Afe Babalola Kicks against Substandard Universities, Says They Are Weapons against Quality Education

Funmi Ogundare

Founder of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has described the proliferation of substandard and mushroom universities as the biggest menace facing quality education in the country.
He urged the federal government to shut down such universities without further delay, otherwise, the nation’s educational system would continue to witness a downward trend.

Babalola stated this in Ado-Ekiti while being conferred with a fellow of King’s College, London, for his transformative contributions to education and society.
The legal luminary said the National Universities Commission (NUC) should beam its searchlight on all universities and centres not operating according to approved standards and guidelines set by the commission.

Babalola described such institutions as ‘major weapons’, fashioned against quality and functional education in Nigeria.
“The biggest menace facing quality education today, especially in Nigeria and across Africa, is the proliferation of mushroom, satellite institutions and campuses, including study centres that have long deviated from their original conceptualisation and intent.

“What we expect is for the National University Commission (NUC) to close down mushroom universities. Many such institutions had been pronounced illegal by authorities, but which are still operating and even commenced operations without the permission of NUC,” he said.
While recalling that the NUC once published the names of such institutions, Babalola wondered why the owners of such illegal universities were not arrested and the institutions closed down.

Earlier, the Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, lauded the giant strides achieved by Babalola in the areas of medicine, law, invention, and sciences.
The governor, who was represented by the newly appointed Head of Service, Folakemi Olomojobi, said Babalola’s footprints across all sectors had made him the father of the state.

He noted that his uncommon humanity and impact had also ranked him higher, against all odds.
On her part, the Vice President of International Engagement and Service of King’s College London, Funmi Olonisakin, said the fellowship award conferred on Babalola was in recognition of his transformative contributions to society.