By : Onyedika Agbedo,
Date: 9 Aug 2025
Prof. Abraham Oloruntola Sunday
On Friday, August 1, this year, the University of Lagos announced a major academic restructuring on its website, which entailed the unbundling of six existing faculties and the creation of eight new ones. In this interview with ONYEDIKA AGBEDO, the Dean of the newly created Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Prof. Oloruntola Sunday, highlights how the development will impact media training and the industry, as well as his vision for the faculty.
Being the first Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies of this great university, how do you intend to ensure that the objectives for the upgrade of the former Department of Mass Communication into a full-fledged faculty will be realised?
First, let me thank the Almighty God that made it possible during my own term as the Head of Department of Mass Communication and I was eventually elected Dean of the Faculty. I can say that the faculty is like a seed; we have just been given a seed to sow. And as you know, when you sow a seed, you have to watch it germinate, water it, and tender it to the time it will bear fruit and then you will harvest it.
What I am trying to say is that what the university has given the faculty now is like saying, ‘this is a vision, go and run with it’. And in doing this, it is not something that only one person can do. So, the Heads of Departments who are here right now and I are to lay a foundation that others who will come after us will build on. So, it is now our duty to sit down and decide how we want to lay this foundation on a very solid ground so that others can come and build on it.
A dean is elected for a term of two years. If I am re-elected, that is another two years. So, in the next four years everything is over as far as my position as the Dean of the Faculty is concerned. So, the vision is not something you can say you want to realise in the next four years. This is University of Lagos, which is about 60 years old. So, we are also looking at how this faculty will be in the next 50 years. So, the faculty is bigger than us. As such we need the cooperation of everybody, especially the alumni; because if you rely on the government, only a few things will happen in terms of finance.
If I show the budget for each department now for a year you will laugh. And it is the same thing across faculties. If the University of Lagos tells you its budget from the Federal Government to UNILAG for a year you will not believe it. I am not sure it will be able to pay even the utility bills of the university. The vice chancellor told us recently that the electricity bill is now N600 million per month. That’s the reason I said that we will need the support of the alumni and others. Somebody donated the Shobanjo Building to us and we believe that we still have people with goodwill that we can beckon on.
Now, the National Universities Commission (NUC) will still come and do resource verification. They will look at the library for instance. The University Librarian told me that 35 per cent of the marks for resource verification goes to the library. When he came and looked at our library, he said we had a lot of work to do there. So, I have reached out to some alumni and a set has given us N500,000. That one bought only 10 foreign books. I have also contacted an architect to restructure the library for us. He has sent the design and I have forwarded it to the chairman of our alumni. I have contacted the same architect for the expansion of the building and he is working on it now. I have also forwarded how far he has gone to the chairman of our alumni so that they can start scouting for people that can help us.
These are your initial steps of watering the seed that has been handed to you. What more should be expected?
For now, the major challenge is finance. When people ask me where is your new office as the dean, my response is: Have you gotten another building? So, what we have done is to change the HoD’s office to the office of the dean and then look for spaces for the Sun-Dean and the three HoDs. We have earmarked those offices.
So, how many departments are in the faculty currently?
We have three departments. The Department of Mass Communication is still there because those who are currently in 100 level to 400 level, Masters programme, PhD programme, are still in Mass Communication. The new departments include the Department of Public Relations and Advertising. This department will have two programmes – B.Sc Public Relations and B.Sc Advertising. The other one is the Department of Journalism, Broadcasting and Media Studies. The programmes there will be B.Sc Journalism and B.Sc Broadcasting. So, we are starting with five programmes.
These things are tied to availability of staff because as far as the NUC is concerned, before a programme can start, the minimum staff you have must be five. And if it is a programme that has been there for years, the minimum will be eight staff. But again, they will begin to look at it based on the ratio of students to staff. But it is not our problem; it is the Federal Government that has not allowed universities to advertise for staff. They just gave them the permission. In fact, somebody was telling me that UNILAG may advertise in the coming days. But even at that, there is a maximum number you can employ. For instance, UNILAG was given permission to employ 350 staff – 100 non-academic staff, then 250 academic staff. Meanwhile, there is no department that does not have shortage of staff.
So, what is the plan of the faculty to ensure that it produces topnotch graduates amid the prevailing shortage of staff?
If they give us the minimum staff required, we will look for people to engage as adjunct and contract staff to supplement. That is the only way to go. Some of the people we have in mind are still very agile and can still contribute to what we are doing. Right now we have Fellows and contract staff.
Was the unbundling an initiative of the former Mass Communication Department?
The NUC started it. The commission has been unbundling some courses such as Computer Science, Environmental Sciences, Creative Arts etc. So, it’s the NUC that directed the university to unbundle the Mass Communication department and the university has no choice than to comply. Again, it depends on the vision of the leadership of the university. Our own Madam Vice Chancellor is somebody that believes in expansion to give opportunity for people to grow and also for students to specialise.
As a communication scholar of high standing, how do you think this unbundling will impact the different facets of the media profession and industry?
Generally, it will impact the media profession positively. By the time we start graduating students in specialised areas, the industry will gain. If you look at the NUC unbundling guide, there are about nine departments there. In the BIMAS, which is the outgoing Mass Communication curriculum, we just teach it generally. Under that curriculum, we will just give you the basics and when you get to the industry and find yourself in broadcast, you can apply the basics you learnt. But now they will be more specialised in line with what is happening in other parts of the world. For instance, if you study film here now and we have the equipment and you are taught how to handle the equipment, by the time you get to the industry, you will not have any problem. So, definitely it will impact positively on the industry.
Are you thinking of opportunities for partnerships with external bodies towards placing the faculty on a strong footing?
We have ideas but I will not reveal some of them now. We have been waiting for this; so now that it has become a reality, we are fine-tuning our ideas. However, as I stated earlier, with the department becoming a faculty now, I know the alumni will be more interested in our programmes. They have been coming before, not only to contribute but also give lectures. But now we will be vigorously exploring town and gown collaborations for the benefit of our students.
Finally, how would you sum up what the coming of this faculty represents not just in Nigeria but globally?
What it represents is a centre for training skilled media experts that will be able to compete with others nationally and internationally. I have no doubt that we have the experts here. I practiced as a reporter for 12 years before I took up lecturing job. So, some of us practiced before we joined the university. So, we have both the practical and theoretical knowledge to impart on the students and that makes it even different from what it was when we were here. Only a few of our lecturers had practical experience. The person that taught me News Writing did not even study Mass Communication in first degree and second degree; maybe he did that at PhD level. So, he was just teaching us textbook news writing. But I don’t need to enter the classroom with a note before I teach News Writing and the students will gain knowledge from my practical experience.
So, I believe that this faculty will be a model for other faculties of communication and media studies in this country, as it has always been. The first campus radio station was established here; the first campus television also started here. So, I believe that we will continue to be a leader in the industry. And there is nowhere you will go to – public relations, advertising or any aspect of Mass Communication that you will not see somebody from UNILAG shining.