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Tag: Afe Babalola University

  • ABUADTH: New vista in Nigeria’s medical sector

    ABUADTH: New vista in Nigeria’s medical sector

    Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti Teaching Hospital (ABUADTH), was officially inaugurated by the Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Friday to train the university’s medical students and provide the best of health care services for the public. ODUNAYO OGUNMOLA reports that the provision of the facility is an answer to Nigerians’ penchant for medical tourism abroad. 

    The Founder/Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Emmanuel Ajisafe Babalola, is a man of class and taste. He is a man who has vision and is always determined to see his vision to fruition.

    In 2009, he began a project in what was then a jungle, which, however, has been transformed into a huge community that attracts people from all parts of the world.

    Nobody gave the octogenarian any chance when the foundation stone of the university was laid. Now the university has won accolades within and outside the country.

    That project was ABUAD, the first private university in the history of Ekiti State which the legendary educationist and lawyer had the opportunity of establishing in the nation’s economic nerve centre, Lagos or Ibadan, his former base where he began and nurtured his flourishing legal practice.

    ABUAD, which he planted as a mustard seed has grown into a multi-billion Naira empire that has provided employment opportunities for thousands of Nigerians and quality education for students from the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Apart from the university, other ventures on the campus are ABUAD Farm, ABUAD Printing Press, ABUAD Inn, ABUAD Bakery, ABUAD Laundry and ABUAD International School, among others.

    The latest addition to the list is ABUAD Teaching Hospital, which was inaugurated amid pomp and ceremony on October 20 as part of activities marking the 5th Convocation of the university.

    In 2012, the authorities of ABUAD signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Medical Centre now known as the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI), to train the university’s medical students.

    But instability and incessant face-off between FETHI workers and their management resulted in long strikes which affected medical training of ABUAD students.

    This fired up Babalola’s zeal to establish a teaching hospital to allow for a seamless training of ABUAD medical students and provision of quality health care delivery for Nigerians.

    Vice-Chancellor Prof. Michael Ajisafe described the teaching hospital is Babalola’s answer to decay in the nation’s medical sector which is plagued with a lot of problems.

    He said the hospital was commencing operations with free health services to residents, noting that between 300 and 500 people would benefit from the scheme between October 16 and October 20.

    According to him, the hospital boasts of modern equipment that can make performance of any medical operation or treatment possible.

    Ajisafe said: “What makes this hospital different from others is the calibre of members of staff that will man the hospital. In fact, the specialists have arrived and they will begin by administering daily treatment to between 300 and 500 people during the convocation week.

    “In that hospital, we have state-of-the-art equipment, most of which you cannot find anywhere in any Nigerian hospital. The time for patients to travel outside the country for medical treatment will soon be over.

    “Visitors have confessed to us that they have never seen some of the equipment in the hospital before. The doctors are some of the best medical minds and highly experienced in their fields. This will make you hold Aare Afe in high esteem.”

    He went on: “We have requested for $40 million, they have given us $20 million.”

    Kunle Olowu, a Professor of Medicine at ABUAD, who conducted our reporter on a facility tour of the teaching hospital, said the best of medical care had been brought nearer to Nigerians who spend billions of Naira every year to get medical remedy abroad.

    Olowu praised Babalola for conceiving the hospital, which he said would place Nigeria on the world map of quality medicine.

    He said: “What you are beholding is the effort of one great visionary who has endeavoured to put in so much so that life can be better. This will also stem the tide of Nigerians who go abroad for medical treatment.

    “This is not a government establishment, this is a product of wisdom, vision and dedication of one man who believes that money can be put to better use.

    “This will benefit so many Nigerians as they will travel down to Afe Babalola University Teaching Hospital where they will get all they need.

    “He has done something that will stimulate other wealthy Nigerians to learn to do some good things with their money and not just keep it somewhere. What does it profit a man if you can’t leave the society better than you met it?

    “Definitely, we will continue to refer to the wisdom of our founder. Facilities available here are what you can’t find anywhere in Nigeria; I assure you that everything that could take you out of this country for medical treatment is here.

