Professor Tayo Popoola is a Professor of Political Communication at the University of Lagos and Postgraduate Coordinator, Faculty of Communication and Media Studies. A pioneer scholar in the discipline in Nigeria, his research focuses on the nexus between political communication, democracy, national security, farmers-herders conflict, and electoral integrity. He is the author of Introduction to Political Communication in Nigeria and a leading voice in the National Political Communication Movement, which advocates for the establishment of Political Communication as a distinct academic discipline at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in line with global best practices.
In this exclusive interview with the Group Editor-in-Chief of Education Monitor Group of Newspapers, Waziri Isa Adam, the Professor spoke on a wide range of issues — from the state of postgraduate training and AI in journalism, to the failures of Nigeria’s electoral communication, and his vision for making Political Communication the engine room of democracy and national development.
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Education Monitor: Congratulations, Professor, on your elevation to Full Professor. As Postgraduate Coordinator, what does this rank mean for Political Communication scholarship in Nigeria?
Prof Popoola: Thank you very much. As Postgraduate Coordinator, it strengthens my hand in canvassing for the elevation of Political Communication at the postgraduate level. At the moment, the course is offered at undergraduate level. We thank God and appreciate the NUC for the unbundling of Mass Communication, which paved the way for the listing of Political Communication as a course at the undergraduate level.
Our interest at the National Political Communication Movement is to canvass for the availability of the course at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Nigeria.
Education Monitor: You have guided dozens of MSc and PhD students. What is the one trait that separates a successful postgraduate from one who struggles?
Prof Popoola: Commitment is the hallmark of any PhD programme. The bulk of students pursuing PhD programmes usually give it part-time attention instead of full-time attention. That is where the struggle begins.
Education Monitor: Many see Political Communication as just media and politics. How do you define the discipline’s role in strengthening democracy and national development at the professorial level?
Prof Popoola: It is beyond media and politics. In my new book, Introduction to Political Communication in Nigeria, I described Political Communication as the life wire and oxygen of democracy. Political Communication is the wheel upon which democracy travels. Without communication, there cannot be democracy.
The greatest setback to democracy in Nigeria is the absence of this body of knowledge in our curriculum in the past. We started voting in 1923 under Sir Hugh Clifford’s Constitution, but the body of knowledge to train or raise the needed manpower for democracy has been absent over the years.
Education Monitor: What is the toughest postgraduate thesis you have supervised, and what made it a breakthrough?
Prof Popoola: PhD theses are problem-solving documents. They must identify core national problems and solutions. Therefore, I would not approve of the use of the word ‘toughest’. Rather, I would prefer words like ‘innovative’ and ‘topical’.
Education Monitor: As a Professor of Political Communication, what is your core research interest? Which of your findings do you think Nigeria needs to pay attention to right now?
Prof Popoola: My core research interest is how Political Communication could help in resolving critical national problems in the area of national insecurity, farmers-herders conflict, and electoral crisis in Nigeria.
Education Monitor: Fake news, Artificial Intelligence, and digital disruption are reshaping political discourse. How is your department preparing Doctors of Philosophy to lead, not just react to, these changes?
Prof Popoola: While AI has come to stay globally, let me state that it is a device that must be cautiously embraced in Journalism. As an editor and media writer, I detest a situation where AI will take over your thinking. AI cannot think for me. I have defined writing as an extension of the process of thinking and speaking. Why should AI now take over my thinking? With AI, how can I claim originality of my work?
Education Monitor: Nigerian elections, social media campaigns, and governance narratives are now studied globally. Where does Nigerian Political Communication research need to catch up?
Prof Popoola: Urgent enlistment of Political Communication at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. We have a lot of work to do in the area of instituting a national political culture on elections .At the moment, our elections are confronted with the problem aparthy either at the stage of voters registration or voting itself. Also, have a lot to do in the area of instituting democratic culture in which losers will accept electoral outcomes. At the moment, losers always claim they were rigged out in every election. Democracy cannot grow without a proper political culture.
