Afe Babalola University, Unique Model Moves
Beyond Self-sufficiency
Ideally, the university is a serene environment
designed to nurture intellectualism and academic freedom. It serves as an engine
room for addressing the multifaceted challenges of society. A nation turns to
university for problem-solving, confronting developmental constraints, and
advancing national courses. To make the university perform this role, the environment
must be conducive for crossbreeding of ideas, exploration of hidden resources, and transformation of potential to reality. University is a natural home of genius, great
thinkers, innovators, and inventors. Progressive leaders of developed and even
developing nations are in constant consultations with Ivory Towers for research
and direction at critical moments. To meet societal expectations,
university’s academic programs are designed to conform and meet international
standards. Thus, students pursuing the university programs are subjected to
internal and external examinations and periodic curriculum review and
accreditation. Within this context, how are Nigerian universities faring?
Industrial disharmony, poor funding, lack of
support from private sectors, and sometimes nepotism make public universities perform
below expectation. This concern galvanized the emergence of private
universities, which have existed in the last decade. As an ASUU activist, I
was always opposed to the emergence of private universities and considered such a venture as a systematic denial of university education to the children of less
privileged in society. Exorbitant tuition fees far beyond the affordability
of ordinary people, exploitation, and perhaps low educational standard were my
thoughts of the private university. My thoughts began to change after visiting a few private universities in the last five years. Although, I have been an
advocate of free education at all levels the reality shows that quality
education, knowledge acquisition, and capacity development has direct and
associate costs. Someone has to bear such costs for people to be educated and
become useful to society. Government has fundamental obligations to educate
the citizenry for rapid and sustainable development of the nation. Can
government bear the cost of education alone? Should the private sector
intervene? What level of intervention? How do we get the unique model that can
bring public and private interventions in a university education for excellent
results? It is within this context that Afe Babalola University’s model needs a
thorough examination.
Recently, Prof James Adeosun, the NAERLS
southwest Zonal Officer, and I were special guests to the Afe Babalola
University Ado Ekiti (ABUAE) at the invitation of the Founder, Aare Afe
Babalola, SAN. The University is located at Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti
state; it is a Federal Government-licensed and Non-Profit but Private
University.
Non-Profit
but fully private is a conundrum, how can a private university in today’s
Nigeria be a non-profit venture? An ordinary Nigerian like me thinks that all
private universities are lucrative business enterprises for the owners making
them smile at the banks on regular basis. Well, ABUAE is entirely a different
kettle of tea. It is a unique model that combines the business acumen of the
private sector, a philanthropic gesture of highly spirited, kind-hearted
individual (the founder), zeal to excel in academic endeavors, and community
service. The university’s vision is “to
lead education reform in Nigeria by providing a world-class educational center
of excellence in academics, character, sports and vocational development”. The
university aims at producing “highly skilled and socially relevant graduates
capable of applying scientific knowledge for the resolution of social and
technological problems”. The University’s mandate is to pioneer total
excellence along with the parameters of teaching, research, performance, sports,
community impact, and scholarship”. What is making this university different
from the rest?
ABUAE operates a collegial system with six
colleges, several academic departments, and programs. Interestingly, the
university has forty-seven programs fully accredited by NUC and other relevant Professional
Bodies. The programs are in Engineering, Law, Medicine and Health Sciences,
Accounting, Computer Science, Media & Communication, and International
Relations.
The university started with the admission of
242 students in 2009 and expanded with a current students population of 8,107
students. It has a staff strength of approximately 2,000. This relatively large
population is fully accommodated within the campus. No student resides outside
the campus and the generality of the employees are fully accommodated in the
staff quarters. Through its agricultural program, the university produces food items,
beyond the nutritional requirements of all the staff and students. Thus, 100s
millions of Naira worth of food items are sold to the outside world. In fact, the
university is meeting the daily needs of both staff and students in food,
education, sport, health, religion, social, and recreation. Additionally, the
university produces a large quantity of timber for the furniture and building
requirements of the university. How was the university able to achieve
self-sufficiency in food production?
ABUAE
is the first University to acquire and use a large commercial farm consisting of over 1,000 hectares of land containing 110,000 Mango Trees, 500,000 Teak Trees,
500,000 Melina Trees, and 600,000 Moringa Trees with Moringa Factory producing different
byproducts. In fact, the university is producing Moringa Oil, Tea, Seed, Soap,
Cream, Leaf, Capsule, and Leaf Powder. On livestock and aquaculture, the farm
has 600 Fish Ponds with three Huge Hatchery Buildings consisting of 30 Hatchery
each for producing of fingerlings. Similarly, the farm produces Mango Chips,
Plantain Chips, Snailry, Piggery, Mushroom, Quail, Guinea Fowl, and Turkey. The
size and diversity of the farm made the Minister of Agriculture describe it
as “the best he has ever seen in Nigeria or elsewhere”. The farm supplies a large
number of food items to major markets in the southwest. The most interesting
aspect of the farm is the total engagement of students and unemployed youths in
the operation and maintenance of the various farm enterprises. This serves as
practical to the students and skill acquisition to the unemployed youths. Another
interesting aspect was the award of N250,000 grant to each of the first and
second sets of agricultural graduates of the university as starter-pack to
begin an agricultural business.
Another special area of ABUAE's impact on society is the “character molding” of the students. The students’ behavior and
character are molded to be productive, innovative, and useful to themselves and society. University education is designed to enrich students with
“character and learning”. However, the aspect of the character is mostly ignored, due
to the subjective nature of character evaluation while learning is easily
evaluated through regular examinations and course assessments. In ABUAE, a character is considered as important as learning. “As a visitor or worker in
the university, when you pass by a group of students, you will certainly receive
a warm greeting”, a top management staff of the university’s student affairs
division told me. This was attested
during my 4km jogging within the campus the following morning; greetings were
coming from the students as I passed. How does the university achieve this feat
of character molding? The university offers a compulsory course on “local
language and culture” to all students from 100 to 300 level. Three major
languages are used for the course; Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba. Each student must
pass it at a credit level before graduating.
ABUAE inculcates discipline as part of the learning process. Students
must respect each other as well as staff and visitors. Students are not allowed
to move out of the campus without permission or written request from their
parents. Fighting and quarreling among the students are absolutely prohibited;
in fact, there are a series of rules and regulations governing the conduct of the
students. Failure to adhere to such rules and regulations attracts sanctions from
fines, community service, placement in isolation for a period from 12 to 72
hours, suspension, and outright expulsion. Afe Babalola University is an ordered
and semi-regimented society with peace and amicability.
Right from inception, the university
exhibited sound character and leadership. At the age of two, in 2011, the National
Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) awarded the university with Merit as “The
most progressive, dynamic and fastest-growing academic institution in Nigeria”
High-ranking personalities in Nigeria gave
excellent scorecards; Three Former Nigerian heads of State and Presidents
commended the university at different times. Gen Yakubu Gowon (rtd) said “The
setting is superlative and impressive with nothing of its kind that I have seen
so far in this country or anywhere” Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, described it as “A model to emulate” while Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan said, “Notably one of the most outstanding individual contributions
towards government educational project”. NUC described the university as “A
reference point, model and benchmark for private universities, one of the best
in West Africa”
The man behind this university is Aare Afe
Babalola, the founder who is generally acknowledged to always stand for –
EXCELLENCE. Nigeria and indeed Africa need the replica of ABUAE in all corners
of the continent to exponentially increase the human capital for survival and
then technological advancement.
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