He is known globally as a lawyer of repute and a philanthropist. Four years ago, he founded a university which, in a short time, has re-defined tertiary education in Nigeria. But few people know about his passion for farming. Seun Akioye went on a tour of Aare Afe Babalola’s farms and reports.
He has maintained for over 30 years a rigid work routine, which many youths may find difficult to emulate. By 8:00am, you are likely to find him behind his desk, attending to many issues of law and jurisprudence.
Since 2010, he has added another item to his already crowded schedule – that of administering and building “a world-class educational centre of excellence in academics, character, sports and vocational development.” That was the vision of the baby he birthed four years ago and which he continues to develop everyday: The Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD).
On Saturday, March 1, 2014, at 9:00am, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) was already at his desk at the expansive ABUAD administrative block. There were files and books on the table and behind his swivel chair were two baskets filled with fruits. The Chief surrounded himself with little airs. There were aides who responded to his wishes but he had little use for them as he was up and about.
“I work at least 18 hours everyday,” Afe Babalola said with a smile that suggested he attached little importance to such matters.
At close to 85, he looked at least 20 years younger and had the energy of a 50-year old man. The Aare was clean shaven and looked “boyish” in his black Gants jeans and plaited shirt. He had a blue silk scarf stylishly tied in the Boy’s Scout fashion around his neck A brown straw hat completed his attire.
Afe Babalola’s story is likened to one served as legends. From a rural background, with no positive chance to get education, he rose above his roots to become one of the most respected legal minds in Nigeria. He is courted by the high and mighty and revered by Presidents; he is an institution, ranking among the greatest legal practitioners Nigeria has ever produced.
Looking at him, one may be tempted to believe that he was one who had his palm kernels cracked for him by the benevolent spirits, but nothing could be further from the truth. At 10, Babalola unwillingly left the farms for a school. His elementary education dragged because “I really didn’t have much interest in it” and after he managed to complete his Primary 6 examinations, he bid farewell to formal schooling.
He studied privately and passed his Cambridge School Certificate, GCE O’Level; passed his Advance Level Certificate of University of London and B.SC Economics at the same school. He later registered for the external Law Degree and was called to the Bar in England in 1963. That was not all; he is a member of the prestigious Lincoln’s Inn and the Bar of England and Wales. He has since added several academic laurels to his name, making him one of the most respected voices in local and international law practice.
The Aare said about his background: “I went to school by accident because I grew up on the farm. In our compound, I was the only one who went to school. There was nobody to look up to in that respect; no one ever went to school. So there was no successful example for me to follow. We had all the food we wanted and in school they even beat you so why should I go? I was ten before I started primary school,” he said.
The lawyer and the farmer
One may be forgiven to think that law is Afe Babalola’s only passion, but four years ago, he founded ABUAD, where he has invested much of his resources and time into building that institution into a world class facility within the shortest time. “I invested my life into this school,” he once told a visitor.
He has successfully combined his passion to impact knowledge and his love for agriculture. At the university where he spends most of his time now, agriculture has been given a pride of place. He is never tired of telling his visitors to go “see his farms” and then the “massive Faculty of Law” which has been described as the best in Africa.
The Aare has always been a farmer. Since he was discouraged from taking farming as his only profession; he has remained a farmer through other means, always maintaining acres of farmlands and many livestock. Two years ago, he began to develop the ABUAD farms. His goal is to develop it into one of the biggest farms with the capacity to feed the nation in the future. ABUAD’s farms sit on several hectares of land and have a staff strength of about 85 workers. “There was a day we tried to go round all the boundaries and it took us three hours to accomplish,” Femi Adamo, the livestock manager said.
So the Aare brought his personal touch to the cultivation of his acres of land and because science must meet farming, he is always experimenting at his farms and bringing out innovations. That was the idea behind the Moringa processing facility.
“Moringa is super food which contains all the nutrients our body needs. We have already developed several products from the moringa leaf which we plant here. We have the leaf, seed, moringa tea, capsules, hair cream, soap and body butter,” Ajiboye Omoniyi, who is the manager of the facility, said.
Though the products are yet to be marketed at full commercial capacity, ABUAD may well be the first to fully utilise the moringa leaf into several products. Afe Babalola has also invested heavily in the feed mill, which, according to Adamo, will service about four South western states when fully optimised. The feed mill currently makes food for quails, pigs, geese, snails and the poultry.
