Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola has rewarded outstanding Nursing students of the institution with N5.05 million.
The legal icon hinged his decision to always reward excellence on the need to encourage scholarship and industry as well as serving as lessons to others.
The elder statesman made the announcement of the donation at the induction of newly qualified and registered nurses produced by the institution.
The university, Babalola said, was deliberately established to change the face of tertiary education in the country, and ensure graduates of the institution became agents of change, equipped to change the world.
The breakdown of the cash reward indicated that a total sum of N350,000 was received by the best graduating and best well-behaved student, Rosemary Oriwoh Osamudiamen; the rest distinguished students, got N100,000 each, while the only four boys in the faculty received N100,000 each.
According to him, in its barely 15 years of existence, the university has been rated the No. 1 University in Nigeria by the highly respected Times Higher Impact Education Rankings for two consecutive years (2021 and 2022), and Number 221 globally.
The ABUAD founder who stated that he believed in quality education, which can be the to solve the problems of education in this country said, “And by quality education, will bring a justifiable end to illiteracy, bigotry, religious and unnecessary beating of the drum of war.
“When I was born more than 90 years ago, Nigeria had no tarred roads, no electricity, no pipe-borne water and all the modern amenities that make life more worthy of living today were lacking then. This was the same thing in Europe in about 1600 as there was no electricity, no pipe-borne water and allied modern amenities of today.
“My advice to you all is that Nigeria should not lose hope. There is light at the end of the dark tunnel. Since our maiden convocation on October 21, 2013, we have turned out 1,420 graduates.
“They are not only doing well, but they are also agents and leaders of reformation. We are the change that will change the world. We are breeding a new generation of leaders who will change the world for the better.”
Babalola decried the declining alumni roles in universities across the country as well as low participation of the menfolk in the nursing profession.