    “You can get transplant here; just name it and if we change our culture, we will learn to give organs when we know that there are facilities to put organs to good use.

    “We know that when some relatives need organs, many people run back but when you have facilities here, you will be encouraged to realise that you are not necessarily dying, that you are helping a brother to live.”

    Speaking on the required professionalism that ABUADTH can offer, Olowu said: “Experts in various specialties will come over and they will work together to make this place function.”

    On fears that the hospital was established for the rich, Olowu said: “The founder is not a man who will do something only for the rich. There will be special packages to meet the needs of everybody.

    “Arrangements will be made to accommodate those who have in excess and those who have marginally and those who do not have. We will always be our brothers’ keepers.”

    At the inauguration of the hospital on Friday, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, hailed Babalola for his service to humanity and commitment to education, health and social development.

    Osinbajo noted that the hospital,  which provide health care delivery on virtually all fields of medicine, would reduce the rate at which Nigerians travel abroad to seek medical succour.

    Osinbajo praised Babalola for his vision and love for humanity, noting that the construction of the world-class hospital was a “watershed in the history of the nation.”

    He said: “This hospital will go a long way in conserving funds being spent by Nigerians on medical trips abroad. With this, Nigerians can now be treated by Nigerians.”

  • Afe Babalola seeks emergency fund for education

    Afe Babalola seeks emergency fund for education

    Founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has advocated a national emergency fund to address the challenges of inadequate funding of the education sector.

    He suggested a minimum of 26 per cent of the national budget or four per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) yearly to the sector.

    Chief Babalola made the call on Tuesday while delivering the keynote address at the 32nd Conference of the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU), hosted by the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete.

    Speaking on the topic: “University management and economic Change: The Nigerian educational system perspective,” he said: “To rapidly catch up with the rest of the world in terms of quality education, there is a need to designate a significant portion of annual budgets to education.”

    He added that the government must be committed to revitalise and supporting public universities.

    Babalola also stressed the need for an end in the incessant industrial actions in public universities in the country, to bring about stable academic calendar. He also pointed out that “the private universities are generally not vulnerable to the many common ills of public universities.”the AVCNU Chairman, Prof Debo Adeyewa, urged governments at all levels to fund education adequately.

    Adeyewa, the Vice Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, also charged university administrators to come up with solutions to the “problems of paucity of finance, deficit of knowledge infrastructure, governance, policy inconsistency and other solutions relevant to the needs of society’’.

    He said the employability of graduates, entrepreneurship, quality assurance, relevance to sustainable development, climate change, leveraging on Information Communication Technology (ICT) and open education resources and international collaboration in the Nigerian university system were some of the challenges confronting the universities.

    “We need to address the nagging questions to ensure the provision of functional and quality education required for national development in the 21st century through our universities.”

    Declaring the conference open, Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed urged the vice chancellors to promote real research instead of the book reviews.

    Represented by the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Hajia Amina Ahmed also spoke of the need to match the training with the needs of the society.

    “It is only through pragmatic approach that we can guarantee sustainable growth in our country. Unless and until we graduate students as job creators, our saturated market of unemployable youths can at best remain time bombs that would do us no good,” he said.

    Earlier, Vice Chancellor of KWASU, Prof Abdulrasheed Na’Allah urged university administrators to collaborate with government to stop incessant strike actions by lecturers.

    Na’Allah added that most lecturers don’t treat their students like clients, saying the unfriendly treatment would not allow the students to give back to their alumni after their graduation.

    “If we are determined have 21st century universities, we have to ensure that our universities are theatres of research. There cannot be development without universities. Nigerian universities have no other cause but to change the fortune of Nigeria.

    “This nation is spending heavily on university education, yet we don’t have anything to show for it,” the vice chancellor added.

  • US Consulate woos ABUAD faculty, students

    The United States of America’s Consulate in Lagos has urged academics and students of the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), in Ekiti State to take advantage of academic fellowships and fully-funded scholarship opportunities available in the United States.

