Interview With Foyin Ejilola, AFAS Press Former Editor-In-Chief
In this publication, AGNES OYEDOKUN had an insightful interview with the former Editor-in-Chief of AFAS press, Foyin Ejilola. During her tenure, she oversaw numerous impactful stories and helped shape the direction of the press. We discuss her experiences, the challenges she faced, and the valuable lessons she learnt. This conversation offers a unique look into the world of student journalism from someone who has been at the forefront, making significant contributions to the press.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Can we get to know who Foyin Ejilola is?
Foyin Ejilola:
Foyin Ejilola is me. I’m Foyin Ejilola. I’m a graduate of English language and literature from the University of Ibadan. I mean, I can’t say that now that we’ve seen the results. I am an ex-campus journalist. I am the ex-editor-in-chief of AFAS press. Besides academics, besides the positions that I’ve held in extracurricular organizations on campus, I’m also a writer. I’ve been a writer since forever. I used to write poems. I still write fiction, flash fiction, short stories. I am also a journalist, and this means that I’ve worked with several publications, several magazines outside of campus as my own real job. The areas that I love to explore in writing that I love to talk about would be fashion, beauty, health, Culture, Culture as in Customs of People, and Culture as in Arts, literature. Also, I’m the first child of my parents, and I have two other siblings. I’m the only girl, too.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Tell us about your journey into campus journalism and why AFAS Press? What motivated your decision to join the press?
Foyin Ejilola:
I joined the press because it was either the press or nothing for me. Right from primary school, I’d been a member of the press club. And when the press club was founded, that was when I was in primary three or four. I didn’t have to apply, I was just admitted into the club by my teacher and the other teacher that was in charge because based on some personality traits that I exhibited then, I was also like a very popular kid in primary school and secondary school even. I was a popular kid in primary school and one thing that all the teachers then would agree on after the fact that I was brilliant, academically okay and all of that, was the fact that I was outspoken, bold and talkative. So, to them, those traits were the traits of a potential newscaster. The first session I joined the school in primary two, at the end of the session there used to be a news reading activity where a pupil would be the newscaster, would read news to the parents and other pupils in attendance.
I just joined the school, I’d never done it before, but then I was chosen. I practiced and I did it very well and that was in my record. When the press club was founded, I didn’t have to apply, I just got into it. When I got to secondary school, I found out that there were many more clubs than they were in my primary school. In my primary school, we only had the jet club and the press club but in my secondary school, we had the press club, jet club, young farmers club, homemakers club and they were basically clubs for students who wanted to pursue a certain career or want to get into certain professions. So, jet club for medical students who want to be doctors and stuff.
I was conflicted between choosing JET club and press clubs because I also like that I was really particular about becoming a doctor, a gynecologist but one thing that changed my mind was that when the recruitment window was nearing the deadline. The press club began activities in earnest and I discovered that one of those activities was reading news on the assembly for like three days during the week and that really fascinated me. I was like, oh, wow, I would also want to do this and the plan was that if I stayed in the press club long enough, then I would get to do that, because most of the students doing that then were in senior classes and the really, really good ones in junior classes. I was in JSS 1 then. Yes, I was in the press club and I was also good. Like I said, I was pretty popular and I was friends with lots of teachers.
One thing was that I was also good at languages. I was the best in French class. I was the best in Yoruba class and I was very close friends with my Yoruba teachers. I attended Ansar-Ud-Deen College in Isolo, Lagos, we had a very vibrant social life and there were also other branches. My school is mixed and because we had a very vibrant social life, sometimes this school would always have one activity or the other that other schools would join. There were activities like news reading also and I was usually the one in charge when it came to Yoruba news, there would be someone needed to read and Yoruba news and I’ll be the one to do that. Sometimes I sourced for the news because I was very good at diacritics.
I left the school and then in my other secondary school, I joined the press club from JSS3 and also liked the traits my teachers had noticed in primary school. I guess they were still there. I was still outspoken and bold so, I joined the press club then and immediately I started reading news on the assembly ground, I didn’t have to wait till senior classes like some others in the press club. I suspected then and I still suspect that one of the reasons could be the fact that a lot of them complimented my voice, my speaking voice and they also felt like that voice was suitable for all that.