Education Monitor: If Tertiary Education Trust Fund gave you ₦500 million for one national communication project, what would you build and who would it serve?
Prof Popoola: I would use it to conduct a national research probing specifically why all the elections in post-independent Nigeria ended in tears, sorrow, violence and bloodletting. That research would serve policymakers, INEC, security agencies, civil society, and every Nigerian who wants democracy to work.
Education Monitor: You have consulted for government and private firms. What is one communication mistake Nigerian political institutions keep repeating?
Prof Popoola: It is embarrassing that all electoral rules and regulations are consistently advertised in English language by INEC. This is part of the reasons why electoral offences are always high at every election. Why can’t we start advertising electoral rules and regulations in the three major Nigerian indigenous languages: Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba?
Education Monitor: The Faculty of Communication and Media Studies is one of University of Lagos’ youngest. As a new Full Professor of Political Communication, what is your vision for it in 2030?
Prof Popoola: This question should have been directed to our Dean.
Education Monitor: Postgraduate delays and perpetual students are a crisis nationwide. What reforms have you introduced as Postgraduate Coordinator to change that?
Prof Popoola: Since I became the PG Coordinator, the School of Postgraduate Studies, UNILAG, has put in place measures that will enable students to finish their course at the stipulated time. The current administration in UNILAG would also not be happy with any person holding students from graduating at the stipulated time.
Education Monitor: How do you ensure the University of Lagos Political Communication PhD can compete globally while solving Nigerian governance problems locally?
Prof Popoola: We have highly experienced, tested and renowned academics for the training of all our PhD students.
Education Monitor: What TETFund or Nigerian Communications Commission grant has most impacted postgraduate training in your department, and what was the result?
Prof Popoola: This is a question for the Dean of our faculty.
Education Monitor: You straddle academia and the political space. What is one thing campaign teams can learn from universities, and vice versa?
Prof Popoola: Universities are established to proffer solutions to societal problems. We find out that the industries are not using the various research outputs from the universities.
Education Monitor: Many media Chief Executive Officers say graduates are not job-ready for political reporting. As the man training their future staff, what is your response?
Prof Popoola: That is true. That is why Political Communication is the urgently needed tonic to repackage, remodel and retool the training of media professionals in Nigeria.
Education Monitor: With 2027 elections approaching, what role should Political Communication scholars play in deepening democracy without being partisan?
Prof Popoola: The various indictments by the law courts of academics who were involved in the conduct of previous elections in Nigeria should caution academics henceforth.
Education Monitor: Outside journal articles and postgraduate defenses, who is Professor Popoola? What do you read, listen to, or do when you are not grading?
Prof Popoola: Kindly see the attached bio.
Education Monitor: Every lecturer has an “I almost left for industry or politics” moment. Did you have one, and why did you stay in academia?
Prof Popoola: Augustus Caesar said, “I met Rome a city of mud, but I left it a city of marble.” Academia is one of the best ways through which I can raise, along with others, the needed manpower for the development of Nigeria and through this make the country better than we met it.
Education Monitor: You have mentored future Vice Chancellors, Heads of Department, and political aides. What do you tell a young lecturer who wants your job someday?
Prof Popoola: It is not a high paying job at the moment. Even with the current review of salaries and allowances, inflation and high cost of fuel have rendered the exercise useless.
Education Monitor: Full Professor is a peak, not an end. What is next — a national policy role, a book series on Nigerian elections, or building Africa’s top Political Communication research center?
Prof Popoola: I am totally committed to the struggle for the listing of Political Communication as a distinct academic discipline in Nigeria in line with global best practices. Research is ongoing while publication of books is steadily in progress.
Education Monitor: Thank you, Prof., I wish you the best of luck in your unwavering commitment to academic excellence.
Prof. Popoola: Thank you too, Waziri, for allowing me to feature in your exceptional and national newspaper, the first of its kind in Nigeria’s protracted history of print journalism, born to cover and report the education sector exclusively.