The huge crowd that thronged the AB Foundation Civic Centre located on Opopogbooro in Ado-Ekiti was unprecedented. Men, women, youths, students and the physically-challenged were present.
They were among the 15,000 that obtained forms to benefit from the cash to be made available to them by Afe Babalola (SAN).
Law enforcement agencies such the police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) deployed their men and women to the venue to ensure that the event was hitch-free.
Organisers had, about two weeks earlier, made announcements on the electronic media calling on residents of the state to obtain free forms to enable them to benefit from the gesture. However, only 15,000 people obtained the forms within the first three days.
The committee, in its wisdom, halted further distribution of forms as interested applicants continued to show interest hence the need to manage the crowd and sort out the applications since limited amount was available.
That was the setting at the maiden Poverty Alleviation Programme of AB Foundation, a charity and empowerment-based non-governmental organisation established by Babalola to further his philanthropic ideals.
The main objective of the Foundation is to assist the less-privileged persons in the society, rework the social equation, put smiles on their faces and assure them that all is not lost after all.
Out of the number, 1,000 applicants were selected to benefit from the AB Foundation Poverty Alleviation Empowerment and they had the privilege of having their tallies put in the pot from which the lots were drawn to determine the winners of various cash categories.
Poverty is a problem afflicting the society with about 70 per cent of Nigerians living below the poverty line and living less on one dollar per day. Governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations have been working hard to tackle the scourge which still persists.
Babalola had a taste of poverty as story has it that he was brought up in a non-plastered mud house covered with thatched roof. But he conquered poverty by the grace of God, determination to succeed in life and hard work.
Having tasted poverty during his formative years in his native Ado-Ekiti, Babalola is passionate to assist those wallowing in poverty with his God-given and hard-earned wealth and this has endeared him to many within and outside Nigeria.
There was pin-drop silence when the marked tallies of the selected beneficiaries were poured inside the glass container and was stirred several times before being brought out to determine the amount won.
Many of the selected beneficiaries closed their eyes and went into a brief session of prayer calling on Providence to favour them and win fat cash from the draw.
It was the physically-challenged that were called out first because of their condition before the able-bodied ones had their turn.
Out of the selected beneficiaries, 20 people received N100,000 each; 180 people received N50,000 each; 300 people smiled home with N10,000 each while 500 beneficiaries received N5,000 each at the maiden AB Foundation Poverty Alleviation Programme. All amounted to N16.5 million which Babalola gave out.
The event was chaired by the Ohinoyi of Ebira land, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim while the Ewi of Ado- Ekiti was the royal host of the day. The two monarchs were accompanied by their retinue of chiefs and palace aides.
Other guests who attended the event were former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran; Anglican Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Rt. Rev. Christopher Omotunde; elder statesman, Chief Deji Fasuan; President of Ado Progressive Union (APU), Chief Obafemi Ojo; Chairman, Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Senator Bode Ola and the Chief Medical Director of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH), Dr. Kolawole Ogundipe, among others.
Babalola said the event was significant in many respects primary of which was the fact that the month of January was significant in his life as it was in that month in 1937 that he was sent to school by his father against his wish; marking the 80th anniversary of the commencement of his education at Emmanuel School, Ado-Ekiti.
He reminisced: “January, 2017 is significant in my life, even though I do not remember the exact day in January, 1937 that my father, of evergreen memory, made the ‘mistake’ of sending me to school, very much against my wish.
“I must point out here that I was the only person in my immediate and extended family as well as the whole of our street in Odo Ado that was singled out for this punishment because we were subjected to corporal punishment at all times; including caning, closing of eyes, raising one leg with eyes closed and cutting of grasses.”
He urged privileged Nigerians to assist the poor to reduce the high rate of poverty and unemployment in the country saying: “you don’t need to be the richest person in the world to help your neighbour.”
Babalola said: “Nobody has the whole wealth in the world; you can turn around the fate of somebody who is poor today. My wish when I was very young was to inherit father’s hoe and cutlass but I want to tell you that with hard work, determination and industry, you can get there.