    Mrs Dassi Sota, Public Affairs Officer of the U.S consulate, Southern Nigeria, who led a team of the consulate’s officials that included, Mr Clemson Ayegbusi, coordinator of the U.S Fullbright/Professional exchange programme, Mr. Austin Emenanua, coordinator of Mandela Washington Fellowship or Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI),  and Ms Tosin Ogundeji, Consulate’s media officer, told the ABUAD management that the U.S government had opened its gate wide open to Nigerians who are interested in pursuing research programmes in top U.S universities to develop themselves in leadership, professional, cultural,  educational areas among others.

    She said many of the programmes were fully funded by the U.S government.

    Urging them to key into the opportunities Mrs Sota said: “We have. Learnt a lot about the Afe Babalola University and we recognise the institutions as one of the best in Africa. This is why we are extending this opportunity to your institution as we have already done to more than 20 other Nigerian tertiary institutions. We have a lot to share and you have got a lot to benefit.

    “The U.S is currently throwing her gate wide open to scholars who are interested in educational programmes/research, professional programmes and cultural studies in top U.S universities. Do not worry yourself about getting the visa because it is now very easy and do not worry yourself about getting the funds for sponsorship because the U.S.  government is providing the funds.”

    Ayegbusi urged academics and professionals to explore the Fullbright Fellowship and others, Emenunua urged students of the university to tap into the YALI, which he was is available for youths who intend to take up leadership careers with sound training from the U.S top universities.

    Accepting the proposal from the U.S. representatives, the ABUAD Vice Chancellor, Prof Micheal Ajisafe, who said he was proud to be an alumnus of top U.S universities, said: “You have brought us good tidings from the most powerful country in the world and some of us who have benefitted from the U.S sound educational system can only advise our people to key into these wonderful opportunities. So we will tap very well into it as we have hitherto been doing with the country.”

  • Don donates cash, materials to the poor

    A philanthropist and lecturer at the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Olumide Oluwagbemi-Gabriel has urged individuals and corporate organisations to assist the less-privileged in the society, particularly the abused and abandoned children, widows and other physically-challenged people.

    He gave the advice while presenting cash, food and relief materials worth several thousands of Naira to children on admission at the Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure and Special Children Centre of the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation under the Nigeria Police ‘A’ Division, Akure as part of activities to celebrate his 40th birthday.

    Oluwagbemi-Gabriel was accompanied to the centres by his friends, colleagues and members of his family to appreciate God for sparing his life to attain the age of 40.

    He said he opted for unorthodox way to celebrate his birthday when it dawned on him that if as a member of the middle-class he could feel the impact of the current recession in the country, the poor and vulnerable in the society must be worst off.

    According to him, he decided that the only way he would celebrate his 40th birthday was not to throw party, but by giving back to the society.

    This, he said, was to emulate the philanthropic gesture of one of his mentors, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), the founder of ABUAD.

    The don, who tagged his gesture “Project 40”, revealed that 40 humanitarian projects spanning 40 persons and institutions are scheduled to be carried out in phases.

    The projects, he said, included donations of education materials to his alma mater, AUD Victoria Island, Lagos and Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos, payment of school fees of some selected indigent students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) and Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo.

    Other areas of the project are empowerment for selected widows and physically-challenged cobblers as well as donation of relief materials and cash to hospitalised children and those at the Police Special Children Centre.

    Recipients of the celebrator’s gifts showered encomiums on him for coming to their assistance.

    The Head, Pediatric Ward, State Specialist Hospital, Akure, Dr A. Bello and the Officer in Charge, Police Special Children Centre, Yemi, praised the initiative of the don which they described as product of compassion, especially at this period of recession.

    The duo urged others; especially corporate bodies and individuals to come to the aid of the vulnerable in the society, stressing that government cannot do it alone.

    Oluwagbemi-Gabriel appreciated God, family members, colleagues and other supporters who supported his passion to give back to the society in commemoration of his birthday.

  • Xenophobia: FG urged to review Nigeria’s foreign policy

    Xenophobia: FG urged to review Nigeria’s foreign policy

    The Federal Government has been advised to review the nation’s foreign policy to protect Nigerians resident in foreign countries against attacks by nationals of their host countries.

    A foreign relations expert, Prof. Adeolu Durotoye, said the failure to review Nigeria’s foreign policy in the last 30 years is jeopardizing its interest in the international community.

