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Tag: Afe Babalola

  • Why Buhari, cabinet will face challenges, by Afe Babalola

    The founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola has said the 1999 Constitution in operation is responsible for the myriads of challenges afflicting the country.

    Babalola said the provisions of the constitution are antithetical to the development and progress of the country considering the loopholes inherent in the legal framework.

    He spoke on Tuesday during his conferment of Africa Role Model and AU Agenda 2063 Ambassadorial Award held at the 7000 seater Alfa Belgore Multipurpose Hall, Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti.

    The foremost legal luminary President Muhammadu Buhari and his cabinet might find it difficult to succeed in making meaningfully differences on the country socio-economic landscape with the 1999 quasi-federal Constitution which does not suit the country’s peculiar nature.

    He said unless bold steps are taken to change the 1999 Constitution which is falsely described as a federal constitution, Nigeria will continue to revolve around the vicious circle of underdevelopment.

    Babalola, however, called on Buhari-led government to convene a sovereign national conference whose membership will be elected on Zero party system to design a people-oriented constitution that would address the country’s challenges.

    Expressing his gratitude to family and friends for the honour, Babalola said Africa needs transformational leaders that could work for an integrated prosperous and peaceful continent.

    “The award is a good omen to millions of youths in Africa particularly those who belong to lowly class. I affirm that no matter your lowly status in life, if I whose formal education stopped in primary six can make it, then you can make it faster and better

    “It is a tragedy that Africa today is bereft of transformational leaders such as Mahma Ghandi, Kwame Nkrumah, Nmamdi Azikwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Nelson Mandella and Ahmadu Bello. For Africa to move forward, we need transformational leaders and not operators of 1999 Constitution.

    “The renaissance has started in ABUAD. ABUAD is the clear leader in reformation of education. We have succeeded in nine years to transform education in the country,” he said.

    In his address, the Nigeria Representative of African Union ECOSOCC, Nigeria Representative, Dr. Tunji Asaolu said Babalola’s contribution to human capital development and other facet of human life was worthy of commendation and emulation.

    Asaolu said the continental award was conferred on the legal icon predicated on his legendary achievements in all sphere of human life which has been tremendously contributing to the socio-economic development Africa.

    According to him, Babalola is a continental role model whose work and activities are serving as veritable implementation platforms of the AU Agenda 2063.

    “It is indeed a worthy honor being done to a worthy Patron, Aare Afe Babalola, for all his achievement so far in life and carrier, to the benefit of a worthy continent.

    “Let me make it clear, uncountable factors were put into account before selecting Aare Afe Babalola for this premier continental award. In actual fact, AU is not known to give recognitions flippantly or to compromise its standards, under any guise.

    READ ALSO: Clamp down on illegal varsities, Afe Babalola tells NUC

    “In this regard, this award and recognition to Aare Afe Babalola, in all fairness, meets all AU standards and norms.

    “In total the 3rd General Assembly approved five award slots for 2019 for all of Africa in the alphabetical order of Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa.

    “The AU Agenda 2063 slot five approval is for West-Africa; and that is the slot that is being conferred on our father, Aare Afe Babalola today. In all fairness, though, Baba is long overdue for such a honour as this,” he said.

    On his part, Governor Kayode Fayemi described Babalola as a pride and blessing to entire humanity, saying his developmental impacts in Ekiti, Nigeria and Africa continent is immeasurable and unquantifiable.

    “This is an iconic award given to an iconic of Ekiti State. If there is other human asset a country can have it is Aare Babalola himself.

    “You are a pride to Ekiti, Nigeria, Africa and entire human race because you have devoted yourself and resources to the development and progress of humanity,” he said.

    The Alafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi said Babalola noble vitrues and his high ideals of humility, honesty, transparency, integrity earned him integrity beyond the shores of the country.

    He added that Babalola has impacted the lives of many through mentorship, scholarship and various philanthropic programmes from which many less privilege had benefited.

    “At the critical stage of elite conspiracy against me on the throne, Afe stood by me without minding all the names he was called to scare him from me. He has not only been supporting me professionally but materially as circumstances dictate,” Oba Adeyemi said.

  • ABUAD partners IITA, others on youth employment in agri-business

    The Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) has signed a three-year partnership deal with International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and AfricaRice on engagement of youths in agri-business.

    A team of experts from the partnering agencies said the deal was borne out of the need to encourage youths, who represent a virile segment of Nigerians, to go into farming.

    They noted that it will tackle youth unemployment in the land.

    The experts spoke on Monday at ABUAD during the unveiling of the partnership and the kick-off of the IFAD Project Inception Workshop, tagged: Youth Employment in Agri-business and Sustainable Agriculture.

    An IFAD Technical Specialist and leader of the team, Dr. Malu Muia Ndavi, said the agencies wanted to partner the institution because of their deep concerns for job creation in Nigeria and Africa, having realised that youth unemployment is Africa’s major challenge.

    Ndavi added that unemployment in Africa and its consequences pose a potent threat to the continent.

    According to him, all hands must be on the deck to tackle the menace.

    He said Africa must re-examine its modules of education and overhaul its curricular to be on international pedestal with 21st century economic growth.

    “Let me assure you that we will listen to the modalities set by ABUAD to train 1,000 youths within two months in modern farming. We are going to ensure that every commitment we make shall be delivered and this will mark the beginning of long-term partnership with this university,” Ndavi said.

    ABUAD Founder Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), who stressed the need for a paradigm shift from the erroneous perception that farming is not a better occupation, noted that agriculture remains a potent weapon of improving socio-economic development.

    The legal luminary said he remained resolute in his commitment to reposition and restore the lost glory of agriculture to what obtained during the golden era when it was the mainstay of the economy.

