Babcock VC targets global relevance with research, innovation

The President and Vice-Chancellor of Babcock University, Ilisan Remo, Prof Afolarin Ojewole, has pledged to reposition the institution for greater global relevance through increased research, innovation, entrepreneurship and adherence to its Seventh-day Adventist heritage.

Ojewole reiterated this commitment on Thursday during the university’s 67th Founder’s Day celebration.

Speaking on the theme of the celebration, “Founded on Grace, Building for Greatness,” Ojewole said the university’s history, which began with seven ministerial students in 1959, imposed a responsibility on the present generation to build an institution that would remain relevant for decades to come.

“Grace has brought us this far. But grace is not an invitation to become comfortable. Grace is a responsibility. Grace tells us: You have received much; therefore, you must give much,” he said.

The Vice-Chancellor said Babcock had grown from the Adventist College of West Africa, established in 1959, through the Adventist Seminary of West Africa, to a full-fledged university in 1999.

He noted that the institution, which admitted its first university students in 1999, now has more than 13,000 full-time students.

Ojewole, however, said the size of the university should not be regarded as its most important achievement.

“The greatest measure of Babcock is not the number of students we have. It is not the number of buildings we have constructed. It is not even the number of programmes we offer. The greatest measure of Babcock is the lives we have transformed,” he said.

According to him, the university’s impact should be measured by the contributions of its graduates in medicine, law, education, accounting, research, entrepreneurship, ministry and other professions.

He said the G.R.A.C.E. agenda of his administration was designed to ensure that Babcock graduates could compete and contribute meaningfully anywhere in the world without losing the values upon which the institution was founded.

The agenda, according to him, is built around five priorities: Global Relevance, Research Focus, Adventist Rootedness, a Competent Community and an Entrepreneurial spirit.

“We want our graduates to sit at any table in the world and add value. We want our researchers to ask difficult questions and pursue meaningful answers. We want our faith to be visible not merely in our worship, but in our conduct,” he said.

Ojewole added that the administration would also encourage the conversion of ideas generated in classrooms and laboratories into innovations, businesses and solutions to societal challenges.

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“We want competence to become part of our institutional culture. And we want ideas born in classrooms and laboratories to become innovations, enterprises and solutions that touch society,” he said.

Ojewole said the university’s ultimate responsibility was to produce people capable of combining competence with character.

“A university can build laboratories. A university can build lecture theatres. A university can build hospitals. A university can build libraries, but the greatest thing a university can build is a human being.

“That is what Babcock has been doing for 67 years. Building people, building character, building capacity, building leaders and building lives. And now, we must build for greatness,” he said.

In his keynote address, former Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Television, Mr Lekan Ogunbanwo, described Babcock’s development as a story of resilience, strategic leadership and continuity.

Ogunbanwo, whose mother hailed from Ilisan, recalled visiting the area as a child and witnessing the early development of the institution, which residents popularly called “Oke-Yinbo” meaning a hilly part of the town domiciled by the white men.

According to him, the institution’s transformation began with deliberate efforts by its administrators to expand beyond its original mandate of ministerial training.

“ACWA began with a three-year diploma, but almost immediately pressed government for undergraduate degree authority. And by 1966, it graduated its first Bachelor of Arts holders in its own name. A genuine institutional milestone,” Ogunbanwo said.

He noted that the student population subsequently expanded to include people studying business administration and preparing for careers in accountancy and other professions.

The keynote speaker paid tribute to successive leaders of the institution, saying each administration had contributed to its transformation.

The Chairman of the Founder’s Day Planning Committee, Prof Folorunso Akande, in his welcome address, described the anniversary as an opportunity to celebrate the university’s founders and successive administrators while reaffirming its commitment to “Knowledge, Truth and Service.”

He said the 67th anniversary was also a moment for the Babcock community to reflect on the institution’s past and consider its future direction.

The university was founded as the Adventist College of West Africa in 1959 with seven ministerial students and became Babcock University in 1999 following its charter by the Federal Government.