So, when I got to the senior class, I became the editor of the news desk and entertainment desk. And yeah, that’s what I did until I got to university. When I resumed UI, I didn’t know anything about the press. I remember speaking with my mum that I wished something like that was in the university and I think a few days after, I saw AFAS Press call for recruitment on the AFAS group. And yeah, that was just it. I think it was even a day to deadline when I saw it and I could not even pay that same day, I had to pay the following day, which was the deadline. I did that because what else would I have done if not the press. So, why AFAS press? Like I said, I didn’t know anything about the press on campus until I saw that. I was in Idia then, I could have joined Idia Press too, but I didn’t see anything about that so, it was just AFAS Press for me and campus journalism, because I’ve always been interested in journalism. I have been a member of the Press Club for as long as I can remember.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Being the Editor-In-Chief of AFAS Press, a faculty with so many dramas especially in the political sphere requiring the press to be on their toes mostly, how will you describe the experience?
Foyin Ejilola:
A faculty with so many dramas, especially in the political sphere, perfect description, a faculty of so many dramas, that’s faculty of arts, that’s AFAS, and in my time as a student in the faculty of arts, as a member of AFAS press, I have witnessed a lot in Simple’s administration, in Francisco’s administration, Akoem’s administration before I became the editor-in-chief during Ayanfe’s time and one consistent thing with the three administrations that I had witnessed before I became the editor-in-chief was the constant friction between the executives and the FLC that would then spill over to AFAS press and then you know there would be intra-party, inter-party conflicts that would turn the faculty into a pot of dramas. During my time, AFAS surprisingly had an almost peaceful atmosphere where situations that could have erupted into very serious conflicts were kind of contained. There were ones that we observed as the press within the executives, but they were also very contained and curtailed. And this was because the president, that’s the immediate past president of AFAS had this goal of maintaining and making a tenure one that is devoid of dramas that we’ve all experienced, especially like during Akoem’s time, it was a very tough one. There was a very strong friction between the press, especially, and the executives, stroke the legislative arm of the faculty.
We had a surprisingly peaceful time when I was the editor-in-chief, I’m talking about the whole faculty. So, our focus was then addressing issues, we were not entirely focused on addressing conflicts, but we were focused on addressing issues. That’s like going through the manifestos of the executives, the things that they had promised, the things they had said they would do in the faculty and things they had not done, including things that were going on in the legislature. In the FLC, there were times that we faced some kind of pushback on how the press should not report things happening in FLC meetings until the release but yeah, we are the press so we didn’t yield to that and we would always publish. The news editor and other members of AFAS press would go to the sittings to observe, to cover and they would always publish regardless. So yeah, we had a somewhat peaceful time, courtesy of the president’s goal and vision.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Who are those campus journalists that you admire and inspire you with their works?
Foyin Ejilola:
I’ve had the opportunity to work with and meet campus journalists both past and present so I have a long list of campus journalists that I admire for different and various reasons. So, there is Kashams – Kareem Shamsudeen. He was UCJUI E-in-C during the 2020/2021 academic session. I also worked with him as the features Editor. There is Ololade Ojogbede, one of the past E-in-C of AFAS Press. There is Olamilekan Mashika, the AFAS press E-in-C before me. There is Folashade Ola, she was AFAS press E-in-C when I joined AFAS press and there is Segun Ogunlade. He has graduated now. There is Theophilus Alawonde, there is John Eriomala. I love the fact that he does the entertainment journalism thing so well. He’s a very fine one, I’m always impressed. There is Habeeb Abdul, Hikmah Tiamiyu, Tolu Ayeye, Olanshile Ogunrinu – the current Afas press E-in-C, there is also Raymond, the former E-in-C of law press. Then, John Dare Okafor. I have a very long list of CJs that I admire. Abdulkabeer Tijani was the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of AFAS Press and before then, he worked as the news and politics editor.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
How have you been able to balance Editor-in-Chief with your academic life and dabbling into other activities on campus?
