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Tag: Harvard

  • Aliko Dangote at Harvard: the question I wanted to, but did not ask him (1)

    Aliko Dangote at Harvard: the question I wanted to, but did not ask him (1)

    It is perhaps appropriate that I go straight to the question that I very much wanted to put to Aliko Dangote but decided not to when he gave a talk at Harvard University on Thursday, October 29, 2015. This is the question: Why is it that our business moguls have never given the slightest indication that they realize that the solution to the perpetual crisis of fitful and unreliable generation and distribution of power in our country depends as much on them as a group as it does on the state, the government? Having begun this piece with that unasked question, perhaps the next thing for me to do here is to admit that I did not put the question to Dangote because I realized that it would have been a bit unfair to put the question to him in that particular context, quite apart from the significant fact that the audience at the talk would have so completely misunderstood the intent of the question that they would almost certainly have read it as a deliberate provocation to Dangote, an attempt to detract from the extraordinarily buoyant and euphoric mood of the reception of his talk. What is the background, the context for these observations and musings?

    Sponsored jointly by Harvard’s Center for African Studies and the Harvard Business School, Dangote’s talk was the first in the so-called Hakeem and Myma Belo-Osagie Distinguished African Business and Entrepreneurial Lecture. In my ten years at Harvard, this was quite easily the most well attended lecture given by an African at the University. In saying this, I have not forgotten that other notable Nigerians like Olusegun Obasanjo, the Sultan of Sokoto, the late Professor Ade Adefuye (former Nigerian Ambassador to the U.S.) and Babangida Aliyu, former Governor of Niger State have all given lectures at the University since I have been teaching there. Unquestionably, part of Dangote’s appeal is due to his fame as not only Africa’s wealthiest man, but also one of the world’s richest and most influential transnational business moguls. Ours is one of the poorest regions of the world and so far, with perhaps the single exception of the commercialization of religion, the efforts of our wealthiest entrepreneurs to effectively run global business operations have failed woefully. Reported by Forbes to be worth about 80 billion dollars, Aliko Dangote would stand out in any region, any nation on the planet; in Africa in particular and the global south in general, he is like a colossus. Thus, Dangote’s fabled achievements in entrepreneurship assume legendary proportions in the African context and this was reflected in the turnout for and reception of his lecture at Harvard on Thursday, November 29, 2015.

    Beyond these important but external factors, Dangote’s talk was also the very essence of relaxed, poised and, on occasion, witty delivery. Human self-identification with achievement and celebrity, especially in wealth, is a phenomenon known all over the world and at all times in recorded history. The good folks at Harvard, one of the world’s most prestigious universities, are no exception to this norm. Thus, those who showed up for Dangote’s talk – the great majority of them either Africans or of African descent – dutifully laughed at every joke that he gave and indulgently cheered every turn of phrase through which he expressed a solidarity, an African oneness with the audience, despite the aura surrounding his person and worth. Above all else, the man was absolutely in command of the occasion; he not only gave his talk fluently without any prepared notes, but he did so with a mixture of candor and a complete absence of pomposity. He has probably given versions of the same talk in many other contexts; all the same, the combination of straight-from-the-heart anecdotes concerning the origins of his wealth and the highlights of his business activities greatly endeared him to the audience. Moreover, he was very forthright about the challenges of doing business across virtually all the regions of our continent, without obscuring the really daunting obstacles or blowing them out of proportion as many ‘roving’ entrepreneurs on our continent tend to do. To crown it all, during the “Q & A”, Dangote was very attentive, very solicitous towards his questioners, especially the young students who, it seemed, came to the talk determined to milk every ounce of intimation from the great man on how to strike it rich, how to become billionaires themselves some day.

