RENOWNED lawyer and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Are Babalola, has warned the National Assembly against the establishment of more universities in the country.
He said this at the weekend when a former senate leader, Senator Ibrahim Gobir, led a 10-man delegation including former governor of Zamfara, Aliyu Shinkafi to Afe Babalola on a courtesy visit.
He disclosed that any university to be established by the act of National Assembly should be subject to the law and guidelines of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The ABUAD founder also described recent media reports that over 107 private universities in Nigeria are involved in certificate racketeering as both disturbing and embarrassing, noting that such development should never have happened, if the Federal Government had been very decisive by not granting operational licenses to proprietors who did not meet the required standard.
Babalola, however, said he is determined to make ABUAD among the top 100 universities in the world and a research institute where cutting edge and ground-breaking research will be undertaken to advance the course of humanity.
He explained that the residential education system in the institution for the over 8,000 students and members of staff is a model that helps not only in the area of academic excellence but also in improving and measuring the character of the students.
He said, “For those who do not understand why the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is always on strike, they gave over 62 reasons why they always go on strike, and mostly because the universities are underfunded. In many of our universities, the students use the nearest bushes as toilets.
“Go to the Engineering Department in this university for instance, even the teachers confessed that they have not seen the type of equipment I bought there. The same thing in Medicine and Pharmacy; the teachers said they have only learned them in books.
“We are joking with education in this country and education is very important. The importance can also be seen in me. But for the quality education which I acquired through University of London correspondence, I would have died long ago. Quality education takes away ignorance from you. Anything you want to do in life, if you have quality education, you can achieve it.
“We are playing with quality education in this country. Let us try to update and improve what we have in public universities. 107 private universities face probe for degree racketeering? I knew what I went through to get my license to start this university. The Nigeria University Commission (NUC) team came to this place to see the land, to see the drawing and to see the first sets of buildings. They said until you have graduated your first set, we will not allow you to start some degrees.
“They said we can’t start Medicine until after 10 years and now they are establishing universities to start Medicine even when they don’t have buildings. The laws are there. My belief is that whatever they say in the parliament by the lawmakers concerning the creation of new institutions should be subject to the NUC law and guidelines on how you can establish a university.
“Nigeria is better as one with quality education and those asking for more universities are not lovers of the country.
“So, they may make any law there but it must be subject to the NUC. I want to take it up with the Minister of Education.
Speaking during the visit, Senator Gobir revealed that the iconic Afe Babalola University Multi-system Hospital, Ado-Ekiti was established to end the frequent medical tourism in Nigeria.
The lawmaker who represented Sokoto East in the 9th senate said the modern equipment and the quality of medical personnel in the hospital were enough to provide solutions to all health challenges confronting the people.
The lawmaker, who was decorated as an ambassador of ABUAD, stated that he would take it upon himself to project to the world the exploits of the hospital with the ability to compete favourably with facilities in Europe and the America.
The professional engineer further stated that the impressive ranking of ABUAD both locally and internationally by reputable organisations was a testament to the growing acceptability of the institution and its graduates across the world.
According to him, other public and private higher institutions in Nigeria should understudy ABUAD towards improving the nation’s education sector in the overall interest of the society.
Senator Gobir said, “There are lots of things that we saw at the multisystem hospital, particularly the issue of kidney transplant. People go to India, Germany, Dubai and other countries for treatment. If people have the experience of what is happening here, there will be no need to travel to those places. It will reduce the pressure on the naira because there is too much pressure on the naira being exchanged for dollar.”
On his part, a former governor of Zamfara State, Shinkafi described Afe Babalola as a great and visionary man because ABUAD is changing the narratives on university education in the country in the area of quality.
While noting that the increasing creation of institutions by the federal and state governments was unacceptable, Shinkafi said concerted efforts must be made in funding the existing ones to be able to produce graduates that will provide solutions to the myriad of problems in our country.
“The priority of the government should be to improve the existing universities. We are going to join you (Afe Babalola) in this struggle. Even some of the older universities need to be funded. Even the ASUU strikes are caused by lack of proper funding of the universities. We can see that the lecturers here are very highly skilled.
“Other universities should learn from this. There is no basis for establishing more universities without taking care of the lecturers,” he said.
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