By Tunde Olofintila
The College of Law of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, has confirmed its status as the College of Choice in Legal Education in Nigeria with its Law Graduates recording a 94% pass rate and carting home 21 First Class and 69 Second Class Upper Division in the just released November 2023 Bar Examination.
This remarkable improvement over the 2018 performance of ABUAD Law Graduate when they recorded 12 First Class and 65 Second Class Upper Division is a testament to the quality of educational training the Law Graduates received during their undergraduate studies in ABUAD.
The superlative performance by ABUAD Law graduates in an examination moderated by outsiders is a further confirmation on the recent ranking of ABUAD as Number 1 University in Nigeria for two consecutive years (2022 & 2023) and Number 221 globally in 2023 by the highly respected UK-based Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.
The ranking of ABUAD as the Best University in Nigeria for two consecutive years is not a flash in the pan or a bolt from the blues. Although the university is barely 14 years old, the gargantuan steps it has already taken, the monumental achievements it has already recorded as well as the rich and luxuriant encomiums already showered on the university bear an eloquent testimony to the towering and intimidating profile of the 21st Century university situated in the heartland of Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
The first private university in Nigeria to take off on its permanent site with all human and material resources on ground, ABUAD is not only applauded outside the shores of Nigeria, but it has also been celebrated by both national and international education stakeholders, including the National Universities Commission, NUC, the Regulatory Authority for University Education in Nigeria, the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, AVCNU, and UNESCO.
ABUAD’s match to stardom started very early after its establishment when the NUC, acknowledged the university as a “model, a benchmark, and a reference point for other universities” as well as the “pride of university education in Nigeria”. This was followed by AVCNU, which dubbed it as “the most successful Private University in Nigeria” and UNESCO which endorsed it as “a world class institution of Higher Education”.
Briefing Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, the Founder & Chancellor of the university over the weekend, the Provost, College of Law, Prof. Tunde Yebisi, congratulated and commended Babalola for providing the enabling environment and the required leadership that propelled the rare achievement and the honour the 2023 Bar Examination has brought to the 14-year-old university, which commenced Academic works on Monday, January 4, 2010.
Said Yebisi: “We are immensely proud of this achievement and honour done to our institution. It is however pertinent to underscore your role in making all these possible. Your visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence in education in general, particularly legal education, continuous support and encouragement had been pivotal in taking us to this apogee of success”.
He added: “Mid last year, you advised us to be in constant touch and if possible, visit our graduates at the Law School to encourage them in their studies and help in any way with their preparation for the Bar exams.
“I visited them twice for this purpose and some of my colleagues also made calls to them. Your interventions in this regard had proved very valuable.
“To the Mother-General of ABUAD, Yeye Aare Modupe Babalola, and our Vice Chancellor the ever present Matriarch of the College, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, the entire staff of the College you tirelessly mentored, impacted are grateful. Your efforts have ensured that the latent talents and potentials of our students blossomed and enabled us to maintain our enviable status of consistently being the College of choice in Legal Education in Nigeria.
“As we celebrate this achievement, we are inspired to strive for greater heights in future. We remain committed to providing our students with the highest quality education and preparing them to become outstanding legal professionals and leaders in their respective fields”.
Again, our dear Founder, we are grateful for your invaluable support. With your continued guidance and encouragement, we are confident that the College of Law of Afe Babalola University will continue to blaze the trail of Legal Education in this country and beyond”.
Reacting to the feat by the ABUAD Law Graduates, the obviously elated Founder & Chancellor of the University, Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, congratulated the green Wigs, the Vice Chancellor, Yebisi and all the staff of the University’s College of Law for keying in into his vision and dream of institutionalizing quality and functional education and raising a new generation of leaders in Nigeria.
With the advantage of hindsight, Babalola recalled, “we started the university on a rather modest note with 240 students on January,4, 2010. But today, to the glory of God and through hard work, determination, and selflessness as well as the cooperation of all stakeholders, particularly the parents, the teachers, the Regulatory Authorities such as NUC, MDCN, Council of Legal Education, NSE and COREN among others, we are adjudged to have done well”.
He added: “We can say without any fear of contradiction that we have overshot our expectations in the first 14 years of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, and this could be gleaned from some of our outstanding and milestone achievements thus far. But we are not resting on our oars. It is my dream, my hope, my vision, and prayer that this university will be rated among the best 100 in the world and before my very eyes”.
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