Foyin Ejilola:
Like I mentioned earlier, I didn’t do anything extracurricular besides campus journalism. And, this question would be better phrased as how I was able to balance being an Editor-in-Chief with my academic life and my own work outside of campus. I think I just tried my best even though I suffered because being an Editor-in-Chief meant that you had to like stay on top of everything happening within the faculty, within the press organization and asides that, I had to ensure that each editor was doing what they were supposed to do and that could be hard sometimes because you are trying to monitor the progress of about seven editors and it was a bit challenging. And balancing that with academics, I would say it was a really tough one because it’s final year and it was the session that I wrote my project and because I had to be the editor-in-chief, I had to be there for AFAS press. I had to stay up a lot of times editing. There were times that I rewrote lots of articles, I had to rewrite from scratch. Editing also involves you as an editor thinking if it is just your personal preference that is making the article satisfactory to you or the way this person has actually written so you learn to separate your bias, your preference to make the writer’s personality or writing or what they’re trying to say in their own voice shine and then I am a kind of person that spends surprisingly a lot of time on editing because I am somewhat meticulous. It’s just me and other people are different. So these are also like one of the things that post them challenges
So yeah, because I had to be the editor-in-chief because I had to do things like editing, attend meetings and all of that and I didn’t get around to working on my project on time and because as I can most times be surprisingly slow on things that you’d expect someone to do in a twinkle of an eye is the way I can be as fast as lightning on things that you’d expect someone to take a lot of time. I mean, I wrote my project, I wrote the entire thing in a surprisingly, you know, short period of time. I won’t be sharing here, but that had to happen. That had to happen because I had to focus on AFAS press. I had to make sure that we were churning quality articles and articles that were speaking to the happenings in the faculty, I also had to manage people and all of that wasn’t easy. As a student I didn’t exactly have a reading routine but the times I really wanted to read, spend more time on my books, I couldn’t. Also as a person, I tend to worry and think a lot about things and that also took a lot of my time so sometimes I’d be reading and I would not even be able to concentrate because there’s this thing about the press I was supposed to sort out and we’ve not been able to do it, also the issue of funding so yeah, it was a tough one but I wouldn’t say my academics suffered because I have my way around things like this, working smart as opposed to working hard.
Whether E-in-C or not, that was still a part of my academics. I was the E-in-C of our faculty because I was in the university. So with work, work suffered a great because with thinking or editing going on, I could not write as much as I’d have loved to, I could not pitch as I’d have loved to and that was also because like I was occupied with school, my position as the editor-in-chief so there wasn’t enough room in my brain to think about things and when I actually like thought about these things and then followed up on all of them, I’m like, no, I can’t pitch this now, I can’t start working on this now because it’s going to take a great deal of my time and I didn’t have that luxury but luckily for me it’s also a good one because work suffering didn’t necessarily mean that my finances had to suffer.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
What would you say were the biggest achievements and challenges of your administration?
Foyin Ejilola:
One of the achievements would be AFAS press winning the best faculty LPO in my time for the ninth time in a row. The second would be quality which I am very passionate about and AFAS press was able to maintain that level of quality to a great extent and to my satisfaction during my time and one thing I have always learnt is that quality is quality.
The writing of our members was not exactly satisfactory, we had training, talks in my time, I was able to use all my efforts and our new recruits were able to attain that journalistic standard, I invested in terms of writing and it yielded to a great extent.
One of our challenges was writing and because I am particular about quality writing, it was tough receiving submitted articles and also to a great extent, I was not in a position to be exposed to a situation where I’d have to rewrite all over again when the writer has a good point but poor delivery. Most of our members knew what they were writing and saying but for any other reader without context, they would not get it. We also had shortage of members, it was during my time as the E-in-C that we didn’t have the normal recruitment process that we were running where intending members would get a form from the press and proceed to UCJ or not but it was in a descending order from UCJ so, we were affected. A lot of members that applied did not pass the recruitment and some lost interest.
We also had a problem with funding, it was a thing with the economy and the situation in the faculty. The faculty was to take care of the financial needs of the press but because of the economy and inflation, we were unable to present our budget on time. There was also a problem with venue and we have still not been able to secure a space for the press even after trying, meeting with different authorities. All the same, they all culminated into us having a memorable time and for me as the E-in-C.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Tell us the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite? Your most challenging and most memorable?