    He spoke on Wednesday at a forum, Hard Talk on Africa organized by the Department of International Relations and Diplomacy, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD). The topic for discussion was “Africa and the Tragedy of Xenophobia.”

    Durotoye, who is also the Provost of College of Social and Management Sciences in ABUAD, argued that the ongoing review of the country’s foreign policy by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration will halt the racial attacks and correct injustices suffered by Nigerians living abroad.

    Head of Department, International Relations and Diplomacy, ABUAD, Dr. Ajinde Oluwasakin, noted that the late appointment of ambassadors by Buhari must have had negative effect on the country’s economic and commercial relations with other nations.

    Oluwasakin condemned the xenophobic attacks describing it as the highest level of racial discrimination.

     

  • Unilorin, ABUAD scientists partner to develop medicinal rice

    Unilorin, ABUAD scientists partner to develop medicinal rice

    Scientists at the University of Ilorin and their counterparts at Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), are finalising arrangements to develop an improved rice variety with medicinal potentials  against cancer.

    A report in the  University of Ilorin Bulletin  on Monday stated that this was  the outcome of the collaboration  between the two institutions for which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Feb. 2.

    According to the report, the N50 million project would be carried out over a four-year period and expected to be funded from the National Research Fund of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TET-Fund).

    It said  that the project was aimed at enhancing the well-being of rice farmers and improving the health conditions of consumers in the country.

    “The main research collaborators include Prof. Samuel Onasanya,  Education Technology and Training Expert, University of Ilorin; Dr Michael Awolola,  Industrial Chemist, University of Ilorin  and Prof. Amos Onasanya, a Biochemist, Geneticist and Molecular Plant Pathologist.

    “Others are ABUAD dons like Prof. Olarotimi Ojo, a Chemist, and Dr Phillip Okiki, an Animal Health Expert, among others,’’ it said.

    The report quoted  the Vice-Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Prof. Michael Ajisafe, as saying that the MoU with University of Ilorin was the 13th the institution signed with other universities.

    “We are happy to partner with Unilorin, which is the most peaceful university in the country and we are sure that based on its antecedents, the partnership will work,” he  said.

    It also quoted the Deputy Vice-Chancellor,  Research, Technology and Innovations,  University of Ilorin, as saying  research collaboration was in pursuit of the university’s sustained bid for all-round development of the nation’s education system.

    “The country stands to gain a lot from it,” he  said.

     

  • 65 bags First Class at Afe Babalola varsity

    65 bags First Class at Afe Babalola varsity

    A total number of 736 students of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) graduated at the institution’s 3rd Convocation ceremony on Wednesday.

    The university produced 65 First Class graduands, while 339 bagged Second Class (Upper Division). 258 graduated with Second Class (Lower Division) and 74 made Third Class.

    Four eminent Nigerians were also bestowed with honorary doctorate degrees at a colorful ceremony held at the Alfa Begore Hall on the university campus.

    The honorees are – former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega; former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offence Commission (ICPC), Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah and the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.

    Prof. Jega received honorary Doctor of Public Administration, Justice Ayoola, bagged honorary Doctor of Law, while Bishop Kukah and Oba Adeyemi bagged honorary Doctor of Letters.

    In his remarks at the ceremony, Governor Ayo Fayose said his administration will always support ABUAD and the vision of its founder to be one of the biggest education brands in the world.

    Fayose, who described ABUAD as one of the biggest taxpayers in Ekiti State, disclosed that his administration has initiated an airstrip project to complement the institution.

    He promised to provide enabling environment to make ABUAD flourish.

    Founder and Chancellor of ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, urged well-to-do Nigerians to invest in quality education for Nigerians, describing the sector as a very “serious and expensive exercise.”

  • Graduating students beg management over mass failure

    There is a lingering controversy in the Accounting Department of Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) in Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State.

    Of the 78 graduating students that wrote the school’s 2012/2013 final year examination in the department, only 29 were cleared for graduation while the other 49 have been asked to repeat the session.

    A source in the department said the affected students’ failure to pass Strategic Management course made the management to take the decision. The students are asking the authorities to wave the course to allow them graduate.

