What You May Not Know About UNILAG’s SPGS Logo

By Jacinta Emeka and Success Essien

At first glance, the logo of the School of Postgraduate Studies (SPGS) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) looks deceptively simple: a stylised “S” curling into a poised “P”, framed by three horizontal lines and set against a field of white. But beneath its clean geometry lies a layered narrative, one that reflects the emotional, intellectual and spiritual architecture of postgraduate education itself.

For Professor Abraham Osinubi, the dean of SPGS, the logo is not a decorative emblem. It is the distilled story of what it means to enter the postgraduate world, to walk through its winding corridors, and to emerge transformed.

At the centre of the mark is the “S”, crafted intentionally with two arrows: one pointing inward, the other outward. The first, he explained, signifies the moment a person steps into postgraduate study. The second represents the exit, not as an escape but as a rebirth. 

The School of Post Graduate Studies, in his framing, is a factory of knowledge, a place where individuals come in as one thing and leave as something sharpened, deepened and redefined.

The pathway between the “S” and the “P” is curved like a maze, and that, too, is deliberate. Postgraduate study, Osinubi noted, is almost never a straight line. There are false turns, blind alleys, and unexpected descents. Sometimes a candidate feels as though they are moving upward, only to arrive at a dead end — what he calls a cul-de-sac, a common but often unspoken reality at the doctoral level. Other times, the correct path appears counterintuitive, a downward turn that eventually leads to clarity.

Within that maze, the logo hints at the presence of a guide. The path shows moments where one must be redirected, not forcefully, but firmly. In Osinubi’s interpretation, this guide may be a supervisor, a lecturer, a colleague or even divine intervention. Their role is not to erase difficulty but to reduce the time a student spends stuck in each stage. The steps to success, he insists, cannot be removed; they can only be navigated with wisdom.

Those steps themselves are captured in the three horizontal lines rising through the design. The smallest marks the postgraduate diploma, the next the master’s degree, and the longest the PhD — a layered progression of ambition and attainment. Like the maze, they sit inside a white field, chosen intentionally to reflect the values SPGS is built upon: integrity, honesty and transparency.

Yet the logo is more than a map; it is also a mirror of the school’s aspiration. SPGS currently runs over a thousand postgraduate programmes, a scale unmatched anywhere in Nigeria and exceedingly rare in Africa. Osinubi’s vision, embedded subtly into the emblem’s structure, is for SPGS to not only lead the continent but to stand as primus inter pares, first among equals, on the global stage.

And then there is the final image – the lighthouse. SPGS sits beside the lagoon, and in the dean’s metaphor, the school must function as a beacon for the entire university. A lighthouse does not shout; it shines. It stands still while casting clarity across uncertain waters. In many ways, the postgraduate journey he describes, its confusion, its dead ends, its moments of illumination, mirrors the work of a lighthouse itself.

The SPGS logo, then, is not merely a visual signifier. It is a quiet manifesto. A reminder that postgraduate study is a terrain of both struggle and refinement. That success rarely comes in straight lines. That guidance matters. Those values matter. And that the University of Lagos, through rigorous work and an unbroken commitment to excellence, seeks to illuminate paths far beyond its own shores.

In the end, the story of the logo is the story of the school: aspirational, honest, challenging and full of light.