    In that context that I have taken such great care to describe as fully and as positively as possible, it would have been thought completely out of place and perhaps also out of order for me to have put that question to Dangote: why is it that our business moguls fail to recognize that the solution to our perpetual, crippling problems with the generation and distribution of power lies as much with them as with the government? No one in the audience would have missed the implication that behind this question lies a suggestion that our business moguls are as much to blame as “government” for our problems with power generation and distribution. No matter how much I tried to hide or blunt this implication behind the question, the audience and perhaps Dangote himself would have felt that I was putting him in particular on the spot; I was making him personally answerable for a problem that everyone thinks lies solely with the “government”. Also, it would have been thought that even if my premise was right, this was not the right place, the right occasion to bring up such a matter for discussion.

    At this point in this piece that I am writing more than a week after Dangote’s lecture, I must now openly admit that this idea was and is indeed on my mind: the most powerful and influential among our business elites are as responsible as “government” for the fact that almost 200 years after electrification became indispensable for industrialization and the modernity that came in its wake, in Nigeria and most of our continent we are still literally and symbolically in the “dark” when it comes to dependable, efficient and life-changing and life-enhancing electrification. In making this assertion, I wish to state that if it seems like an accusation, a bitter indictment of our business elites, my aim is to generate productive discussion, not to try and condemn the “accused” thoughtlessly. As a matter of fact, to the extent that virtually everyone thinks that the ‘problem’ lies solely with “government”, to that extent have discussions on the failure of effective, regular and dependable electrification in our part of the world been extremely tortured and unproductive. If this is the case, the very last thing I wish to do in this piece is to shift the venue of frustrated discourses on incomplete, imperfect and frustrating electrification away from “government” to “business”.

    In his lecture at Harvard, Dangote as a matter of fact spoke repeatedly on the problems that he and the Dangote Group have had with power supply. He shared with the audience the information that the only way he solved the problem, indeed the only way he could have solved the problem, was to opt out completely from any local, regional or national power grid, not only in Nigeria but almost in every country in Africa in which he operates as an industrialist, a manufacturer. He was particularly emphatic on the fact that he and his Group strive everywhere they operate in Africa to be completely self-sufficient in power generation and supply, at every level of all the processes involved. If this is the case, the reader might well ask how justifiable it is for me to suggest that a business mogul that has so assiduously and successfully applied himself to sufficient and regular power generation and supply for his operations could be part of a business elite that is as responsible as “government” for our national and continental crises of incomplete and unreliable electrification at the dawn of the 21st century.

    I do have a response to this perfectly logical and understandable query for my claim that without exception, all our business elites are as responsible as “government” for our problems with power generation and supply. The Dangote Group may be the largest African-owned industrial empire in our continent at the present time, but its apparent self-sufficiency in power generation and supply is neither unique nor atypical. As a matter of fact, it is so typical, so normative that it stands as a mark of the peculiar kind of “industrialization” that has come to replace the nascent, vestigial “industrialization” that was first introduced by the colonizers into our country and the rest of the continent. It is this mode of “industrialization” which, at least so far, subsists on incomplete and vastly imperfect electrification that I wish to explore in this two-part series.

    I locate this peculiar mode of “industrialization” in post-independent, postcolonial Africa against the background of the universal dream of all mankind at the dawn of electrification as a linchpin of modern industry: power supply everywhere and for everyone, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, year round, year after year. This is no longer a dream in those parts of the world in which electrification, having been extended to all areas of life, is no longer restricted to “industry” as a privileged site. In next week’s conclusion of the series, I hope to show an iron-clad collusion between our political and business elites in the separation of “industry” from “life” as a primary cause and effect of our perennial problems with power generation and supply.

     

    Biodun Jeyifo

    bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

  • UNILAG alumnus wins Harvard 7Up scholarship

    UNILAG alumnus wins Harvard 7Up scholarship

    Bankole Rasheed Makanju may be the fifth recipient of the 7Up Harvard Business School scholarship since it was introduced in 2009. However, Bankole’s victory represents hope for  public school education in the country.

    Makanju is the first graduate of a  public institution to get the scholarship.