    He said: “The mentality of an average Nigerian was that only white-collar jobs were good.

    “When the white men introduced the civil service, civil servants then lived like gods; so were trained wrongly. They never emphasised that farming was a good profession.

    “But somebody must correct this wrong impression and ABUAD is ready to do this. We must research and bring new innovations to agriculture and modernise farming.”

    Aare Babalola said his unprecedented achievements in law, education and agriculture were not a fluke but the climax of a career with dedication, sacrifice and commitment to excellence.

    The eminent lawyer added that ABUAD was established not as a profit-taking institution but to make a change in the perceived rotten = Education sector of the country.

    Read Also: ABUAD to train unemployed graduates

    He said his dreams had been fulfilled within the few years of existence of ABUAD.

    Babalola said the adoption of the institution by different institutions in Nigeria and beyond as a model attests to the fact that it is a leading light in the realm of quality and functional education.

    “I decided to establish this university to change the face of the Education sector in the country. I have launched the revolution and the revolution has started in ABUAD.

    “For a university to be great, it has to put in place supersonic infrastructural learning facilities, an environment that is conducive for learning and latest ICT. It must also organise teaching methodology workshops.

    “Apart from that, it has to be secured and must be fully residential because the students must be good in learning and character,” he said.

    Babalola added: “And if they go away, how do you know their characters? If a student is taking cannabis, how do you monitor him? How do you monitor his punctuality? This is the advantage of a university like ours.

    “Here in ABUAD, we learn even at night. No other university does that in Nigeria. Education without functionality is nothing. Some lecturers are still using the note they used 35 years ago. Lecturers in our institution adopt the newest system of teaching methodology; that is why our students are doing well.

    “In the next five years, ABUAD will join the league of first 100 universities in the world and become a hub of academic research institution in Africa and beyond.

    “We will not relent in our efforts to continue breeding a new generation and developing a new Nigeria.”

    To underscore the value he places on farming, Babalola said if he had a second chance of coming to this world, he would embrace farming as a profession.

    “This is because I was born in the farm by a farmer and it was where I learnt everything that gave me these achievements today.

    “In the olden days, people were committed to farming because nobody was coming to kill or kidnap you on the farm. There was no reason for them to go to the hospital. I myself have never gone to any hospital for treatment because we were with nature, and once you are with the nature, you will be healthy.”

    Acting Vice Chancellor Prof. Sylvester Ojo said the university was established with a mission to make a mark and contribute to global development.

    “This collaboration is coming at the right time because many Nigerian graduates are involved in kidnapping, robbery, prostitution, because they have no jobs to do. But if we can encourage these youths, job-seeking will be solved,” he said.

     

  • Afe Babalola has regained Nigeria’s lost glory in education, says Achebe

    The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, has said Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) has repositioned and regained the lost glory of education in Nigeria.

    Igwe Achebe described the legal icon as one of the leading apostles of functional and quality education in the country.

    He said Babalola’s achievements in human capacity development would remain indelible in the hearts of his countless beneficiaries.

    The monarch noted that the legal luminary’s glorious legacy will positively affect future generations.

    Igwe Achebe, who described Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) as mother of all universities, said the institution has carved a niche for itself on the global map of world class institution. The first-class monarch spoke yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, during a visit to the institution.

    He said: “I give gratitude to God for the life of Aare Babalola, who has the vision, drive and commitment to establish this. He is a blessing to Nigeria, Africa and the entire world. I think Aare is God-sent.

    “Everywhere he goes, what he preaches is quality and market-driven education. And he is right because it is the bedrock of development anywhere in the world.

    “I am highly impressed by what I have seen here. I have been to various private and public universities but none is like ABUAD.

    “And I have also been to hospitals in Nigeria but the facilities here are not there. May be you can get this kind of facilities only in America and the United Kingdom (UK).

    “I will be coming here for medical treatment. There is no need to travel overseas when we have this world-class hospital here.”

    ABUAD founder Aare Babalola said the institution was established as a protest against the state of education in public universities. The legal luminary added that he set up a regulatory university that is not for profit-making but to give Nigerians functional education and to be a model in education, character, discipline and service.

    He said: “There is no doubt I have repositioned and regained the lost glory of education in Nigeria. We have become a benchmark for other universities of the world. If you want to start a new university, the National Universities Commission (NUC) will ask you to go and see ABUAD.

    “Others are learning from us. Everyday, every week, we receive delegates from different universities from in and outside Nigeria.

    “We are changing the world. The revolution has started. And I am the leader of the revolution to enthrone and illuminate the world with market-driven education fortified with academic ideas.”

  • Admission quota should not be based on the age of universities—Afe Babalola

    Founder & Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, CON, has berated the present arrangement whereby admission quota in Nigerian Universities is largely based on how long the individual universities have been in existence.

    Instead of basing admission quota on the age of a university, Babalola, a seasoned University Administrator with a seven-year stint as Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos before he established ABUAD, believed that admission quota should be based on the quantum of equipment and human capital each university is able to put in place.

    Speaking at a reception in honour of the Chairman of the Medical & Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, Prof. Abba Hassan, OON, over the weekend, Babalola blurted: “Students admission quota should not be a reward for old age but a reward for quality equipment, infrastructure and Human capital put in place by individual universities”.

    He added: “Everywhere in the world, admission quota is not a reward for the number of years a university has been in existence. Rather it is a consideration for the carrying capacity of such a university. The carrying capacity of a university is the highest number of learners (students) that a particular institution will be able to effectively manage for qualitative education, considering the human resources at its disposal.

    “This suggests that the admission of students at this level is in accordance with the facilities available and human resources on ground in any particular university. These facilities comprise of good staff/student ratio, accommodation, required number of Lecture rooms, libraries stocked with the appropriate books, renowned national and international journals among others while the human resource include quality and qualified teaching and non-teaching staff in the right number and mix”.

