Afe Babalola at 97 — The Man and His Lessons

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Happy 97th Birthday to a living legend, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, CON, OFR, FCIArb, LL.D,D.Litt, Founder and Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti. A great man was born today, and Nigeria is still blessed by that birth.

When a man turns 97 and is still relevant, still building, still teaching and still healing, his birthday is no longer a mere episode. It becomes a national lesson and a celebration of life. 

The man Afe Babalola is resilience clothed in humility, doggedness masked in simplicity. Born today in 1929, in a humble homestead in Ado-Ekiti, without any silver or golden spoon or privilege, he walked through life laboriously as farm labourer, Grade Two teacher, court registrar and became one of Africa’s most celebrated lawyers and educatioists. His life teaches that where you started can never define where you end.

From that humble beginning, he taught himself law by private study, passed all his examinations in flying colours and rose to become a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Today, his name is synonymous with legal brilliance and integrity at the Bar for which he had shone and still shines for over six decades, and till date. 

He is a builder in every sense of the word. At 80, an age many have retired from active service, baba founded Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD. What he conceptualised and built is not just a citadel of learning, it is a city within a city — vast farms, fish ponds, factories, industries, potteries, piggeries, electricity grid, and a world-class multisystem teaching hospital that rivals any in Africa.

At ABUAD, shining star shows that education must produce, not just certificate but societal relevance. The hospital has modular theatres, CT scan, MRI, ICU, dialysis and cutting-edge equipment. It is his gift to humanity, a proof that wealth is best measured by impact,not by loads of cash in the bank. .

Today at 97, the Aare still wakes up early mornings and sleeps late at nights, thinking of what to add, not what to take or rest on. That is the first lesson for today’s youths — hard work has no retirement age when purpose drives you.

The second lesson is that education equally has no age limit. If a man who could not afford secondary school would later become a SAN and founder of one of the world’s leading universities, then no youth has any excuse to give up learning.

The third lesson is vision that works. Youths must learn that dreams must be planted like farms, nurtured like fish ponds, and built like factories. Baba Afe Babalola did not just talk vision, he manufactured,and walked it. He did not just dreamt dreams, he actualised them. 

The fourth lesson is humility. With all his glittering array of titles, honours and massive wealth, our nonagenerian (soon a centenarian, by God’s grace) still personally phones far younger ones like me, calling me “my son”. He still opens his doors, still listens, still advises, still mentors, still helps. Greatness that intimidates is fake; true greatness lifts. The Aare has epitomised the latter. 

The fifth lesson is courage to start, even if late. He started his greatest legacy at 80. To every youth who thinks time has passed, Afe at 97 born today says you are still early if you start now.