There is a bee farm containing thousands of bees which produce over 30 litres of undiluted honey daily. In the extraction room, a freshly harvested honey comb stood in a bucket with a couple of bees still struggling inside. The manager said a single sting from a bee has fantastic medicinal value. One after the other, the visitors received a sting. At first, one felt nothing, until the poison started to travel down the blood stream, causing a stinging sensation. “Throughout this month, you should forget about sickness,” the manager assured us.
But one of the main revolutions of the farm is the ongoing construction of a fruit storage barn, which can store fruits for about six months. It is a massive construction with solid concrete base to prevent the entrance of rodents and other animals. According to the consultant, Ian Bennett of The Harvest Protection Network, Pennsylvania, United States, the storage will have three air drying turbine ventilators and will be able to refrigerate, using solar power.
Bennett decried the culture of wastage in the country, which was caused by lack of storage facilities. “When I drove from Abuja to Makurdi, I saw women throwing out large quantities of tomatoes by the road side. Nigeria loses about 40 percent of its agricultural products because of this problem; that is why this barn makes economic sense,” he said.
But the barn is not coming cheap and it is in line with the philosophy of the Aare not to spare any expense at achieving excellence. “This is a massive structure and it is very expensive, with all the materials that has gone into it, this is the first of our buildings in Nigeria, I can tell you this university is extra-ordinary,” Bennett said.
There are over 600 fish ponds, each having a minimum of 5,000 fishes, and massive artificial lakes scattered all over the farms. There is also the mango plantation. There are over 110,000 trees of Tom Atkinson specie of mango, which produces several thousands of fruits yearly. The teek plantation has over 500,000 trees.
But the farms are not the only massive structures the Aare is putting up; a new administrative building will face directly the school’s massive gates. “As you are coming in, I want people to see the administrative building,” he said. There is also the sports complex and the massive Talent Discovering Centre, which will contain 26 sports on the ground floor and music, press rooms and other skills on the upper floor.
The Faculty of Law has received generous accolades all over the world. The uniqueness of the Law programme and faculty prompted the Council of Legal Education to grant the university an increase in the students’ intake from 80 to 180. “We are number three in Africa, with the largest number of Law students. The Nigerian Law School says we are a model and they do send universities here to come and learn,” Afe Babalola said.
But is law the beautiful bride of ABUAD? The founder laughed. Turned around in his swivel chair, pulled open a drawer and took out a letter written by a parent whose child insisted on ABUAD and began to read. The letter indicated the school has an encompassing excellence in all the faculties. When he was done, he put down the letter and turned to his visitors.
Afe Babalola disagreed with a small frown on his face. “That question has been asked by some people, but as you take a tour round, you will see there are many big faculties too. Our Engineering faculty is one of those,” he said.
A generous farmer and administrator
It will not be incorrect to say Afe Babalola has invested billions of naira in building ABUAD and making it what it is today. But the investment has paid off – not in cash but in the enormous goodwill it enjoys internationally. It is ranked as the second best private university in Nigeria and number 16 of all Nigerian universities by the World Universities Webometric ranking, after just three years.
There is also the affiliation with various foreign organisations and schools. This gives the students internship opportunities at foreign universities. The university has also garnered more than 10 awards and recognitions in various fields. Visitors to the university had words of praise for what Afe Babalola has done.
“The gesture is notably one of the most outstanding individual contributions towards the realisation of the Federal Government’s educational projection, under the Vision 2020-20,” President Goodluck Jonathan said and counselled other “financially endowed compatriots to rise to the occasion and aim at least to match the excellent standards of which we are, today, privileged witnesses.”
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said: “Happy to be able to see at first hand a unique sample of private university, with finesse, purpose, commitment and self-sacrifice by the proprietor. More like this will change the panorama of tertiary institution and education in Nigeria.”
Others said they were simply overwhelmed, “I came, I saw, I am overwhelmed. ABUAD is a miracle, the facilities are splendid,” Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the power minister, said.
But large heartedness has been a lifestyle of Chief Babalola. Usually, there is always a long line of people seeking his assistance and he makes it a point of duty to meet their needs as much as he is able. In his office, even at weekends, he receives visitors and, irrespective of their mission, “Baba”, as he is fondly called, ensures they leave bearing gifts. A woman walked in, paid her obeisance and as she was about to leave, Baba reached for the baskets of fruits behind his chair and handed them over to her.
“ No, take more and have this again,” he said.
The woman was still expressing her gratitude and saying heartfelt prayers as she was led out of the door.