    The frontline Educationist recalled that in Nigeria, the issue of admission quota has basically been based on the age of institutions. But at a point, this trend was reversed by the Immediate Past Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Julius Okojie, who appreciated the place and import of carrying capacity because he found it to be grossly discouraging.

    The Founder equally recalled that ABUAD was given the mandatory admission quota of 50 for its Law Programme at inception as a new university, but the figure was later increased to 100 by the NUC.

    When the Council for Legal Education came for accreditation three years later, it found out that both the Council and the NUC had been unfair to the university regarding the approved admission quota for our Law Programme. It therefore increased it to 180 on account of its investment which include, but not limited to 10 different classrooms, teaching laboratories, one Moot Court, two Law Clinics, state-of-the-art E-Libraries and physical libraries, a staff/students ratio of 1/16, E-software, Lexis Nexis and Compu Law among others which can conveniently cater for more than 1,500 students.

    Following the monumental achievements of ABAUD Law Graduates at the 2018 Bar Examination where all the 165 graduates presented scored 100% pass by ABUAD with the Overall Best Student coming from ABUAD and ABUAD Graduates wining 24 out of the 36 available Prizes, its admission quota has since been increased to 300.

    Drawing from the example of ABUAD College of Law and the massive investment therein, Babalola invited the MDCN boss to borrow a leaf from the NUC and increase the admission quota for ABUAD’s MBBS programme from the present level of 120 based on the following reasons:

    ABUAD is the only university in Nigeria that has two different Teaching Hospitals: the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti (FETHI), which ABUAD helped to upgrade with N2.8 billion to bring it to its present enviable status of a Teaching Hospital and its new 400-bed ultra-modern Multi-system Hospital which was commissioned at an elaborate ceremony on October 20, 2017.

    ABUAD Multi System Hospital has five Modular Theatres equipped with Pneumatic Tubes. It is also populated with the following Specialist Equipment among others: SPEC Scan, CT SCAN, MRI and Ultrasound Scan/X-ray. It also has the following Surgical Specialties: General Surgery, Paediatric Surgery, Plastic, nature Urology, Orthopedics, Neuro-Surgical Specialties, Cancer Surgery (Oncology), Endocrine Surgery.

    ABUAD Multi System Hospital is Africa Centre for Help Babies Survive (HBS Programme) and also Africa Centre for Chronic Dialysis Centre.

    Read also: Babalola: private school heads must rejig curriculum

    In co-operation with project CURE of the United States of America, ABUAD is now the Centre for Help Babies Survive Programme. The Centre trains students and mothers in helping mothers to survive, Cervical Cancer Screen (CCS)/ Breast Cancer Screen (BCS), Colon Cancer Screen (CCS), Prostrate Cancer Screen/ Colon Cancer Screen.

    In order to add international flavor to the nation’s health care delivery, teaching, training and research, ABUAD Multi System Hospital has entered into partnership with some reputable players in the global Heath Industry such as the world renowned Abbot Laboratories, Aster Hospital, Dubai, Project C.U.R.E., USA, Narula, India, JNC International, Trigenesis India, College of Pharmacy, Howard University, USA and Bridge of Life (BOL) USA, as well as Johns Hopkin Hospital, USA.

    To complement its Medical Training Programme and bring it at par with its Law programme which has been acknowledged by NUC as the “Best in West Africa” and its Engineering Programme which has been dubbed by the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, as the “Template for Engineering Education in Nigeria”, ABUAD deliberately went out to hire the best hands in Medicine and Allied professions to teach and mentor its students  and the results are already showing in our Academic accomplishments in Medicine.

    During its first MBBS Examination in July 2018, ABUAD recorded an unprecedented 100% with eight (8) Distinctions, the equivalent of First Class in other disciplines. This accomplishment makes ABUAD the first university in the country to produce Medical Doctors in six-and-half years after its Medical Programme flagged off when some other universities which commenced their Medical Programme some two decades ago are yet to graduate their first set of Medical Doctors.

    Babalola commended Hassan for his humility and simplicity despite his towering attainments in life which he (Babalola) said challenged him the more contrary to the notorious behavior of man as summarized by Pope Benedict in the dark ages when he said: “when man is of lowly position in life, he is invariably humble, but no sooner he attains the heights than he falls rapidly from humility”.

    According to Babalola who said that his university is out to set new standards by raising a new generation of leaders, Hassan was in ABUAD to see what the university has been doing to change the face of education in Nigeria for the better and how the 21st Century Multi-system Hospital has been impacting medical education and quality Medicare positively.

    Earlier, Hassan who said Babalola looked younger in real life than he looks on TV commended his host for the superlative work he has single-handedly been doing since the establishment of ABUAD nine years ago.

    Impressed by infrastructural development of the university within its short history of existence, Hassan said: “Sir, you are doing so much for the country for which I thank you sir. All we need in this country today is a minimum of four universities like yours and things will change for the better”.

    He added: “The whole country should be grateful to you for what you doing here. We pray we have many people like you in this country so that our education can go back to where it was shortly after independence”.

  • Babalola: private school heads must rejig curriculum

    FOUNDER of Afe Babalola Univertsity at Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) Aare Afe Babalola has urged proprietors of private schools to include Religion, History, Geography, Nature Study, Hygiene and Agriculture in their curriculum.

    In his message to this year’s conference of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) in Owerri, Imo State capital, yesterday, Babalola said while Religion and History teach the development of man, Geography and Nature Study teach how man and planets came into existence.

    Babalola, who was represented by the Coordinator of ABUAD International School, Mrs. Bukola Ajisafe, noted that out that great Nigerians attended schools where these subjects were taught.

