CHAPTER
1.1    INTRODUCTION
Universities in Nigeria are among the tertiary institutions of learning charged with the responsibility of training individuals to become professionals indifferent field for them to earn their first degree, second degree as well as PhD.
 Universities or any tertiary institution of their likes have three categories of staff, which are the principal officers or hither-to referred to as management staff, the academic staff and the non-academic staff.
Peaceful co-existence of these categories of staff is of paramount importance to the achievement of the objectives for which the university was established. That is, the interpersonal relationship between these categories of staff must be positive and cordial.
Research study reveals that, the impact of public relations in the university or any higher institution of learning cannot be over emphasized because it contributes greatly to the achievement of the positive interpersonal relationship between the management and the staff.
Public relations according to the British Institute of Public Relations are “a deliberate planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics”.
Osuji Chuks (1999), contends that:
“public relations is the process of creating favourable public opinion for an individual, firm, institution, organization and even for an intangible thing such as name so that any person who has something to do with that tangible or intangible thing, may perceive it in a good way”.
Dany Moss (2002), defines public relations as “reputation management that is enhancing reputation, reinforcing reputation and combating damages done to reputation”.
Public relations is all about building good image and good will for one’s self or for his organization.
From the above definitions of public relations, one can see the place of public relations in terms of maintaining mutual interpersonal understanding between the management and staff of the university.
For the purpose of this study a university is an organization where academic and non-academic staff are grouped together to form the publics or internal publics to be specific.
Public relation is the arbitrator to establish and maintain mutual interpersonal understanding between the organization and its external and internal publics.
The purpose of the study is to prove whether or not the establishment of public relations units or departments as the case may be has meaningfully contributed to the mutual interpersonal relationship existing among the various categories of staff of the University of Ilorin
1.2     HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN
The University of Ilorin is located in the ancient city of Ilorin, about 500 kilometres from Abuja, the Federal capital. Ilorin, the Capital of Kwara State, is strategically located at the geographical and cultural confluence of the North and South.
University of Ilorin was one of the seven institutions of higher learning established by a decree of the Federal Military Government in August, 1975. This step, taken to implement one of the educational directives of the country’s Third National Development Plan, was aimed at providing more opportunities for Nigerians aspiring to acquire university education and to generate high level man-power, so vital for the rapidly expanding economy.
The then University College of Ilorin was initially affiliated to the University of Ibadan. Dr. T.N. Tamuno, Professor and Head of History Department at the University of Ibadan, was appointed the first Principal of the College in September, 1975. Shortly after Professor Tamuno’s appointment as Principal of the College, he was appointed the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. It therefore, became necessary to appoint another Principal in the person of Professor O.O. Akinkugbe, former Dean of the then Faculty of Medicine, University of Ibadan, in December, 1975.
The then new Principal, Professor O.O. Akinkugbe, made several visits to the second Military Governor of Kwara State, the late Colonel Ibrahim Taiwo in connection with the new institution, such that by March 1976, he had established residence at Ilorin. The support given to the fledgling Institution by Governor Taiwo continued even more vigorously under the third Military Governor of the State, Brigadier George A. Innih, who ceded a portion of the temporary site of the Kwara State College of Technology to the University. The site, up till now, serves as the mini campus of the University.