The University Sports League (USL), a private sector initiative, licenced by the Nigerian University Commission to provide sports development programmes in all the 104 licenced Nigerian universities in the country, has on Saturday, July 2, 2011, named the Founder and President Emeritus, Afe Babalola University, Aare Afe Babalola, the Life Chairman of University Sports League in Nigeria.
In a statement by the President, University Sports League, Mr. Emmanuel Tunde Omijeh, “after the University Visitation/Needs Assessment conducted in Afe Babalola University in June 11, 2011, it was unanimously agreed by the Management of USL and with the consent of the Secretary, National Universities Commission, Prof. Julius Okogie, that Aare Afe Babalola, a person of sterling qualities, vision, commitment and veritable strides in human capacity development in various spheres of the Nigerian society should be made the Life Chairman of University Sports League in Nigeria”.
Reacting to this gesture, the legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola thanked the management of USL for the honour conferred on him. Aare remarked that, “it is one thing to have ideas, plan, execute, do things for others and it is another thing for others to appreciate what you are doing”. Aare said further that, there is hope for a better future in Nigeria with the efforts of such organization such as USL. According to him, “USL is instituted to develop sports, develop the nation, provide employment and in a way complementing the efforts of Afe Babalola University.”
In the same vein, the USL also sought the permission of the Founder, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, to designate ABUAD as the Centre of Sporting Excellence in Nigeria and a hub for the conduct of activities of the USL and that September/October, 2011, of this year has been set aside to commence the Aare Afe Babalola Sports Leadership Conference.
In his remarks, Aare said that ABUAD would be made available for USL and whatever programme the organization chooses to have. The Founder disclosed that ABUAD has already in its curriculum programmes of sports for its students.
Commenting on the life chairmanship of Aare Afe Babalola in her address, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Sidi Osho, affirmed that Aare Afe Babalola is the right personality for the post of chairman, USL. She said: Aare has passion for sports and commitment to youth development. Prof. Sidi Osho said that, the Leadership Conference is timely and has been brought to the right institution, Afe Babalola University. She said it would interest USL Management to know that ABUAD has a different curriculum. According to her, “there are salient institutional development programmes that admitted students must fulfill, such as Leadership Centre, Enterprise Centre, Language Centre, Sports Centre, Food Security Centre and National and International Internship Centre – all channeled to develop and mold the students for life challenges; these are in addition to the National Universities Commission (NUC) approved curriculum.”