    Noting a radical departure from the past, the frontline educationist said: “But what is the situation like today? Nigeria ranks among the most corrupt countries in the world. It is one of the worst places to be born, a place of high infant and maternal mortality, one of the leading countries with the least school enrolment and a member of the countries with the most impoverished population as well as one of the countries with the highest polio virus prevalence.’’

    He added: “There are some other seemingly attractive, but derogatory indicators, such as Nigeria being among the leading private jet owners, a country with the highest importation of rice and wheat despite its vast arable land, a country least conducive for setting up business and a country with the highest crude oil theft as well as being the country running the most expensive democracy in the world, with each of the country’s senators drawing a scandalous N180 million yearly (at N45 million/quarter) in allowances while each of the 360 members of the House of Representatives gets a princely N144 millionyearly (at N36 million/quarter) allowances, either of which towers above the $569,000 (about N91.04 million) annual emolument of the American President.’’

    The chancellor of ABUAD said the concept of qualitative and functional education must be inculcated in pupils for them to appreciate the need to use their hands in small scale enterprises.

    He added this would remove them from becoming over-dependent on society, and make them realise university certificates were not meant for white-collar jobs, but to make them all-rounder in turning things around for good.

    Babalola quoted Joseph Addison, an English Essayist: “Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress, no enemy can alienate, no deposition can enslave. At home, (it is) a friend, abroad, an introduction, in solitude, a place and in society, an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it gives, at once, grace and government, to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave, a reasoning Savage.”

    On discipline in primary and secondary schools vis-a-vis corporal punishment, he said: “I recall vividly how morality and discipline were taught in our schools in those days. Our teachers did not spare the cane. In fact, our parents encouraged it by threatening to report us to our teachers. There was cooperation between the home and the school on the issue of corporal punishment.”

    The educationist  added: “But the reverse is the case today. Most of us here over-pamper our children. We do not want them caned. We must appreciate that no parent would want to kill his/her child. So too, no teacher wants to kill his/her pupil. A teacher is the parent of the child when the child is in school. He steps into the shoes of the biological parents. There is, therefore, no basis for the abrogation of corporal punishment in schools.

    “I read in a newspaper recently that a teacher was asked to pay a fine of N25 million for caning a student. Although I do not have the details of the case, but I believe that the cane should not be spared in the training of the child because words alone may not be able to achieve the desired goals. Caning makes the indolent child sit up. However, in caning the child, no injury must be inflicted on the child.

    “As a lawyer, I am not aware of any law that says a parent cannot cane his child. In the same way, the teacher who assumes the position of the child’s parent while the child is in school, should be entitled to cane the child.”

    He urged NAPPS to appeal to the appropriate authorities to moderate discipline to enable them produce disciplined pupils that would become  transformational leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnmadi Azikiwe, Sir Denis Osadebey and himself.

    He paid tribute to the leadership of NAPPS for sustaining the tempo of quality education, stressing that primary and secondary schools were the foundation of what the children would become in future.

  • Afe Babalola makes case for reputable Law Colleges to prepare Law graduates for bar examinations

    Frontline Legal icon and Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has advocated that reputable Colleges/Faculty of Law in Nigerian Universities should henceforth be saddled with the responsibility of training Law graduates preparatory for their final Call to Bar Examinations at the Law School.

    With this proposed arrangement, Law graduates from Nigerian universities will proceed to these reputable Colleges/Faculties of Law, Like ABUAD College of Law, with up-to-date facilities and Faculty members of international repute for their post-LL.B training and only go to the Law School to write their Call to Bar Examinations without being residential student in the Law School as is currently the case.

    This way, Babalola, who spoke over the weekend at a reception in honour of the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School, Prof. Isa Ciroma, SAN, said Nigeria would have borrowed a leaf from the practice in England, thereby frontally addressing the  problem of funding and myriad other problems which the Law School had had to contend with over the years.

    According to him, the problem of paucity of facilities and accommodation space have been some of the major problems the Law School had had to content with and its attendant bottleneck of having backlog of students because it does not have the capacity and the resources to cope with the number of Law graduates being churned out by the various Law Colleges/Faculties annually.

    Babalola who lamented that the Nigerian Bar is different from what he met when he was called to the Bar in 1963 or what it was before he made up his mind to study Law in the first instance, said a lot need to be done to turn things around for better in the profession for it to recapture the reverence the legal profession used to attract and enjoy many decades ago.

    Now fishing in most familiar waters, Babalola recalled how many lawyers have been asking for the abrogation of the SAN title in last few years. Their grievance being that they apply year-after-year with as many as 70 qualifying for the award every year. But at the end of the day, the Legal Privileges Committee of the Bar which admits Legal Practitioners into SAN-ship,  would lean so heavily on the law that says they cannot appoint more than 15 in any particular year, thereby leaving (having) a backlog of those who are qualified, but not awarded, almost on a yearly basis.

    The question then arises: if a person is qualified at a particular point in time, at what point does he become unqualified again? Perhaps one may ask those who are charged with the duty of appointing 15 out of 60 or 70 qualified practitioners what criteria they use to jettison those who are qualified. The problem here is that without knowing it, this practice of appointing 15 out of the several that are qualified has led to corruption, sectionalism and favouritism and corner-cutting by some junior lawyers, thereby lowering the standard of practice in the country.

    That practice has unwittingly led to the “man-know-man” syndrome and other extraneous influences where those who appoint Legal Practitioners to SAN-ship tend to favour those they know ahead of those they don’t know very well.

    Nigeria should copy England where the idea of the silk (SAN title), the equivalent of QC in England was borrowed from root, stem and branch. From time immemorial in England, no matter the number that qualify in a particular year, be it 60 or 70, all of them would be appointed, leaving no room for any backlog. Nigeria must do the needful in this regard if it must not be left behind.

