The College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (CoMUI) held the 26th edition of its Monthly Workshop for a Well-Informed Workforce on Friday, October 9, 2026, at the Paul Hendrickse Lecture Theatre. The workshop, themed "Unconscious Bias and the Nature of Workplace Relationships," featured distinguished sociologist, Professor Oka Martin Obono as the guest lecturer.
Chaired by the Provost, Professor T.O. Ogundiran, and hosted by the Deputy Registrar and College Secretary, Mr. A.E. Odedele, the event aimed to address the subtle cognitive biases that hinder workplace productivity and equity. Co-hosted by Professor O.S. Ogah, Chairman of the Capacity Development Committee, the organizing body of MWWW, the workshop sought to equip the College's workforce with tools to identify and mitigate automatic and learned behaviours that often subvert institutional policies and create unaccountable friction.
In his keynote address, Prof. Obono, Africa’s first Professor of Ethno-demography, noted that while people consider themselves rational, “rational behaviour is actually the tip of the iceberg of everything we do.” He stressed that “fast judgement shapes who we trust… who we hear… and who gets ahead in the job,” warning that unconscious bias is not a personality defect but a cognitive shortcut that can disadvantage equally qualified minority applicants when identities are not redacted during hiring.
He listed ten common biases that shape workplace conduct: affinity bias, confirmation bias, the Hado effect (in-group bias), the bond bias (out-group bias), gender bias, ageism, classism, looks and beauty bias, conformity and approval bias, and name and identity bias. He noted that these biases travel through relationships rather than policies, affecting hiring, promotion, access to information and opportunities, and day-to-day interactions.
During a robust Q&A session on the line between personal and institutional bias, Prof. Obono proposed actionable remedies, including interrogating first impressions, widening the frame to include missing voices, standardising criteria through blind resume screening, and making feedback task-oriented rather than personality-focused. The Provost, Professor Ogundiran, commended the lecture, saying it provided vital insights for fostering natural justice and equity within the College. Other prominent attendees included Financial Controller Mr. S.O. Ayansina, Medical Librarian Dr. Grace A. Ajuwon, Deans of Faculties, and other management team members. The workshop concluded with a call to apply these structural and personal interventions to eliminate bias and promote a truly inclusive academic environment.
Earlier, Mrs. Enitan Olaosebikan of the I.T. Unit delivered a brief presentation on getting better results from AI using effective prompts. She introduced the CRAFT (Context, Role, Action, Format, Tone) Framework to demonstrate how structured instructions yield superior outputs. She emphasized that AI is a permanent workplace assistant but cautioned staff against inputting confidential personal data. She urged participants to responsibly integrate AI into their daily tasks to enhance productivity.