    Applicants for the scholarship have to be accepted into Harvard Business School (HBS) before applying.

    Previous recipients have been young Nigerians who had their first degrees abroad.

    However, Makanju is a 2010 Electrical/Electronics Engineering graduate of the University of Lagos (UNILAG). He also attended King’s College, Lagos for his secondary education.

    At the scholarship unveiling last Thursday at the Afe Babalola Auditorium, University of Lagos, Marketing Manager for Seven-Up Bottling Company, Mr Norden Thurston described the 28-year-old’s  admission into HBS as a rare feat.

    “To go to school in Nigeria and graduate in Nigeria and be accepted into Harvard Business School is difficult. He is the first Nigerian to study from a public university to win this scholarship,” he said.

    But that was not all that made Makanju win the scholarship. Thurston added that the young man was the one candidate, who demonstrated a passion to return after his studies to make an impact in Nigeria.  Rather than describe the country’s problems in his application, he said Makanju made assessors to see possibilities.

    Makanju said the application process for HBS was challenging but that he did all he could to prepare for it. He described himself as being fortunate to have gotten the scholarship.

    He also told The Nation that his education was good enough to provide the foundation he needed to excel in the world of work.

    Makanju hinged his reason for applying to HBS on his desire to learn how to build internationally-recognised Nigerian business brands.

    “I want to help build great Nigerian brands; build big Nigerian businesses; build something that Nigerians can travel and be proud of as truly Nigerian; just help set up Nigeria as a place where you can actually grow a business and take over the world and serve the rest of Africa,” he said.

    Seven-Up General Manager, Human Resources, Mr Yinka Adesina, said the scholarship initiative is the firm’s way of grooming great leaders for Nigeria and that recipients are under no obligation to work for the organisation after their studies.

    He said the unveiling of the 2015 recipient was brought to UNILAG to inspire secondary school pupils, undergraduates, and corps members present to prepare for their own great futures.

    He urged them to take the guest speaker, Lanre Olushola’s talk about leadership as their own take home from the programme.

    Olushola, author of The Money Book, said he was both an alumnus of UNILAG and HBS. Underscoring the importance of Seven-Up Scholarship initiative, he added that attending HBS changed his life.

    “When I attended HBS in 2007, my life changed; my business went to another level. We need to celebrate SevenUp for this initiative,” he said.

    Addressing the topic: ‘15 Steps to Successful Leadership’, Olushola told the youth that to become extra ordinary leaders, they need to work on their character, build their competence and capacity.

    To do this, he said they should have the right vision; synchronise and align it with their core values; have positive mental attitudes; act on time; possess sound judgment; and be flexible.

     

  • Harvard honours Kuku

    Harvard honours Kuku

    Former Special Adviser on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme Kingsley Kuku, is to be inducted as a member of Harvard University’s distinguished International Economic Alliance (IEA) tomorrow.

    IEA is a non-partisan, independent non-profit organisation dedicated to furthering global trade, development, investment and advancing business relations among nations.

    The induction ceremony will take place at the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States.

    Kuku is expected to make a presentation to cover the topic “Global Peace Initiatives”   before IEA members, university faculty members, private sector leaders and civil society groups.

    A letter jointly signed by the former United States Ambassador to seven countries and Under-Secretary of State, Thomas R. Pickering, and the IEA Founding Director, Van McCormick, stated: “The format for the formal address will be a presentation on global peace initiatives and your personal experience working on such initiatives as a senior presidential advisor and as the former head of Nigeria’s federal government amnesty program.

    “IEA will also present you with an official letter of induction into the International Economic Alliance membership consisting of distinguished members.”

     

     

     

     

  • Meet Nigerian woman who has no formal education but lectures at Harvard, other top varsities

    Meet Nigerian woman who has no formal education but lectures at Harvard, other top varsities

    •  Her rapport with Bill Clinton, George Bush, others

    Not many in her homeland appear to know about her unique story. But in other lands, especially Europe and America, she is a ‘goddess’ whose works are cherished by kings and presidents.