“I urge the government to reach out to the ordinary people at the grassroots and do something to assist them. I am a grassroots man, the only time I am happy is when somebody beside me is happy.
“I will rather go hungry than seeing somebody beside me going hungry; there are many Ado-Ekiti indigenes who are richer than me, there are many Nigerians who are richer than me but I won’t mention names here.
“Giving is an act I borrowed from my parents; giving is very important if we want this country to develop. The Federal Government alone cannot fund universities in Nigeria and make them comparable to their peers in other parts of the world.
“What Stanford University (in the United States) received annually from endowments is more than the whole amount Nigerian government votes for education. How then can Nigerian universities compare with them?
“We should change our attitude of leaving everything for the government to do for us. Today, it has got to the ludicrous extent that many Nigerians want to bear children and want government not only to train them but also to provide the children school meals.
“We cannot abdicate our responsibilities for government, not in the face of compelling and competing duties of the government. I, therefore, call on the rich and the more comfortable members of the Nigerian society to assist the less-privileged people with the overall aim of engendering growth and development.
“What I am doing today is a token of my humble concern and love for the people generally and I will like the rich among us to take a cue from this because riches don’t become wealth until they are invested in humanity.”
Babalola urged the beneficiaries to invest the cash received wisely and judiciously to give themselves economic empowerment through investment in small-scale businesses.
He revealed that the building where the event took place, AB Foundation Civic Centre which can accommodate over 2,000 people, was built to raise money to be donated to the less-privileged people.
The Ohinoyi, Alhaji Ibrahim, said Babalola’s gesture was commendable because of the rate of poverty in the country. He described poverty as a “very impatient illness needing attention.
The monarch said: “Ado-Ekiti has an illustrious son that has lifted the name of Ekiti State. I want to congratulate the Ewi and the people of Ekiti for having a man of his stature.
“The time is so right; the gesture is so commendable and so unforgettable when poverty has spread out its curtailing wings over opportunities and hope. But here comes a remedy to help generously.
“I pray that those lucky beneficiaries of AB Foundation cash gift today should invest the money in any enterprise directly or in association with friends in order to gain self-reliance and gain the needed comfort.”
The Ewi, Oba Adejugbe, commended Babalola for siting his university in the town alongside its subsidiaries such as farm, hotel, bakery and others which have generated thousands of employment.
He advised the people to go back to the farm to ensure food security and be gainfully employed. He expressed concern over the huge number of people who turned out for the programme.
Oba Adejugbe added: “That is what Afe Babalola is doing every day, giving to the needy. It is not until you become a millionaire that you can give; from the little you have reach out to the poor.
“I want to appeal that we should do something about the unemployment situation in this country. I want to urge everybody to go back to the farm because we are in an era when salaries are no longer regular.
“Even when the salary is regular, it is not enough. Let us go back to the farm because what I saw outside (the hall) this morning, may God bless this country.”
Chief Fasuan slammed politicians “who make millions from their outrageous salaries and allowances but come back at the end of the year to distribute second-hand motorcycles and grinding machines as empowerment to the people.
Describing Babalola as an “unusual human being”, Fasuan said ABUAD, in its seven years of existence, has given solace to many people in Ekiti and has become a reference point within and outside the country.
Fasuan said: “Afe Babalola is an unusual human being; he has knocked at every frontier on all fronts. Can you imagine a seven-year-old university spreading its tentacles to every area of human endeavour such as agriculture and the hospitality industry, among others?
“Afe Babalola discovered himself as the Pro-Chancellor of University of Lagos. The nearest is the symbolic gesture of politicians after making millions, they will come back at the end of the year to distribute grinding machines and used motorcycles.”
Adeniran described Babalola as the rallying point for him and other students in the 60s at the University of Ibadan, revealing that the philanthropist used to give them money not minding where they came from.
The beneficiaries also praised their benefactor and prayed God to grant him long life for him to continue to give solace to the poor.