Babalola, who tasked Nigerians on determination, hard work and faith, said the present hardship in the country should bring about determination, which would in turn breed faith which he said never failed.
The ABUAD founder spoke in Ado Ekiti on Saturday in a chat with journalists on the ranking by a global body, Times Higher Education Impact Ranking, of the university as Number 1 in the world for Sustainable Development Goal 7, and Number 1 in Nigeria, for three consecutive years – 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Babalola took pride in the achievements of ABUAD in 15 years including being acknowledged by the National Universities Commission “as a model, benchmark, reference point as well as the pride of university system in Nigeria” and acknowledgment by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as “a world class institution of higher education.”
He said, “I am bold to say that there is hope for this country, Nigeria. If ABUAD can achieve all these in 15 years, then the future is bright for Nigeria and Nigerians. With hard work and faith, we will get to the promised land. I believe that “hardship breeds determination, determination breeds faith and faith never fails.”
The elder statesman, who said Nigerian universities had a role to play in redressing the country’s challenges, said, “We are all aware of the economic doldrum that the country is battling with. However, we know that education is the panacea to ignorance, extremism, poverty, religious bigotry and tribalism among other vices.
“It must be pointed out that the yearly improvement in ABUAD ranking tallies with what happens in well-established universities all over the world. Our rise in ranking is essentially the product of our quality curriculum, stable and predictable academic calendar all of which have given birth to quality education.”
He also said, “We are here today to share some good news for the third consecutive year. Part of it is that our 15-year-old university has again been ranked as Number 1 University in Nigeria, and Number 142 in education generally in the world.
“The above notwithstanding, our ranking position has changed significantly. The reason is because this year, our ranking has gone beyond the shores of Nigeria and, now gone global.”
Babalola thanked the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde and members of the university community for their relentless efforts in making sure that the institution was reckoned with in the educational sector and urged them not to rest on their oars.
The VC, Olarinde, lauded Babalola for deploying his resources to champion the needed revolution in the education sector with the establishment of the university.
She said, “We at ABUAD have achieved this enviable level of national and global excellence because of the quality of graduates we turn out, through impactful education and training, not only for degrees, but also in character and industrious moulding.
“In a few years, and by the grace of God, we shall be talking of ABUAD being in the top 100 universities globally. We will not rest until we have achieved this goal,” Olarinde said.
Recall that Times Higher Education Impact Ranking for 2024, among others, ranked ABUAD first globally for SDG 7 on Affordable and Clean Energy, Outreach Programmes, with 98 per cent and Stewardship Programmes with 98.2 per cent.