    Without a doubt, the story of Nike Okundaye, the face behind the huge success story of Nike Arts Gallery, located in Lagos, Abuja and Osogbo, is as compelling as it is inspiring.

    At a time when young Nigerians are in desperate need of a role model and inspiration in what self-belief and hard work can achieve, Nike’s rise from the status of an unknown village girl born into a seeming insignificant family in a rustic village to a globally celebrated icon would make an A-list inspirational novel.

    Born in her native village of Ogidi, Ijumu Local Government Area, Kogi State, young Nike had high dreams about what type of future she wanted for herself. But her dreams were truncated even before they could take form when she lost her mother at age six. “I was six when my mother died,” she said with a tinge of sadness.

    With the blow inflicted on her dreams by her mother’s death, young Nike was taken away to live with her grandmother. At the time, many believed that by going to live with an old woman, the young girl’s future had been compromised. But events have since proved that destiny may indeed have been at work in her journey through life.

    She had her first contact with the world of arts through her grandmother, who at the time, was the leader of cloth weavers in the community.

    She said: “I come from a family of craftsmen. My parents were crafts people from Ogidi in Ijumu Local Government Area, Kogi State. My life as an artist is something that I was born with. I started weaving at the age of six.

    “I started with weaving different things, including adire, a traditional Yoruba hand-painted cloth design. As a matter of fact, I can say everything that had to do with textile. They taught me how to weave, using a little calabash. Gradually, I graduated to using bigger materials.”

    Though Nike was six years old and barely able to tell the difference between her left and right hands, she already had a picture of the kind of future she wanted.

    “My grandmother was the head of all the weavers in our community. So, even as a little child, I already had a dream that I would own a big studio when I grew up. People came from different areas to buy the cloth from her. So, at that time, I already sensed that I might not have the opportunity to go to school.”

    With the death of her mother, her grandmother, whose responsibility it was to look after her, did not pamper her in any form. She ensured that the virtue of hard work was instilled in Nike’s young, impressionable mind.

    At that time, young Nike, unaware of the reason behind her great grandmother’s action, would cry, believing that she was being unnecessarily punished. “I would cry and lament because I thought she was wicked and punishing me. But today, I always thank her for inculcating in me the virtue of hard work. It was through her that I learnt that you must persevere in whatever you do and never give up on your dreams.”

    Although she lost her mother at a time she needed her most, Nike believes that destiny might have been involved in the way her life played out, including her mother’s death. According to her, the mother was a very hard working young woman who would have spared nothing to ensure that her child got a good education up to the university level.

    “Even at that young age, I knew that my mother was very hard working. And I am very sure that if she had not died, she would have trained me up to university level. My father was a farmer. He also did several other things like basket weaving to supplement his income. So, definitely, I would have been educated very well if my mother had not died.

    “But today, I look at my childhood and all that I went through as something designed by destiny. Who knows, maybe if my mother had not died and I had gone ahead to be educated, I may never have had the kind of opportunity that I have today and may never have risen to the level that I am.”

    Nike never went to school to study art, the vocation that has brought her to global spotlight. Vocational training in art was passed down to her by her great grandmother, the late Madam Ibikunle. Watching her great grandmother in the art of adire textile processing and helping her out, Nike walked up the line to become an expert in adire making, dyeing, weaving, painting and embroidery.

    A product of the famous Osogbo Art Movement, Nike is today a world acclaimed artist and textile designer. She brings vivid imagination as well as a wealth of history and tradition into the production of adire. Her works are celebrated in major capitals of the world, with her designs exhibited in countries like the USA, Belgium, Germany, Japan and Italy, among others.

    Nike spent the early part of her life in Osogbo, a recognised hotbed for art and culture in Nigeria. During her stay in Osogbo, her informal training was dominated by indigo and adire.

