Afe Babalola Biography, Early Life and Education, Personal Life and Legal Career
Afe Babalola is a Nigerian lawyer and founder of Afe Babalola University. He was born 30 October 1929.
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Afe Babalola  |
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| Born | 30 October 1929
Ado Ekiti, Southern Region, British Nigeria(now in Ekiti State, Nigeria) |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Citizenship | Nigeria |
| Alma mater | London University, |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1963–Present |
| Organization | Afe Babalola University |
| Spouse | Modupe Mercy Babalola |
| Children | 9 |
| Relatives | Bolanle Austen-Peters(daughter) |
| Awards |
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| Website | www |
Early Life and Education
Babalola was born in Ado Ekiti in Southern Nigeria(now in [Ekiti State]]). He enrolled for the Senior Cambridge School Certificate examination by private study from Wolsey Hall, Oxford. He later obtained the A’Level certificate of London University before he proceeded to London School of Economics where he received a bachelor’s degree in Economics.
After working at the Central Bank of Nigeria, he left to the University of London where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in law, and in 1963, he was called to the England bar, the same year he became a member of Lincoln’s Inn, London.
Legal Career
Afe Babalola began his career at Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, western Nigeria as a litigation lawyer at Olu Ayoola and Co, law firm. In 1965, after two years of legal practice, he established his own law firm, Afe Babalola and Co. (Emmanuel Chambers). In 1987, he became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the highest rank in Legal profession in Nigeria. In 2001, he was appointed Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former President of Nigeria. He held the position till 2008 during which he emerged as best Pro-Chancellor of Nigerian Universities consecutively in 2005 and 2006. In 2009, he established Afe Babalola University to promote education in Nigeria. In 2013, the university was ranked the second best private university in Nigeria and 17th of 136 universities in Nigeria.
Personal life
Babalola is married to Modupe Mercy Babalola. He has nine children, including Bolanle Austen-Peters and Folashade Alli (SAN).
About Afe Babalola University
In a recent interview, he said he set up ABUAD to teach people how to run a university. Having spent most of his working/adult life in Ibadan, the temptation to start school in the city was high, but the Ado-Ekiti born lawyer opted for his hometown to host the world-class university. The university is situated along the Ado-Ijan Road and the physical development dwarfs that of many federal and state universities, while the equipment and facilities available trump one’s imagination.
The teaching hospital has state-of-the-art facilities that most public teaching hospitals in the country don’t have. It has eight modular theatres, CT-Scan and MRI scan machines, 16 kidney dialysis machines and an ICU ward. The hospital has carried out kidney transplant, several brain surgeries, heart surgeries and so on and so forth. The Law department is reputed to be the best in West Africa, and the College of Engineering was described by the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, as the best-equipped engineering college in the country.
Despite being a private university, ABUAD awards scholarships to deserving students and gives rebates on some courses like Agriculture to encourage students to go into those areas. While many public universities are groaning under heavy monthly electricity bills, ABUAD has its own independent power project that serves the school, its industrial park and others.
During the inauguration of the IPP, Governor Fayemi, while commending Babalola, said what the whole state has been finding it hard to achieve regarding a better source of power supply, Babalola was able to do within a short time.
Why will more garlands not be put on his neck? Why will Aare Baamofin of Yorubaland not be further recognised? His life has been that of achieving in the face of odds.
