffer.” And along that line, you are spoiling the child. What a child should do: house help, go here and there, come and wash the plates, come and do something. By the time you leave Nigeria, who will wash the plate for you? Who will fix the things damaging in your house? Because by the time you call somebody to come and fix it for you, and they call their amount, and you see how much you are earning in a week or a month, you will think twice.

So, you should be friendly. And I believe we are trying here. Some of the things students do here, my daughter went to a private university. The way they relate with lecturers, the way they examine something, and the way they query lecturers about how they grade. You don’t try that. Where I did my sabbatical, you don’t even see your result. Here, now, because of your population, we display the results so that you can make complaints. We are human beings and nobody is perfect; there could be errors. So that’s why we normally display results, so that students can complain, and we will make the corrections. But we are many, but their population is not many.

When you finish exam today, as in a private school,  two days later, they will ask you to leave the campus. So, when you are coming, you will just see it’s on your portal if you want to complain. I’m not saying we are perfect. We continue to work. But again, I want you to believe that we are also human beings. Everybody is under pressure. Another thing students don’t realise is that things are not the same when you are using a manual. If the Senate has passed a result, you have to go to the Senate again to seek permission to make any correction on the results. But students, when they see it, want the thing done immediately. They just need to understand that things may not be as they expected them to be, but I think we are trying our best. I’m not saying we are perfect, but we are also human beings.

If as a student you come now, it depends on the approach. Somebody saw me three weeks ago and said he saw a score of 4 over 60. Now he doesn’t believe he can score 4 over 60. I said, okay, follow me. I just brought out the script there and showed him. When you didn’t answer my question. So, when he saw his script, he couldn’t talk again.  We cannot deliberately, except by error, fail a student. If you fail, it’s because of what you wrote. But even if you are close to, if you see what we do here, you will realise that we are trying.

If the result is too bad, the faculty board of studies, the examiners, or the departmental board will say we should go and review the results. They cannot accept this result if it is too bad. But students don’t know this one. That is the reason why you will see that they would say, “I’m on the borderline.” We have stopped that one. 39 is a score, 38 is a score. It depends on whether the lecturer wants to change it to 40, fine. If he doesn’t change it, you cannot query the lecturer. Why don’t you score 40? Why don’t you score 50? Why don’t you score 60? Don’t say, I’m on the borderline. There’s nothing like borderline. It’s just compassionate. And say, okay, if somebody has 49, why don’t you help the person add to the CA so that the student can cross to the next grade. But we have realised that students have abused it.

The way the university designed the score sheet is CA and the exam score. It’s not our business to even total it. It’s the system that will total. So, if the system totals it and it’s 49, so be it. If it is 70, so be it. The only thing you should know is that maybe I’m supposed to score 50. Maybe I’m supposed to score 40. And it depends on whether you feel convinced, you can approach the lecturer. This thing also depends on your manner of approach. If you are rude, the lecturer can say go and write a letter. If you are not rude, the lecturer will show you your script. If there is an area where you have made a mistake, the lecturer will show you. I think in terms of relationship, it may not be perfect, but I think we are trying. We accommodate so many things that other departments don’t accommodate. 

For the Public Relations and Advertising (PRAD) programme, are there specific initiatives in place to expose students to practical industry experiences before graduation, similar to the opportunities offered by UNILAG Sun for print and UNILAG Radio/TV for broadcast?

That’s why they have the PRAD laboratory and we also have the PRAD Club. And these are the things that I think they should be doing there. But the issue is that we also still need personnel.  So, we need somebody who can help us put them through. 

There have been reports of non-functional air conditioners in lecture halls such as MCB 3, 4, and 5. Are there plans to address this issue?

So, the way you people use our AC, let me put the thing to you all.  You will see the way they will put on the AC and open the windows and the doors. Everything will be opened. The last time we repaired those chairs, I think we paid about seven hundred and something thousand Naira to fix those chairs. Go and check those chairs now.  If the fans are working, leave the AC. If we have money, we will do it. But the problem is that the students are not even helping us. If you enter the classrooms in the morning, you will think we are in a pantry. They will bring food from everywhere and come and eat there and dump it. They will not take it to the waste paper basket. They will just put it there.  They are just doing as if the cleaners are not also human beings. Where I did my sabbatical, go to their hall, canteen, it is only a visitor who will finish his food and will not carry the plate to the appropriate place. And when I travelled to Poland, it was the same thing. When they finish their food, they carry it to where they are going, even though at the canteen, where you pay, so we are not expecting somebody to come and carry it.  But in this place, we have a culture where they believe that we have cleaners and they will just litter every place. So, the students also need to assist us. 

Students have raised concerns about the functionality and availability of equipment in the

photo studio.

The laboratory fee for 2025-2026 has just been supplied; they have just supplied the equipment. After auditing it, we will take them there. We will continue to add and replace. So, until we get that, the studio is also very small. But at least, even if it is small, let the facility be there and functioning. So, we are trying; we continue to improve on what we have there. 

Going back to the issue of students’ grades. There are some instances where what you see on the broadsheets and what you see on the normal results differ. So, how do we plan to improve the accuracy and integrity of results management? 

That is the reason why we display scoresheets. We display results here at two levels. First of all, display scoresheets and then display broadsheets. So, if we display score sheets and, for instance, you see 40 and by the time we display broadsheets, you see 30. The problem we have here is that the university gives us one week to effect corrections on results because there is a timeline for everything. So, if they display a broadsheet and you see a different score, go and meet the lecturer now and just because when we display, I know most of you take a copy. Just depending on the approach. I have 60, but now I have 50. The lecturer will look at it and will do the correction before the final broadsheet is submitted to the senate. Because if you don’t do it, if the correction is not done and the student insists that I must take my grade, the lecturer will have to go to BCOS. We have to raise some money and it’s not easy to raise some money because the lecturer must ensure everything so that the student really scores 60. You provide the whole score sheet for everybody. At times, if they doubt, they can say, I won’t bring your script. So, no lecturer wants to go down that route, so they always try to do due diligence. But at times, we have human error.  If you score 70, why should it be changed on the broadsheet? 

This session, it appears that all courses have been made compulsory for both 100-level and 200-level students. What is the reason behind this decision, Sir?

It’s the new curriculum we are operating, but I’m sure by the time you get to 300 level, 400 level, you will have some electives. So, it’s the new curriculum.  I guess we’ve seen this online. You would have seen CCMAS. 

As the pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, what is your vision for the faculty for the next two years?

I’ve told you that the vision is bigger than me. My vision for the faculty is bigger. I’m looking at the faculty that, in 20-30 years, if I’m still alive, if I come here, we will have a big building, a big studio, and all the laboratories will be functioning in another dimension. So, we are just laying the foundation; others are coming to build on what we are doing. Our prayer is that God will give us wisdom to lay a good foundation, so others will come and build on the foundation we are laying.