For impacting humanity through his numerous humanitarian programmes and exceptional contributions to nation-building as a reputable lawyer and former Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos who transformed the university during his seven-year tenure, the founder & Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, will today be decorated with Vanguard’s Personality of the year 2021 Award.
The new addition to the warren of feathers on Babalola’s already well-adorned cap of national and international honours is coming 33 days after the famous US-based Times Higher Education Impact Rankings rated his 12-year-old university as the best in Nigeria and one of the best 400 in the world.
The cheery news of Vanguard’s award came vide an April 27, 2022 letter which predicated Babalola’s latest award on his outstanding character as a foremost lawyer and committed educationist.
The letter which was signed by Editor of the Vanguard Newspaper, Mr. Eze Anaba, said: “This Award is in recognition of your exceptional contributions to nation-building. Your esteemed self has had a chequered legal career, rising to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1987 and heading one of the reputable Law Firms in Nigeria”.
He added: “Your outstanding character as a foremost lawyer propelled your appointment as the Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos in 2001 and it is on record that your tenure (during which you won the Best Pro Chancellor Award twice) witnessed tremendous and positive impact on the life of that particular university.
“What stands you out among all mortals worldwide is that at the age of 80 (in 2009), an age when humans go into full retirement, you not only continued working, but astonishingly embarked on an enterprise of setting up a university with all the foibles and booby-traps of our operating environment.
“Twelve (12) years later, the university has become a testament and a reference point as the best-equipped university in all ramifications in the entire West African region. Indeed, ABUAD is a lesson, in your own words, of “how a university should be run”. The history of a united Nigeria will not be complete without a copious mention of your dedication and commitment to our fatherland.
“The philosophy of this Award is to recognize and celebrate excellence, national pride and service to humanity”.
Reacting to the award, Babalola thanked the management and staff of the Vanguard Media Limited for taking note of his modest contributions through his various humanitarian programmes and for nominating him for the prestigious Vanguard’s Personality of the year 2021 Award.
He said his modest contributions in the legal and educational spheres 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 virtually everything he had, including choice properties in Lagos, Abuja, and United Kingdom as well as in the United States to establish ABUAD, as a leader in quality, functional and reformatory education and to show Nigerians how a university should be run.
He noted with relish that the rich, luxurious and commendable things Vanguard Media Limited said about him in its letter of nomination dated April 27, 2022 are equally being noticed by reputable universities and organisations round the world.
The Vanguard Media Limited is not alone in this outpouring of praises as many educational stakeholders have equally showered encomiums on the university for its monumental achievements since it commenced academic work on Monday, January 4, 2010. Such stakeholders include the National Universities Commission (NUC), the regulatory authority for university education in Nigeria, has acknowledged as “a model, benchmark and reference point” as well as “the pride of university system in Nigeria” and endorsed by the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) as “the most successful private university in Nigeria”. UNESCO also acknowledged it as “a world class institution of Higher Education”.
An undeniable giant at 12, ABUAD has since been mentoring the following universities, including those which are several decades older than it: the 33-year old Benue State University; University for Industrial Development, Ghana; International University of Grand Bassan, Cote D’Ivoire; Benson Idahosa University; Ado Bayero University, Bayero; Federal University of Technology, Akure (for Medical Programmes); Ecole Professionnelle Specialisee – La City University, Republic of Benin; Western Delta University, Delta State, and the latest is Azman University which has this to say about the university “…It is interesting to know that every university we have been to said we should go to Afe Babalola University if we want to establish a world class university”.
A man who knows the power of education, 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 not be pounding the streets of our urban centres looking for white collar jobs, but ones who will not only be self-employed, but will employ others.
To him, the award is not only an honour, but a catalyst that will propel him to do more in his service to humanity.
Olofintila writes from Ado-Ekiti.