    “Initially, 24 students were officially certified for graduation. Along the line, names of five students were slotted in to make it 29. To me, that is curious and I sense foul play,” one of the students told CAMPUSLIFE.

    The affected students were said to have made several efforts to persuade the management to allow them graduate with their colleagues, but their plea fell on deaf ears as the management refused to shift ground.

    When it became clear that the management would not wave the course, the students were said to have contacted a stakeholder in the university to plead on their behalf. But the university maintained its position that the students would retake the course.

    Some of the students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, urged the authorities to consider their situation, saying they could not afford high tuition to be paid next session.

    One of them, who pleaded for anonymity, said: “The problem is just a course that we failed. When the result came out, we were surprised there was mass failure. We called for our scripts to be remarked but the management said there was nothing they could do about it. I have never failed a course since I was admitted into this university. It is surprising that I am failing a course for the first time and management is saying I cannot graduate. What that means is that I am going to pay another tuition fee next session to retake the course. This is the height of insensitivity.”

    Another student said: “I see no reason our scores should not be upgraded. I still wonder how we all failed that simple course. The university should be considerate and have mercy on us. To pay such a huge amount as tuition to retake the course amounts to exploitation. This should be utterly condemned.”

    A parent, who spoke with our correspondent, expressed displeasure over the refusal of the university to wave the course.

    She said: “We have made several efforts to persuade the management to allow these students graduate but our pleas have been ignored. Even in federal universities, they still make amendment for graduating students in situations like this one. So, I will have to cough out another N500, 000 again for my child to graduate?”

  • ABUAD’s OGEES Institute, a child of necessity

    The Executive Director, Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES) Law Institute, Mr Patrick Tolani, has described the new institute as inevitable considering the skyrocketing tuition fees of many universities in Europe and America.

    He said, the new UK visa regime that requires Nigerians to pay £3,000 is likely to compound the problem.

    These circumstances, Tolani explained, should be a warning to Nigerians that there is nowhere like home and as such they should start patronising reputable institutions at home.

    Tolani said OGEES, one of such institutions was established last October under the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) College of Law with four mandates – research, training, consultancy and academic publications.

    The institute is engaged in many areas of law training, namely oil and gas, mining, energy and natural resources, trade, investment and sustainable development, international environmental law and policy, climate change, agriculture and renewable energy as well as water resources.

    Tolani said OGEES would partner many of the foreign institutions Nigerians patronise to ensure quality.

    “The first thing is that our intervention is inevitable. If you look at what is happening to visa regime now in the United Kingdom; if you look at what is happening to school fees in the UK, courses that used to charge for £10,000 in Dundee, Aberdeen are now going for £16,000. But the interesting thing is that they don’t even teach things on Nigerian law and policy. Most importantly, OGEES is also working in close collaboration with all those institutions. We are talking to them, and soon we will be signing a MoU with some of them but I don’t want to mention names. We are going to be having exchanges of scholars,” he said.

    Another quality of the institute is its blend of staff and associate fellows drawn locally and internationally.

    The UK-trained lawyer said the institute will start with a certificate course in petroleum management.

    He said: “Our training will be across board. Individuals as well as local and international oil companies and even other countries in Africa will benefit from our training programmes. As a test, this summer, we are running a certificate course in petroleum management.

    “In the future, we also intend to have international students with us. Our consultancies will benefit local and international oil companies. We are not an exclusive institution. We are inclusive and we want to embrace as many people as possible. That is why we have the caliber of people from our board who are from different stakeholders.”

    Tolani said like ABUAD, OGEES will accept people, irrespective of their ability to pay in line with the founder’s philosophy.

    “What we do in ABUAD in which is also in line with Aare Afe’s philosophy is running inclusive education, and not leaving anybody behind. That is why every year, the founder gives huge scholarships, particularly to indigent students. So, I cannot rule out the possibility of him giving out scholarships to students who cannot afford it. Here, we don’t believe that education should be the prerogative of the rich. And since this exists in ABUAD, that culture will be entrenched in OGEES. We will also support other countries in Africa,” he said.