    His words: “The practice in those days was that successful Legal Practitioners are invited to for appointments on the Bench. Now, the standard I met then is not the standard any more. Only 10 years after my arrival, I was invited to the Bench by Hon. Justice Oyemade, the Chief Judge of Western Region. I told him I still needed some money of my own. You know the impression then was that when you go to the Bench you will be corrupt”.

    We added:”We were hearing of cases of some Justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal being removed on grounds of, according to them, corruption…. I did not know of a successful legal practitioner who wanted to go to the Bench then. The practice which I know is that when you are a successful practitioner, you want to retire to the Bench and adorn it with your years of knowledge of legal practice.

    “So all over the world, the best judges are the best legal practitioners, that is why in England up till today, judges are recruited from Queen’s Counsel (the equivalent of our Senior Advocates of Nigeria), who have distinguished themselves. Now, the standard I met then is not the standard any more”.

    But today in Nigeria, many extraneous qualifications have crept into the appointment of judges so much so that people working in public limited liability companies have been appointed judges to satisfy geographical spread.

    His words:”Our Bench must be populated with qualified people who have practiced Law and not just who rose from the Magistrate Courts to the High Courts. When you read some judgments by some High Court Judges, you wonder and marvel because they are not more than the pronouncements of Magistrates”.

    He added: “In England, it is only those with QC, the equivalent of our Senior Advocates that are invited to occupy the Bench and this has helped the quality of judgments in England over the years. Why can’t we do same here? It will help our practice of Law and the quality of judgments from the Bench”.

    Babalola therefore suggested that if people who qualify to be made Senior Advocates of Nigeria are not restricted in number, there would be a ready pool of Senior Advocates of Nigeria, who have made good money in their practice years, and ready to accept elevation to the Bench like the late Hon. Justice Taslim Olawale Elias, and the late Hon. Justice Augustine Nnamani thereby increasing/improving quality of judges and reducing corruption.

    He thanked Ciroma for visiting ABUAD, adding that it washis love for quality and functional education that propelled him to visit ABUAD for the first time. Babalola commended the DG-Law School for being on top in several ways: A Professor of Law, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and above the Director-General of the Nigerian Law School.

    Ciroma commended Babalola and the ABUAD community for changing the face of Education in Nigeria within the short history of the university, stressing that if more people invest in Education, Nigeria will be the better for it.

     

    • Olofintila writes in from Ado-Ekiti

  • Encomiums as ABUAD promoter Afe Babalola gets Awo Leadership Prize

    Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) founder Chief Afe Babalola yesterday received the 2018 Obafemi Awolowo Prize in Leadership.

    Aare Babalola became the third recipient of the coveted prize since its inception. He joined the club of Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka and former South African President Thambo Mbeki. The duo won the award in the past.

    Chairman of the Selection Committee Chief Emeka Anyaoku explained that the Prize has not been awarded since Mbeki won it in 2014 because no individual among the nominees met the criteria for the honour.

    According to him, the leadership award, is for the individual who have demonstrated the attributes of political strategy, education, integrity, caring for the welfare of the masses, consistent in policies and courage for which the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo was known.

    According to the former Commonwealth Secretary-General, only Aare Babalola was found worthy among the nominees considered for the 2018 award.

    His words: “Babalola distinguished himself in the provision of quality education just like Chief Awolowo and advocacy for the masses through legal intervention and other means to deserve the award.”

    The Chairman of the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Board of Trustees, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, said history has been very kind to the late Chief Awolowo.

    The former Head of State noted that when the late sage was as great in death as he was when alive, adding that “years after his death, his name continues to command respect and waxing stronger.”

    Gowon said that Awolowo’s character and performance in public office stood him out as an uncommon leader.

    He said: “His death at 78 was a great loss to Nigeria and humanity. It was in order to immortalise him that Awolowo Foundation was established.”

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi described Chief Babalola as an icon not only in Ekiti but in Nigeria as a whole.

    Dr. Fayemi lauded ABUAD promoter for making a remarkable impression on education, describing the institution as a tourist attraction and urged the audience to visit to see what the legal luminary has done in his university.

    He described the ABUAD Teaching Hospital as the best.

    The Secretary of the Awo Foundation, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu said that her late father and Chief Babalola shared similar traits.

    According to her, both men braved the odds to acquire education.

    In his response, Aare Babalola thanked the Awolowo Foundation for the honour, even as paid glowing tribute to the Awolowo dynasty.

  • Afe Babalola: How a tree made a forest

    We all fall in love with proverbs and sayings of the wise and consider them building blocks for personal as well as national development. Very often, these popular sayings take a life of their own and they are expected to inspire us through life. Over time, they become almost cast in stone and become absolutes in themselves.

    For example, I firmly believe that the saying which over time has finally come to be known as the Golden rule was unquestionable and that everyone agreed to its meaning. To us all, the Golden rule simply is, Do unto others as you expect them to do unto you. Later, I heard someone say that in reality, the Golden rule means: Those who have the gold will rule!

    For the purpose of this tribute, I have had to reflect and question another very popular saying, namely, that: A tree cannot make a forest. It all seemed so clear to me that indeed, a tree cannot make a forest. In real life, this proverb is supposed to remind us that an individual’s impact is measured only in relation to the contribution of others. In paying tribute to Aare Afe Babalola, I think I have come across a man who puts this proverb severely to the test. Aare Babalola’s contributions to national life puts paid to the efficacy of this proverb. Aare Afe Babalola is in almost every sense of the word, a tree that has become a huge forest both metaphorically and in reality, especially given the huge farm that he has created in his eponymous university in Ado Ekiti.