Foyin Ejilola:
I don’t do favourites so; it will be hard for me to pick one. I like them all or not. The general challenge I have with feature writing whether on campus or outside, I consider it very important for quality writing. The challenging part is when you need to speak with authorities, student leaders and their times of responses might not tally with when they are needed. Writing features stories for me as CJ was something I felt I had to write, I didn’t add so much to it apart from the fact that I had to do it. One that stayed in my head was when I was the features editor of AFAS press and I was to write on the state of buildings or classrooms in the faculty and we were running out of time, I co-write with Opemipo Olukoga. We were running out of time because as the editor, I had to edit the articles submitted by my desk members. I was fully in charge of writing the article. The E-in-C then, Olamilekan Mashika knew I had not started anything even though Opemipo had reached out to all the necessary sources but within an hour or two, I was able to write it and he commended me as an excellent writer but hard to reach in terms of mobile communication. Something that would also make an article memorable to me would be that I wrote it in a very short period of time and it turns out to be great.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Having served under three E-in-Cs in AFAS Press, which will you say is your most memorable?
Foyin Ejilola:
I will say I had a memorable time working with two of three E-in-Cs. I think the one that tops the chart especially in terms of intensity will be working with Lola Olu-Ojogbede and I worked with her as the news editor of AFAS press and it was intense because I was also the features editor of UCJ so, I was usually very busy and I was also a part of the news correspondents and I was somewhat leading my team. The editor had seen my performance as one of the news correspondents at UCJ and at that point, we didn’t have a news editor in AFAS press and the news desk was somewhat not functioning so, she asked me to step in. I was not expecting it because in AFAS press, editors are usually sworn in with the E-in-C and it takes places during the handover and inaugural event and I had come in mid-semester. So, I had to juggle so many responsibilities, it was a wild but a very interesting one.
On the news desk, I also had people working with me, it felt good being in charge and it was a time when I had a lot of zeal and if anyone was not stepping in, in my desk, I would go ahead to write the news and that’s why a lot of stories while I was the news editor in AFAS desk had my byline. It was really good working with my desk members because they really cooperated. It was memorable and unforgettable because I was doubtful when I was going to pick up the call and I just didn’t think I could do it. I encouraged myself that it’s not a big deal and yes, I did it and I got comments from my editor in chief then that I was doing well.
Another one was when I was the features editor working with Olamilekan Mashika and he would always say that I should change the face of feature writing instead of leaving things that concerned the faculty to the politics desk. We were taking on these issues other than writing generic topics.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Is journalism something you’ll love to venture into after school?
Foyin Ejilola:
I am already doing journalism, like I said earlier. I think the question should be if I would want to continue but it’s funny how I don’t know. I am a fresh graduate and to the best of my knowledge, I am still allowed to take things easy and figure things out. Journalism is something I love and even if I were to venture into another career, I don’t think I would totally abandon it.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
If you were to take all you have done as a campus journalist and pick a single memory from your career so far, what would it be?
Foyin Ejilola:
Like I said earlier, it is hard for me to single out a particular event as the most memorable because my entire time as a campus journalist in UI was a very memorable one. It’s somewhat two-tiered. A memory would be me going to cover events for news writing, for features and staying at the venue for a really long time. I did that a lot in 100L and 200L and a lot of time, I used to walk there and I can remember now because I was usually very hungry at those events and I would still have to stay to cover. The most memorable part of it would be me covering Jawwar 2019. We did not exactly have a team so, it was just Pelumi King and me. The first round was Pelumi King and me but the second round, we had other AFAS press members join us. We were very close to having a proper team and from there, it thinned out. At some points, towards the end, I had to single handedly cover Jawwar 2019 and I can say I did an excellent job because no important information missed my hearing.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
How does it feel like leaving an organization where you practically moved through the hierarchy? You were News Editor, Features, then, the Editor-in-Chief. How does it feel to leave?
Foyin Ejilola:
My heart is full because I am leaving the press and I am graduating not because I am deciding to resign. I have served as the Editor-in -Chief and I am leaving it in a good place, in good shape, it is in good hands and I was able to achieve a lot of the things that I aspired to so, my heart can be full without being heavy, I am just really happy. If you had asked me when I was the news editor in 200L, or at the beginning of 2020/2021, the first year out of lockdown, I would not have believed that this would have happened. It was never in my wildest imagination because during my time as a campus journalist, people were not actively involved until the time of Ololade Ojogbede. I remember I said I joined the press just because if not the press, then what else because I had always been a member of the press/press clubs in all my schools.
