Professor Aare Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), has disabused the minds of some Nigerians who are into politics to enrich themselves saying that being elected into public office is not an avenue to amass wealth but rather it is a call to service.
The renowned legal practitioner said this on Saturday during the 11th convocation ceremony of Afe Babalola University.
In his speech, the former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) accused political leaders of the country of prioritizing politics over providing quality education to the people.
He said most young graduates do not have the zeal to further their education because the political leaders have made politics a pathway to making money.
According to him, “I was the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos and a young man came out with first class in Chemistry and had the highest score that year. I called him and said, ‘I am going to give you a scholarship to do your master’s.
“He was very happy and he agreed; he passed his masters. I had forgotten all about him, then he came in and said, ‘Sir, thank you for the scholarship given to me’ and I said ‘Yes, proceed to your Ph.D.’ and he said ‘No’ and I said ‘Why?’
“He said, ‘My colleague who was in class with me in secondary school did not go to university; he is the chairman of the local government of my place. He is riding a car; he has a house.’ I was depressed.
“I said, ‘What do you want to do now?’ He said, ‘I want to go into politics.’ I wept inside me. That is what your country has made of Nigeria. The only business in this country today which is lucrative is politics,” Babalola said.
While some believe entering politics is a matter of choice, the legal icon said politics today is very different from what he experienced a few years ago.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, highlighted the lack of interest in education by past and present governments, saying people can only be empowered if they are properly educated.
“I do not say you cannot be a politician but to be a politician is different from what we have now. Who thinks that politics is for making money? Politics is for service,” the legal icon added.
“I was a Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor before and I never had a kobo because I saw it as service. People go now to make money from public money given to them.”
“Our problem in this country is leadership. People believe that when they come out of university, they should go and work or alternatively, go into politics.
“What we need in this country is quality education. When you have quality education, you have power and when you have power, every other thing submerges,” Afe Babalola said.
