The Conception and Birth
To combat the low school attendance trend in Lagos State during the tenure of the late Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande, the first executive Governor of the state, the government had to hurriedly scamper about for a way out.
Having entered into a brainstorming session, one possible way that appeared to those who were saddled with the responsibility of nipping the dangerous trend in the bud was to birth a citadel of learning that will be a pride not only to the state, but also to the entire nation.
Thus in 1983, Lagos State University (LASU) was founded by the enabling law of Lagos State with a vision to pursue the advancement of learning and academic excellence.
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The strive for excellence is in line with the conviction to irrevocably be committed to sustaining the culture of excellence in its activities and transmitting it to distinction which the new Vice Chancellor, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, is pre-occupied with at present.
The Reach
LASU is dogged in the pursuit of its mission to become a citadel of learning. This is why it chose to be broad in outlook; providing first class and cutting-edge education that embraces all endeavours. To accommodate this wide reach, it operates on three campuses.
These three campuses are found in Ojo, Ikeja and Epe. Ojo, which is where the main campus operates from, houses faculties of Arts, Education, Law, Management Sciences, Sciences and Social Sciences, School of Communication, Centre for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development (CESSED), Centre for General Nigerian Studies, Centre for Planning Studies, Information and Communication Technology Centre (ICTC), Online and Distance Learning and Research Institute (ODLRI) and Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies. Within Ojo Campus is also The Postgraduate School.
Domiciled in Ikeja Campus is College of Medicine, while Epe Campus is home to Faculty of Engineering, the School of Agriculture and Institute for Organic Agriculture and Green Economy.
Population and Administration
At present LASU has a total of 43,362 students, including all the students within its three campuses.
The administrative structure comprises Registry, Academic and Planning Unit, General Administration Unit and Students Affairs, Senior Staff Establishment and Welfare, Junior Staff Establishment and Training.
Others are Works and Services, Health Centre, Multimedia Centre, Information Unit and Security Unit.
Accomplishments
Since the birth, the university has conquered on all fronts, growing in leaps and bounds and written has its name in the temple of fame to become one of the highly esteemed universities in the country.
In 2022, LASU emerged as the winner of UI GreenMetrics Global Ranking for Best University in Nigeria and West Africa.
It has one time been the second-best university in Nigeria, 11th in Africa and one of the first 500 in the world based on the latest world rating of universities.
Some of LASU students have been outstanding in various areas. At a time one Ramota Adeola who graduated from the school was adjudged to be the best PhD student in South Africa.
It has produced accomplished individuals like the Right Honourable Mudashiru Obasa, the current Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, and many other distinguished alumni operating in banking, ICT and manufacturing sectors of the nation’s economy, as well as government agencies and departments.
Professor Rotimi Olatunji, a Professor of Public Relations and Advertising, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Lagos State University said this on LASU, “The Lagos State University (LASU) is arguable the University of first choice for candidates applying for admission through the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board. LASU boasts of the best educated, well trained and most dedicated academic and non-teaching staff of global standards. Consistently, LASU has been blessed with globally ranked Vice-Chancellors, including the present one, Professor Ibiyemi Olatunji -Bello. Consistently too, visitors to the University, including His Excellency Governor Sanwo-Olu, have shown greater commitment and bestowed funding support to the LASU project. Our students are also our key asset. Their performances in local and global academic competitions and co-curricula activities are superlative. These are parts of LASU’s trade secrets.
The story of LASU is resplendent in success and trademark of excellence.
Recently, LASU emerged second-best when students of the department of Communication and Media Studies participated in the advertising pitch at the Advertising Industry Colloquium organized by Advertising Regulation Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and the advertising sectorial heads at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos to bridge the gap between the town and the gown.
LASU was represented by AbdulRaheem Hassan, Badmus AbdulBasit, Dauda Mistura, Egede Onyekachi, Giwa Ruqoyah and Olosunde Victor. Because of their performance the school was awarded a cash prize of Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand naira (#750,000:00). Dauda Mistura, a student of LASU studying Mass Communication and Media Studies praised the school for the thorough and rigorous academic work students were made to through which also is an attestation to good performance of the school’s representatives in the advertising pitch at the Colloquium.
Competing schools were given a pitch to produce campaigns that can solve many challenges Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) is confronting in its efforts to educate drivers in order to reduce road accident in Nigeria.
Prof. Alawode in his remarks on the performance of the student at the Advertising Industry Colloquium appreciated the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ibiyemi Ibilola Olatunji – Bello and other principal officers of the school for their enormous support for the department.
Remarkably, LASU has been a respected citadel of learning in Nigeria and its achievements in recent years is projecting the institution in a good light which will also aid the rating of the university at becoming the best in West Africa and by extension, Africa.