    Nike’s romance with international exposure began in 1968 when she had an exhibition at the Goethe Institute in Lagos. Since then, she has grown to become a major name on the international art circuit. She is most outstanding in paintings and design of adire, beadwork and batik.

    Among Nike’s proudest achievements was her invitation to Italy by the Italian government in 2000 to train young Nigerian sex workers on how to use their hands to engage in creative ventures. Her invitation was as a result of complaints to the Italian government by the young Nigerians that they left Nigeria in search of work, not knowing what they would be forced into. When Nike got to Italy, she taught them skills in craft making and many of the women became self-reliant in no time and stopped their old means of income.

    In 2006, she was awarded one of the highest Italian national awards of merit by the government of the Republic of Italy in appreciation of her efforts in using art to address and solve the problems of Nigerian sex workers in Italy.

    About two years ago, her adire painting was accepted at The Smithsonian, the world’s largest museum, located in Washington DC, US. Some of her works can be found amongst the collection of prominent personalities around the world, including the White House.

    While little is known about Nike and her works across the country, two former presidents of the USA, Bill Clinton and George Bush, were so enthralled by her works at various times that they sought audience with her during their visits to Nigeria. Much more than just meeting and shaking hands with the two former presidents, it was Nike that decorated George Bush’s room in Abuja during his stay in the country.

    These two incidents, Nike told The Nation, were some of the best things to have happened to her.

    She said: “When President Bill Clinton of the US visited Nigeria, he asked to meet the woman behind Nike Gallery, and I was taken to Abuja to meet him. It was the same thing with President George Bush. I was invited to meet him in Abuja during his visit to Nigeria. I was the one that decorated the room where the president stayed during the visit. What honour can be greater than this? I feel accomplished.”

    As an accomplished artist, Nike has taught in several universities in the US, imparting the knowledge of her traditional adire designs in thousands of eager students from across the world. Her teaching exploits, she disclosed, have taken her to revered institutions like Harvard and Edmonton in Canada.

    “I have lectured and held workshops in several noble institutions across the world. Some of the universities include Harvard, Columbus, Edmonton, Ohio and in Los Angeles, among others. My first experience with teaching was in 1974. At that time, I taught people with doctoral degrees.”

    Interestingly, all the education she had at the time, according to her, was the traditional education that parents pass onto their children.

    “The type of education I had at the time was the education that is passed from parents to their children, not the education you get in a classroom. It was the practical type of education,” she said with a wry smile.

    In 1983, she established the Nike Centre for Art and Culture in Osogbo, Osun State, where trainings are offered free of charge to Nigerians in various forms of arts. The centre was opened with 20 young girls who were picked from the streets and offered a new life in arts. So far, according to her, more than 3,000 young Nigerians have been trained at the centre.

    The centre also admits undergraduate students from many universities in Nigeria for their industrial training programmes in textile design. The centre now admits students from Europe, Canada and the United States of America. International scholars and other researchers in traditional African art and culture also visit the centre from time to time for their research works on the processing of adire fabric and African traditional dyeing methods.

    But she says the true story of the gallery started in her bedroom about 47 years ago.

    “The gallery you see today actually started in my bedroom in 1968. In 2008, we opened the one in Lagos, and my husband was always the motivator. It was intended to give the young and old a platform to hear their voice.”

    As she spoke, with signs of fulfillment splashed on her face, her husband, Reuben Okundaye, a retired commissioner of police, who had remained quiet since the interview started, suddenly joined in the conversation.

    He said: “It is with practical education that she has continued to teach and impart knowledge into people with doctoral degrees and masters in Fine Art. Some of these people even come here under the cover of night to seek advice from her. Yet, some would say she is not educated.”

    Speaking about another experience, Mr. Okundaye said he once had an encounter with a prominent Nigerian who told him that his wife would have been made a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if she was educated. Surprised, he said he took a swipe at the man, telling him his wife was better educated than most of the people that were being flaunted.

