In a statement made available to The PUNCH on Saturday, Olatunji-Bello made the remarks at the Fifth Media Parley and awards of the institution, held at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Innovative Transformative STEM Education Conference Hall, main Campus, Ojo, on Thursday, December 1, 2022.
Being her first media parley in charge as the Vice Chancellor, the Professor of Physiology said her administration held members of the fourth estate of the realm in high esteem, as critical stakeholders in the task of transforming LASU into a preferred institution in West Africa.
She said, “In pursuit of this vision, we have the unalloyed support of our stakeholders whose contributions are crucial for attaining our desire for LASU. This is why I am indebted to our media friends for the critical role they have played in the last one year in sustaining the positive narrative of a new LASU. I am also grateful to the media for their objective, professional coverage and publicity of our activities.”
She further acknowledged that the parley had become one of the several efforts in the course of engagements with the press in the past and the event presented yet another opportunity to share the vision of her administration, considering the critical role the media played in shaping public opinion.
She said, “My administration has sustained the cordial and mutually beneficial relationship that we have built with you through the Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, over the years. I, therefore, on behalf of the entire LASU Community, thank you for your professional and balanced reportage of our activities in the outgoing year. Please, convey our highest regards to your respective media houses. I say kudos to CIPPR, for putting this together. Well done, keep up the good works you are doing”.
In his welcome address, the Coordinator, Centre for Information, Press and Public Relations, Mr Aderemi Fashola, described the pen pushers as dependable allies, whose professionalism had been helpful to the business of the university and as well earned her visibility in the eyes of its teeming public.
Fashola said this would be instrumental in the journey of the university to becoming the best in West Africa.
He said, “The university under the leadership of our amiable Vice Chancellor has set a tall, but, yet, achievable order of becoming the best in West Africa. We are not disembarking from this ambition anytime soon until it becomes a reality.”