    I first met and got to know Aare Babalola a bit closely in 2005 during the National Political Reform Conference of which I was secretary. With almost 400 distinguished Nigerians, he stood out in more ways than one. However, I really got to know him a bit closer when the NPRC broke into committees. Given the caliber of men and women who were members of the conference, we had had serious problems trying to get chairmen for the committees because of the status of the members.  Finally, we resolved that the committees should choose their own chairmen when they convened.

    I had the duty of going round the nine committees, listening to their debates, answering questions and coordinating their demands and so on. This was how I got a bit close to Aare Babalola. The committee on the constitution was considered the most important of the committees. If my memory serves me right, I think there were 17 Senior Advocates of Nigeria as members of that committee. By this time, the manouvre and intrigues over the third-term project were in full swing. We had series of side conversations and developed mutual respect for one another.

    The popular lore I first heard was that Aare Babalola never went to a formal school. Later, the truth came out. He himself proudly set the records straight: he had only finished standard six! Common standard six! At that level, you would expect that Aare Babalola should have been content with auditioning for a role as a side kick in the Village Headmaster television series content to stand behind the Kabiyesi. Or, he could have stood side by side with Gringory and Clarius in the Masquerade (Recall a scene in the Masquerade in which Gringory was unable to read a letter for Chief Zebrudaya during the day on grounds that he was attending night school and therefore could only read at night).

    Short of a miracle, how could a common standard six boy manage to bypass being an artisan in a carpentry workshop in Ekiti to totally alter the entire educational landscape of the entire state? Even if he had the temerity to come to Lagos after his standard six, could he not have been content with being a bus conductor in Oshodi where he could have become a secretary of the Association of Motor Touts?  Or, over time, could he have risen to become a vice chairman of the local branch of the NURTW? To fail to contemplate these questions is to fail to appreciate the shock and awe of Aare Babalola’s seismic rise to the pinnacle of law, industry and philanthropy.

    How could a common standard six boy read his way through law, rise to become one to the most recognisable faces of the legal profession both in his own country, Africa and beyond? How could a common standard six boy become a recipient of almost 10 honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria, Africa, Europe and America? Strangely, like Caesar, more than twice, he had been offered the crown of serving his nation as a minister, a chance to access the loot and more than twice he had turned it down.

    To be sure, there are many lessons for us to learn from the life and times of Aare Babalola. The lessons include co-operating with the grace of God, using 99% perspiration and a co-operating with the 1% of inspiration, discipline, sheer grit and tenacity. I watched as a common standard six boy presided over the affairs of the prestigious University of Lagos as chairman of the Governing Council, clearly exhibiting his impatience with the poor quality of education. He drew inspiration from there to move the mountain and set up his own university.

    In 2011, when my friend, Dr Kayode Fayemi invited me to speak at his first anniversary as governor in Ekiti, I made a note and decided that I would visit the university in the course of my visit. I told my host, my brother and friend, Bishop Felix Ajakaiye that I really had to go and see Afe Babalola University. We made the brief trip in haste because I had a plane to catch in Akure. I wanted to just drive round and see the buildings, but someone recognised me. I casually asked if Aare was around and it turned out we were just beside his office.

    I decided to stop and say a quick hello to him. He was so excited to see me and despite my time constraint, he called out and introduced me to most of the senior staff who were with him. He asked if I could address the students, no matter how briefly but I pleaded with him and we left. I was quite impressed by what I saw and wondered how an individual could achieve so much. The best was still to come.

    In 2015, to my greatest surprise, I received a letter from Aare Babalola informing me that the university had offered to confer an hononary doctorate degree on me and could I also kindly deliver a convocation lecture too? I was to share this honour with two distinguished Nigerians, the Alaafin of Oyo, Lamidi Adeyemi 111, and my good friend, Professor Attahiru Jega.

    The event was colourful. It included a tour of the entire university compound and some of the laboratories. It was something to behold. The evening convocation party had the legend, King Sunny Ade on stage. We were asked to go to the dancing floor but since neither Professor Jega nor his wife seemed equipped with dancing shoes, I decided to simply wriggle on my seat.

    Today, ABUAD has become a landmark university, raising the bar for university education beyond the shores of Nigeria, winning scores of national and international awards. It has elevated university education in Nigeria. So, when Aare Babalola called to inform me that he had been awarded the Awolowo Leadership Prize for 2018, I nodded and smiled in approval. He deserves this and even more. Chief Awolowo will be proud of what Aare Babalola has accomplished. He has defied the odds and demonstrated that indeed, a tree can make a forest. Today is Ash Wednesday and I therefore cannot join you. Accept my congratulations and prepare for more accolades, Aare.

  • Why restructuring is panacea to Nigeria’s problems, by Afe Babalola

    ELDER statesman and Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has reiterated that Nigeria may continue to grapple with its prevailing problems of spiral unemployment, insecurity and under-development, unless the country treads the path of restructuring.

    Specifically, Babalola, who received the management team of the Nigerian Tribune in his office in Ado-Ekiti over the weekend, said until Nigeria goes back to implement the blueprint the trio of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the late Sardauna painstakingly fashioned out for 10 years in Lancaster House, England between 1950 and 1960, Nigeria may find it difficult to evolve as a nation.

    His words :”Those who know me would appropriately recall that I have been championing the course of restructuring for some times now. On November 4, 2011, the descendants of His Majesty, King Abbi Amachree IV, the Amanyanbo of Kalabari, gathered together in Port-Harcourt to celebrate the First Memorial Lecture. The Board of Trustees, including the talented Prof. Tam David-West, brought together a large crowd including the Deputy Governor and the Vice President. I was honoured to deliver the 1st Memorial Lecture titled, ‘Nigeria in Search of a Nation’.