    He said: “You can imagine, I was discussing with one big man the other day and he said that my wife would have been made a minister if she was educated. I was angry and I asked him what he meant by that. Here is a woman who teaches people with doctoral degrees in higher institutions all over the world, yet you say she is not educated. But when the chips are down, they come to her for advice.”

    Asked how she feels whenever she teaches in the classroom, Nike looked up as if relishing her achievements, and said: “I feel fulfilled. It was a very high sense of fulfillment. Imagine, a little girl who grew up in a rustic village without any sign of hope for a good future. Now I stand before PHD holders and teach them. I have been invited to meet presidents of foreign countries. I think I should be proud of my little achievements and be grateful to God.”

    In spite of her seeming low education, she insists she has no regrets about not attending school. “I have no regrets at all. I give thanks to God for making all these things possible for me. I also thank my husband for standing by me all these years. I must confess that it was not easy coming this far. You will agree with me that for a woman to be recognised, she has to work three times harder than a man.”

    Reechoing his wife’s position, Mr. Okundaye said Nike could not have had any regrets, having attained the heights sought by many across the world. “You asked if she has any regrets. How can that be possible? What kind of regret was she supposed to have with all her achievements? She is fulfilled in every sense of the word,” he enthused.

    Expectedly, the couple was attracted to each other by their mutual love for arts. Okundaye told The Nation how it all started: “I have always been an arts lover. I have some of her works. Perhaps, like you said, maybe it was destiny that brought us together.”

    With a sterling career as a police officer, which saw him attaining the rank of Commissioner of Police and serving in more than four states, the couple has in the last 20 years of their coming together enjoyed the beauty of marriage and weathered the storm together.

    Nike, who would be 64 in a couple of weeks, has also successfully created an identity for herself. Her most treasured clothes, she confessed, are adire fabrics. And it is not surprising that she cannot remember the last time she wore anything other than that.

    “You may be right if you say I have created an identity for myself with my adire clothes. It is the only thing that I am known with. I don’t wear any other clothe, even when I travel out of the country,” she said.

  • LASU can become Harvard of Africa

    LASU can become Harvard of Africa

    Fatai Olateju Sonoiki was one of the pioneer students of the Lagos State University (LASU) in 1984.  The graduate of Political Science was also the first National President of the LASU Alumni Association as well as the first Chairman of its Board of Trustees. In this interview with ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, Sonoiki is optimistic that his alma mater can rule Africa if everything falls into line.

    Despite her challenges, do you think LASU can wriggle out and emerge one of the best universities in Nigeria in 20 years time?

    With due respect, 20 years is too long. LASU can be the best in Africa within the next five years and in that 20 years be the ‘Harvard of Africa’. LASU was founded on the foundation of excellence and integrity. That culture is what we need to restore now. Once we do that our aim then is to be the university that will be ranked first in Africa, and it is achievable.

    Could you relive some good memories of the past?

    For instance, in the whole federation, you know it is only in the University of Lagos that it is competitive to do a masters Degree. But I led those who wrote entrance examination to the Faculty of Social Sciences to the University of Lagos in 1989 and I remember the Senate of LASU congratulated me on that feat. The good thing there is that all LASU candidates that went to that university were taken purely on merit. The result of that effort was nothing short of excellence from all parameters of assessment.

    It might interest you that one of the first graduates in the Faculty of Law had a First Class at the Nigerian Law School. Another interesting thing is that about 50 of them went there and none of them came out with Third Class. If LASU Faculty of Law can become the seventh best in the world in 2011 by the global ranking of faculties of law, then what stops us? It is just the determination of stakeholders to make a difference and prove to the founding fathers that something good can come out of LASU.

    As pioneer students, we all did our NYSC in 1989. I did mine in Benue State. That was the year pioneer graduates of LASU did their service year. You need to see the way other students were looking at us as if we were from the moon. The reason is: that particular year, LASU participated in NUGA games for the second time and emerged second best. Do not also forget that the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria was a former Miss LASU.