When I got in, I could not really grasp what was going on because it was really hard for me and I was in 100L and most of the CJs that were exceptionally good were in their final year. As a 100L student, there was a kind of reverence I had for them and that made it hard for me to approach them for mentorship so, I was usually just on my own. I had a great Editor-in-Chief, I was in the entertainment desk so, I did not really go into other parts of what was happening in the faculty that the press was covering but as I began to take on roles in the press and interact with other people, I was learning different kinds of things and they became my foundation to what I was able to eventually achieve and that’s being the Editor-in-Chief of AFAS press.
I have also met many amazing people in AFAS press, I have built relationships with several people in the press and to be honest, as a student of UI I don’t have many friends outside AFAS press and UCJ. Leaving feels good, I’m happy but there is a tinge of sadness that this is a place I have known for four years and about five years of being a student.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Are you a book or movie person?
Foyin Ejilola:
I am definitely a book person even though I am starting to warm up to movies. I have been watching a cool series for six months.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Who are your top three writers and what are your top three favorite books?
Foyin Ejilola:
I don’t do favourites, top threes. I don’t know if it’s a me thing but a lot of times that I do it, it becomes easy for me to reflect my bias. A book that would be my top would be a very intense one that stayed with me for a long time, it’s not just one thing but an entirety of it. Maybe reading it was fascinating for me, maybe the story, maybe the writing style.
Permit me to mention more than three. One would be Travellers by Helon Habila, it’s one of my most recent, another would be Seasons Of Crimson Blossoms by Adam Abubakar, it’s one of the most refreshing things I have read of recent. Also, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits by Laila Lalami. It was very intense and it stayed with me for a long time. Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions by Ijeoma Ogunyemi is a very beautiful book, I think that’s her debut and it’s a collection of stories, just the way I like it. Another would be Coconut by Kopano Matlwa and The Heart Does Not Bend by Silvera Makeda, that’s one of my favourite books for about three years.
As for my top three writers, I like a lot of writers but I don’t know if I like them enough to put them in the top three category but I love Sefi Atta and she is one of the writers I’d want to read regardless of what she is writing. Yejide Kilanko also tops my list and one of the reasons I love the both of them would be the fact that they both know how to write about places and that also includes Lola Shoneyin and the places they happen to write about are my favourite places; Lagos and Ibadan. Sefi Atta writes about Lagos in the most beautiful way, the realest way, in the truest way and Yejide Kilanko writes about Ibadan in the same way. So, Sefi Atta, Yejide Kilanko and Leye Adenle because he writes my favourite genre which is African crime and noir fiction and it is really interesting, not really common when it comes to African fiction/ Nigerian fiction.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
If not campus journalism, what would you have been so involved in during your stay as a Uite?
Foyin Ejilola:
Like I said earlier, if it’s not campus journalism, it’s nothing.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
What are the lessons you’ve picked over the years as a Campus Journalist?
Foyin Ejilola:
It’s mostly professional/career lessons and they helped me kickstart my journalism career outside campus journalism. I’m learning to cover stories, to speak with sources, and to write in the journalistic manner. Also, it has taught me leadership, I have worked with different campus journalists that were very disciplined leaders and I have learnt that about it. I have also learnt what it takes to manage people, to be a leader, to take responsibility and also to work hard and bring stories to life.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
What are the changes you’ll love to see in Campus Journalism going forward?
Foyin Ejilola:
I will love to see campus journalist in UI peak once again. I will love that other campus journalist, the current ones, the incoming ones be very involved in campus journalism and one thing I’d always acknowledge is that these days, it’s becoming hard and a lot of students now having to engage in activities that will provide the money, relieve their parents from stress and also help them because there is nothing you are getting from home that is enough but still, I’d love to see dedicated journalists come into the field once again and definitely, things will become better.
AFAS Press Correspondent:
Any parting words for the campus journalists you’ll be leaving behind?
Foyin Ejilola:
I’d urge campus journalists to be actively involved, to take everything they can in terms of lessons from UCJ. UCJ has a lot to give if they are also willing to receive training and I also like the fact that UCJ administration is now particular about training on what it takes to even become an actual journalist and you don’t have to struggle if you’d like to venture into journalism after school.
Campus journalism is a wholesome one to me and I hope all campus journalists will be able to accept, embrace, take, receive everything that UI is willing to give and even force UCJ to give things that the union might not ordinarily think of. I’d also like to be involved in things happening in the campus and be abreast of every information. Remember that your primary duty as a campus journalist is to inform and ensure that the student community is not left in the dark about things happening in the campus and they should stay true to that.
