A Professor of Business Administration at the University of Lagos, Professor Abdul-Hameed Adeola Sulaimon has harped on the indispensability of Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Corporate Governance in setting benchmarks for quality service delivery in both private and public institutions in Nigeria.
This formed the crux of his inaugural lecture titled: Good Ethical Conduct, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Governance Compliance: Whose Interest? which he delivered on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at the J.F. Ade. Ajayi (Main) Auditorium of UNILAG.
The lecture, under the Chairmanship of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Management Services), Professor Muyiwa Falaiye, was the four hundred and fifty-first (451st) series in UNILAG and the fifth (5th) in the 2025/2026 Academic Session of the university. It explored the nexus between Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and corporate governance being bedrocks for sustainable development in both private and public institutions.
Professor Sulaimon argued that genuine economic, social, and institutional progress depends on ethical compliance that transcends legal obedience, aligning morality, transparency, and accountability with organizational purpose.
He traced the evolution of business ethics and CSR from the industrial revolution through the digital age, demonstrating how the failure to integrate ethical principles has led to corporate collapses and governance crises.
The inaugural lecturer noted that unethical conducts not only erodes trust but also sabotages national development, while sound governance and CSR strengthens competitiveness, attracts investment, and promotes societal welfare.
The Professor of Business Administration adjudged ethics, CSR, and governance as “the strategic trinity that determines long-term sustainability”. He also differentiated ethics from compliance, insisting that legality without morality cannot secure public trust.
Professor Sulaimon dazzled the audience comprising colleagues, associates friends from the academia and industry, mentees, well-wishers and admirers, with some milestones from his over 4 decades of research in management. These include;
- Developing the Normative Stakeholder Model, which re-defines CSR as value-based, emphasizing fairness, justice, and sustainable stakeholder relationships beyond profit motives.
- Establishing the theoretical linkage between ethics, CSR, and corporate governance, positioning them as interdependent pillars of organizational performance and societal well-being.
- Advancing empirical understanding of strategic agility, technological readiness, and innovation capability for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) competitiveness and sustainable development in Nigeria as well as;
- Integrating ethical decision-making theory with governance and sustainability studies, offering frameworks for ethical risk management and transparency.
He also shared his specific contributions to industry and scholarship, including:
– Influencing corporate and public governance policies, encouraging ethical leadership, stakeholder engagement, and accountability.
– Institutionalizing CSR education in the University of Lagos, making ethical business and social responsibility integral to management training.
– Guiding the formulation of codes of ethics, compliance systems, and whistle-blower frameworks for organizations seeking transparency and good governance as well as
– Providing actionable models for ethical corporate behaviour and public sector integrity, reinforcing the role of moral leadership in nation-building.
The Inaugural lecturer concluded that the real question — “Whose interest?” as indicated in the inaugural lecture title— must be answered through the lens of collective well-being. He posited that Ethical conduct, Corporate governance, and CSR ultimately serve humanity’s shared interest.
Born on August 31, 1966, Professor Sulaimon is a native of Oyo town in Oyo State. He is indeed a homeboy having bagged all his tertiary education degrees from UNILAG: First Degree in Business Administration (1990), Master’s Degree in Management (1995), and PhD in Business Administration (2009).
He began his academic career in 1994 as a Lecturer III at Lagos State Polytechnic and rose to the position of Lecturer II in 1998 before joining the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), UNILAG. In 2005, he moved to the Department of Business Administration, UNILAG as a full-time lecturer. He moved to Ekiti State University as a Senior Lecturer in 2010, but returned to UNILAG in 2013 as Associate Professor and rose to become a Professor in 2016.
As the current Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences, UNILAG, Prof. Sulaimon is a highly respected thought leader whose research interests span Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship, Corporate Governance, Diversity Management, and Sustainable Entrepreneurship.
He has over three decades of teaching experience and possesses extensive administrative acumen, marked by a record of transformative leadership.
Asides his immense contributions to the global knowledge economy as demonstrated by his impressive record of publications, Prof. Sulaimon holds fellowship of various professional bodies and has made milestones in raising the next generation of academics by successfully supervising twenty three (23) PhD graduates, four (4) DBA graduates and over two hundred (200) M.Sc/MBA graduates.
His inaugural lecture is the 25th in the history of the Faculty of Management Sciences and the eighth (8th) in the Department of Business Administration.
Professor Abdul-Hameed Adeola Sulaimon is happily married and blessed with children.
Report: Gbenga Gbelee
Photograph: Michael Joshua