    So where did LASU get is wrong?

    Where we got it wrong was the politicisation of appointment in that university coupled with the Nigerian factor. There is a class of people who believe that whoever is the vice chancellor must do their bidding, failing which he is shown the door. You will recall that the first Vice Chancellor, Prof Afolabi Olumide, left unceremoniously. His successor Prof Jadesola Akande spent only one term which was ridden in crises. Akande’s successor, Prof Bababunmi too only managed to complete his tenure amid crises and that tradition has remained till date.

    Would you proffer a solution?

    I think the government should do more in the appointment of vice-chancellors. Second, workers and students alike should realise that there can only be one captain in a ship. Workers should realise that the continuous existence of LASU would ensure their garri. The interest of the system must be their priority. All these protests especially by workers would not help but ground the system. Even in overseas, there is a system in place in which crises are resolved

    With this anniversary, is there a plan by the alumni association to galvanise past graduates to attain the LASU dream within record time?

    Last Thursday of last month, the alumni from Nigeria met with the UK chapter of the association in UK. We had a conference courtesy of the UK chapter on Higher Education in Nigeria with special reference to LASU. A good number of our colleagues over there are aware of what is going on at the home front.

    The effort of that conference is that as I am talking to you, plans are now at the advanced stage to start an exchange programme with the University of Kingston, UK. Their vice chancellor and president of the alumni have agreed to an exchange programmes for lecturers in LASU. Two, we hold our AGM annually, and we always publish it in the media inviting everybody. There is a difference between you being an ex-graduate of LASU and being a member of the alumni.

    As an alumni member, you must pay your N5,000 annual dues. Before, it was N250. The painful thing is that very few people turn up. We keep telling them that alumni associations is a charitable organisations; and that aside the money and time there is an opportunity for networking among members. It’s a platform where members can assist one another.

  • Harvard partners Afe BabalolaVarsity

    Harvard partners Afe BabalolaVarsity

    One of the world’s best Harvard University is partnering Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD).

    The deal is coming at a time the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has nearly concluded plans to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ABUAD.

    Pro Education Plus USA, an education consultancy firm with Harvard, said the partnership will centre on the Multiple Intelligence Theory (MIT), the university’s Head, Public Relations Mr Tunde Olofintila said.

    Visiting the three and half year-old university for the first time, Mrs Folashade Aladesami, President Pro Education Plus, and her colleague Ms. Dianne Tizzano, explained that the MIT helps in identifying what each student is endowed with.

    Mrs Aladesanmi said MIT assists students to identify and choose their majors (strongest point), thereby leveraging on their comparative advantage.

    She said evidence abound that those who key into MIT has no cause to regret.

    Her words: “Every human being is endowed with some potentialities, but unless these potentialities are stimulated and ignited, they remain dormant and inactive. This is the whole essence of Multiple Intelligence Theory.

    “I am, indeed, excited and encouraged that your young university is pioneering Multiple Intelligence Theory in Nigeria and Sub-Sahara Africa because when students choose what they are naturally gifted for and passionate about, teaching becomes easier for the faculty and studying becomes easier for students who excel quickly and easily. What is left is for us is to work more closely to improve on what you gladly put in place. This is very encouraging.”

    Aladesanmi was excited that ABUAD is already involved in leadership and entrepreneurial training for herstudents to make them employers upon graduation.

    She commended ABUAD’s achievements in her less than four years of existence, noting: “I am not only impressed, but I am equally proud and excited about the magnitude of what I have seen here today. It tallies with what I have seen online. I am happy this is happening in my own country and I salute you sir.”

    In his brief remarks, the varsity’s Founder Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) said ABUAD is ever ready to work with Harvard, adding the university’s vision of an institution as a centre of excellence tallies with Harvard’s.

    He also said he deliberately established the university in old age to reform education in Nigeria and model it after Harvard University, acclaimed as one of the best in the world.