    “I was then and I am still an advocate of restructuring Nigeria. In my articles in the Vanguard and Tribune Newspapers on Wednesdays and Thursdays respectively, I have published many articles on the restructuring of the country. As a member of Constitutional Conferences, I have also argued in favour of true federal structure. The truth is that today, there is a strong wind of restructuring blowing over the country. It is not just strong a wind, it is a hurricane restructure. The loud voice of those who desire a united and strong country, which would deo volenti metamorphose into a nation is that the country should be restructured.”

    He thanked the management of the Nigerian Tribune, led by the Managing Director, Mr. Edward Dickson, for coming to congratulate him on his announcement as the winner of the much-treasured Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize for 2018.

    Chief Emeka Anyaoku, the chairman of the Selection Committee of the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Award had announced at the 70th Anniversary of the rebranded Nigerian Tribune on January 29, 2019 that Babalola was voted the winner on account of the inherent qualities of political strategy, education, integrity, caring for the welfare of the masses, consistency policies and courage among several others, which constitute a veritable nexus that binds the first Premier of Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Nigeria’s frontline legal icon, educationist and valiant entrepreneur as well as unsparing philanthropist, Aare Babalola, together.

    Anyaoku said Babalola was found worthy of the Prize because of what he described as his “genuine commitment to promoting the cause of humanity, which has marked you out as a philanthropist, whose social consciousness is a source of inspiration to millions of Nigerians”.

    Anyaoku added: “Afe Babalola has distinguished himself in the provision of quality education just like the sage, advocacy for the masses through legal intervention and other means to deserve the award”.

    The Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Award is for individuals, who have demonstrated the attributes of political strategy, education, integrity, caring for the welfare of the masses, consistency policies and courage among several others for which the late Premier of Western Region was well-known.

    Addressing his visitors, Babalola likened the place of the media in any society to what would happen to a blossoming flower in the desert, which will eventually wither away un-noticed and unsung, stressing that for institutions like the Nigerian Tribune and its array of talented editors and reporters, many of the accomplishments of his increasingly famous Afe Babalola University may have gone un-noticed.

    He praised the Awolowo Foundation for finding him worthy as the winner of the coveted Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize, which he described as invaluable on account of the achievements of his nine-year-old university, where he has been breeding a new generation of Nigerians and leaders.

    Delving into the accomplishments of ABUAD in its short history of existence, Babalola said: “Here in ABUAD, we have students from all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. And that makes us different. That stands us out. We are building a new generation of leaders that will change the world.

    Speaking on the departed sage in whose memory the Prize was instituted, Babalola hailed Awolowo for his firmness, kindness and fearlessness as a result of which he was able to make the old Western Region the clear leaders and a toast of other regions in those days.

    His words: “Continuity is the essence of government. A good leader must be firm, kind and fearless and we all know that Awo was fearless and we all know what he did as Premier of Western Region. Unfortunately, people conspired to jail him, but he remains a hero for ever.

    “If Chief Awolowo can wake up today, I am sure he will confirm what the Afenifere chieftain, Chief Reuben Fasoranti , said about me on November 12, last year, to wit: ‘Since creation, God has made billions of souls, but you, Aare Afe Babalola, must be in the league of the most caring, the most humble, the most contented, and the most selfless of all souls, (thereby) living true to the calling of selfless to humanity.

    “If it is possible for any mortal to be perfect, you will be my top nominee. Happy birthday to a wonderful and a quintessential human being. You are one in a kind. Enjoy your day to the hilt my Aare. God bless your heart and continually make you a shining star to mankind.”

    Earlier Dickson had congratulated Babalola for emerging the winner of the coveted Prize, thus making him the third African after Nigeria’s Prof. Wole Soyinka and former South Africa’s President, Mr. Thambo Mbeki.

    He stressed that the Prize confirmed Babalola in the mould of the late sage, who was well-known for his interest in education, human capital development and caring for the under-privileged members of the society.

    The Nigerian Tribune chieftain said Babalola’s winning the Prize for 2018 is the more worthy of celebration bearing in mind that the prize has not been won by anyone in the last four years because the meticulous selection committee for the award did not find anyone worthy in those four years to be so awarded.

    In Anyaoku’s words the Prize has not been awarded since Mbeki carted it home in 2014 because “there was no individual in Africa among nominees worthy to be honoured with the award in the last four years because none met the criteria spelt out to justify their candidacy for the honour”.

    According to him, the Obafemi Awolowo for Leadership Award is for individuals, who have demonstrated the attributes of political strategy, education, integrity, caring for the welfare of the masses, consistency policies and courage among several others for which the late Premier of Western Region was well-known, stressing that it was only Babalola, who was found worthy as an individual among the current nominees to receive the award.

    His words: “Afe Babalola has distinguished himself in the provision of quality education just like the sage, advocacy for the masses through legal intervention and other means to deserve the award.”

  • Afe Babalola wins 2018 Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize

    Social Psychologists would always tell us that no two people – not even a set of identical twins from the same homozygote egg – would behave alike. We are equally made to understand that history sometimes repeats itself while some persona in one person in one clime at one point in time may repeat themselves in yet another person in another setting at a different time.

    And that brings us to the inherent qualities of political strategy, education, integrity, caring for the welfare of the masses, consistency policies and courage among several others which constitute an indestructible cord that binds the first Premier of Western Region, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Nigeria’s frontline legal icon, educationist and valiant entrepreneur as well as unsparing philanthropist, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN together.

    It was the combination of the above stated attributes and his impacting humanity through his immeasurable and indescribable humanitarian and philanthropic programmes, that have won the frontline legal colossus and Founder of the increasingly famous Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize for 2018.

