The founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), has counselled the university’s students on the need to study hard, remain focused and be disciplined to be successful in their various endeavours.
Babalola gave the advice during the 14th matriculation ceremony of the institution, which he said was established for the primary purpose of reforming education and setting the pace for educational revolution in the country.
1,907 students took the oath of matriculation at the ceremony held at the Alfa Belgore Hall of the university in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend.
The legal luminary reminded the students that they could only achieve their dreams through hard work, commitment and perseverance.
Babalola, who urged the students to appreciate their parents for sending them to the best university in Nigeria, cited his own life experience as an example of a man who rose from grass to grace through hard work and perseverance even though he had no opportunity to formally attend any secondary school or university adding that he was able to record almost all his academic achievements as a private candidate.
Specifically, Afe Babalola urged the matriculating students to be dedicated, hard-working, and follow the university’s rules and regulations to be successful and achieve their goals without hindrance.
In her address, the Vice-Chancellor of ABUAD, Prof Smaranda Olarinde, admonished the students to shun vices and anti-social behaviours capable of ruining their bright.
She said, “ABUAD claims many firsts, including the first private university to take off on its permanent site, the first university to secure full accreditation for medicine and nursing within five years, the first university to record 100 per cent success in its nursing examination; the first private university and even the youngest to host the 29th Conference of the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU).”
The vice-chancellor urged the students to communicate positively with others to cultivate insights and mutual respect, set up their values, and accumulate the intellectual, emotional and cultural assets that will support them throughout their lifetime.
“Though only 13 years old, Afe Babalola University’s accomplishments in Law, Medicine, Engineering, the Sciences and Social and Management Sciences in the first decade of its existence have put the university on the international grid of world-class institutions.
