The Department of Physics, Olabisi Onabanjo University was established in 1983 to provide the Physics graduates with oriented background and firm applications in the field of Physics and a high level competence in fitting into diverse careers in teaching, research and industry. Every aspect of the department has grown tremendously, especially in the last one and half decades. In fact, the number of students that it now caters for has grown in leaps and bounds and has almost outstripped its personnel and physical facilities in view of the popularization of Physics, a result of introduction of Applied Physics programmes in the last twelve years. However, with the staff strength and well co-coordinated collaborative academic activities, the Department stands shoulder high in spirit, leadership and self-confidence. The performance of many of our graduates in academia nationwide and abroad is an attestation to our claim. Others are displaying their management competence in private sectors and record of achievements in both public and civil services.
At inception, a team of distinguished Academics led by Professors S. O. Ogunade, M. C. Isherwood and A. Amusa from the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife were appointed Associate Lecturers and were in charge of the Departmental administration, academic activities and researches; and were given the responsibility of attracting quality staff and providing leadership in the young Department.
The first set of staff of the Department was employed between 1983 and 1985, and comprised mainly Mr. E. O. Ladele, Mr. B. I. Imasogie, Mr. E. M. Tongo, Mr. R. K. Odunaike, Mr. V. U. Chukwuma, Mr. O. O. Nubi and Dr. Z. U. Khan, a foreigner.
The programme in the Department was designed mainly for Pure Physics. However, with the passage of time, it was observed that pure Physics did not appear to be of much interest to young Nigerians. This was so because students’ enrolment in the Department could hardly exceed twenty students per academic session. The number of first set of students admitted to the Department was ten. In fact most candidates who sought admission into the Department were candidates who initially wanted to study other science-related courses but could not meet the cutoff marks for the courses of their first or second choice.
The problem of students’ enrolment in the Department was addressed in the 1997/98 academic session when a four-year Applied Physics programme was introduced to popularize Physics. The introduction of the Applied Physics programme, has tremendously led to increase in students enrolment.
As the present trend worldwide is towards professionalism and Entrepreneurship courses, the Department currently runs courses leading to a B. Sc. Physics Degree with options in Physics, Physics with Electronics and Geophysics.
It is desirable to note that the members of staff in the Department have collective responsibility and the target is to be the best in this country in terms of academic excellence and services to the nation.
The National Universities Commission’s (NUC) initial accreditation visit to the department was in January 1991 and secondly during 96/97 academic session with lots of improvement. Ever since these visits, the students admitted into the department had and still followed a Programme of study scheduled over a period of three or four years as stipulated by the NUC approved Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard (BMAS) in Science for all Nigerian Universities and with the set objectives.
The Department has firmly established Academic linkage with older Universities to enhance our students’ understanding in the philosophy and objectives of our programme.
The Department similarly attracts research support and funding from International Foundations and Agencies for Science as the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS), Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, International Atomic & Agency (IAEA), and United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The list of previous Heads/Coordinators of Department from inception to date is shown as:
Names Designation Date
Dr. Ademola Amusa Coordinator 1983-1988
Mr. Kola Odunaike Asst. Coordinator 1985-1988
Dr. I. A. Asaolu Head of Department 1989-1991
Prof. S. O. Ogunade Head of Department 1992-1993
Dr. B. I. Imasoge Head of Department 1994-1995
Dr. ‘Jide Ogunlana Head of Department 1996-1997
Dr. Kola Odunaike Head of Department 1998-1999
Dr. I. A. Asaolu Head of Department 2000
Prof. S. O. Ogunade Head of Department 2001
Dr. Victor U. Chukwuma Head of Department 2002-2005
Dr. Kola Odunaike Head of Department 2005-2009
Prof. Victor U. Chukwuma Head of Department 2010-2012
Dr. J. Abidemi Laoye Head of Department 2012-2013
Prof. Kola Odunaike Head of Department 2013-2014
Dr. J. Abidemi Laoye Head of Department 2014-2017
Dr. S. Kunle Alausa Head of Department 2017-Date

The philosophy of the Department is dedicated to providing the highest quality of undergraduate and postgraduate education. The Department shall maintain its commitment to students through teaching excellence, exemplary academic resources, and personal attention. These qualities shall help the department meet its objectives which is to educate and train Physicists in its entirety.