September 15, (THEWILL) – Aare Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), has bagged the Honorary Fellowship of King’s College, London, a respected college of the University of London. He was conferred with the Award at a colourful ceremony held at Afe Babalola University in Ekiti State. The Fellowship Award was conferred on him in recognition of his transformative contributions of the legal luminary to education and the society at large.
The award may not be unconnected to the huge philanthropic gesture which the legal luminary made to the institution in June 2023. He donated the sum of £10 million to the institution for the establishment of the Afe Babalola African Centre for Transnational Education in King’s College as part of his efforts to enable young Africans to have access to education and opportunities which they would otherwise not be able to have.
At the time the donation was made, when converted at the official rate provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, £10 million was over N5.6 billion in value. Many had berated him for wasting such a huge sum of money abroad when the educational system in Nigeria is in shambles. His daughter, film maker Bolanle Austen-Peters however defended him, describing the fund as a token. Babalola is also the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the same university.