    This Award is coming five years after Babalola won the equally prestigious Zik Prize in Leadership for 2013 for his “genuine commitment to promoting the cause of humanity which has marked you out as a Philanthropist whose social consciousness is a source of inspiration to millions of Nigerians”.

    The cheering and elevating news was broken during the week at the 70th Anniversary of the rebranded Nigerian Tribune, one of the leading Nigerian Tabloids, in Lagos over the weekend by the iconic Diplomat and former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, who is also the Chairman of the Selection Committee of the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Award.

    The Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize has unarguably become an added and well-deserved feather to the already crowded cap of a man who has adorned the country’s legal, philanthropic, agricultural and educational landscape with unparalleled industry, unalloyed service and uncommon compassion.

    Towards the tail end of the celebration which took place in the hallowed bowels of Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, which was witnessed by the crème-de-la-crème of the society made up of members of the Bar and Bench, Royalty, Clergy, top Journalists and Captains of Industry as well as top Politicians, Anyaoku once again mounted the podium with many thinking that he wanted to round off proceedings for the day.

    A man reputed for pleasant surprises, the suave and urbane Diplomat dropped a pleasant ‘bombshell’ that literally swept many off their feet, to wit: that Aare Afe Babalola has been adjudged the Winner of the highly treasured Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize for 2018 for “distinguishing himself in the provision of quality education just like the sage (Chief Obafemi Awolowo), advocacy for the masses through legal intervention and other means”.

    Just like Babalola is the third African to be honoured with an Honourary Doctorate Degree of the University of London, where he is a triple Alumnus (having obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1959 and his LL. B for the university in 1963), he has also become the third African to win the distinguished Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize after former South African President, Thambo Mbeki and Nigeria’s Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, both eminent citizens of the world of African descent won the Prize in 2014 and 2012 respectively.

    Anyaoku said that the Prize has not been awarded since Mbeki carted it home in 2014 because “there was no individual in Africa among nominees worthy to be honoured with the Award in the last for years because none met the criteria spelt out to justify their candidacy for the honour”.

    According to him, the Obafemi Awolowo for Leadership Award is for individuals who have demonstrated the attributes of political strategy, education, integrity, caring for the welfare of the masses, consistency policies and courage among several others for which the late Premier of Western Region was well-known, stressing that it was only Babalola who was found worthy as an individual among the current nominees to receive the Award.

    His words: “Afe Babalola has distinguished himself in the provision of quality education just like the sage, advocacy for the masses through legal intervention and other means to deserve the Award”

    No wonder Prof. Raimi A. Olaoye once described Babalola as the second and modern day Obafemi Awolowo on account of his (Babalola’s) exploits in the realm of education through which he is putting the smiles on the faces of many and receiving accolades nationally and internationally.

    Speaking at a Lecture titled “Connecting the past with the present for a rewarding future of Nigeria education system”, organized by the University of Ilorin Chapter the Nigerian University Education Students Association (NUESA) in May 2016, Olaoye, a Professor of History and International Relations at the University of Ilorin, described the duo of Awolowo and Babalola as “fathers, role models, foremost educationists, courageous nationalists and great Nigerians”.

    It is a notorious fact that Awolowo has played his part and has gone to join the saints triumphant, but his re-incarnate, Babalola, has stepped into his shoes by virtue of the gigantic strides he took by establishing ABUAD which commenced Academic works on January 4, 2010 to change the face of education in Nigeria and bring back its lost glory in education and for which he had been commended nationally and internationally by education stakeholders including, but not limited to the NUC which acknowledged his nine-year old university as “the pride of university system in Nigeria”, the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities  (AVCNU) which dubbed it as “the most successful private university in Nigeria” and UNESCO which endorsed it as “a world class institution of Higher Education”.

    Based on Awolowo’s and Babalola’s vision for education and general development of Nigeria, they, in concert with a few others like them, have always been seen in the mould of Nationalists and Pan-Africalists such as Herbert Macaulay, Nnamdi Azikwe, Kwame Nkrumah, Leopold Cedar Senghor, Houphouet Boign, Dauda Jawara, Nassingbe Eyadema, Marcus Garvey, E.W. Blyden and W.B. Dubois.

    Reacting to the development, Babalola thanked Anyaoku-led Award Selection Committee for taking note of his modest contributions through his various humanitarian programmes and for nominating him for the famous Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize for Year 2018.

    He said his modest contributions to the educational landscape of the country is a dream come true and expressed happiness that this is happening in his life time, pointing out that his decision to set up a university was informed by his experience during his seven-year stint as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council at the University of Lagos during which time he was able to see, first hand and bare-facedly, the decay and rot in our educational system.

    Together with his colleagues in UNILAG, he recalled that they were able to do the little they could do then as a result of which the university was not only voted the best in the country then, Babalola was twice voted the Best Pro-Chancellor.  But because he did not believe that was enough and to prove a point, he sold choice properties in Lagos, Abuja, and United Kingdom as well as in the United States to establish ABUAD as a leader in quality and functional education and to show Nigerians how a university should be run and how it should not be run.

    He noted with relish that the rich, luxuriant and commendable things Anyaoku said about him have equally been noticed by reputable universities and organizations round the world which has since honoured him severally.

    A great admirer of the late sage, Babalola said the only legacy he could bequeath to this generation of Nigerians and those coming behind lies in quality, functional and reformatory education that will produce all-round graduates that will be job creators and not job seekers.

    Emphasizing that the Award is not only an honour, but a catalyst that will ginger and propel him to do more in his service to humanity, Babalola called on well-meaning Nigerians to join him in the crusade of institutionalizing quality and functional education in Nigeria, stressing that “like I keep saying, I want Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of giving. ABUAD is all about giving back to the society to make it better than I had met it”.

     

    Tunde Olofintila wrote from Ado-Ekiti.