The trajectory of ABUAD College of Law is a story that evokes great admiration as it sets a standard for all lovers of quality education to emulate. The great structure of Law College is the brain-child of Aare Afe Babalola, the Founder and President Emeritus of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti.
Afe Babalola University kicked off with an uncommon trend of establishing an international standard institution with no half measures by changing the notion that a private university must start with decrepit or borrowed structures. It developed its first structures for take-off on its permanent site, thus redefining what a private university should be.
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As part of efforts to maintain the high standard with which ABUAD took off and to ensure a production of well-versed lawyers and legal scholars in our nascent citadel of learning, the Founder, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, OFR, CON, FNIALS, LL.D, FCI.Arb, commenced the construction of the ultra-modern College of Law edifice in July 2010. The foundation laying ceremony of the College of Law building was performed on 21st of August, 2011. The impressive College of Law building was commissioned by Hon. Justice Dahiru Musdapher, CON,CFR, the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, on 22nd February, 2012.
The trajectory of ABUAD College of Law is a story that evokes great admiration as it sets a standard for all lovers of quality education to emulate. This is so, especially given the present state of tertiary education in Nigeria and the newness of ABUAD, which is less than three years old.
The great structure of Law College is the brain-child of Aare Afe Babalola, the Founder and President Emeritus of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti. Aare Afe Babalola, an icon and legal luminary of no mean order, who out of his profound quest for quality tertiary education in Nigeria, conceived and midwifed the idea of a model University. He then vigorously and passionately pursued its actualization in a timely manner. Aare Afe Babalola, armed with a formidable intellectual armoury, has practised law successfully for over fifty years. He has also served as the Pro –Chancellor of a leading Nigerian University during which time he emerged the winner of the Best Pro-Chancellor in Nigeria in 2005 and 2006. During this time, he had first-hand knowledge of, and did experience the deterioration and rot in our educational sector. It was at this period that Aare Afe Babalola was propelled to set up a world-class institution.
The Founder’s predilection for industry, excellence, integrity, selfless service, moral rectitude and determination, propelled him to establish an enviable institution which the National Universities Commission, (NUC), the body statutorily charged with regulating universities in Nigeria, described as a miracle, a model, and reference point for other universities. ABUAD’s College of Law which was one of the foundational colleges has a building which epitomises the quintessential Aare Afe Babalola, a rare gift to humanity. The College holds forth these values, projecting the new face of quality legal education in Nigeria and beyond.
THE ABUAD COLLEGE OF LAW
The ABUAD College of Law is one of the pioneering colleges of the University which will commence its fourth academic session on 17th September, 2012.
The law curriculum of this College is designed to cover both the theoretical as well as the practical aspects of quality legal training consistent with internationally recognised standards. The uniqueness of the law programme inheres in the fact that the law students are mandatorily required to undergo law office attachment during their vacation period after the third and fourth academic years. The law office attachment is designed to acquaint our students with the technicalities and rudiments of legal practice.
The College of Law has ultra-modern facilities. The Law Library prides itself as a home for serious global academic research with a rich collection of highly valuable, up-to-date national and international reading resources like All England Law Reports, Harvard Law Review and the Yale Law Journal. The Law Library is presently the largest in the country with an electronic research section, and the hard copy and the newspaper reading sections. The subscription to electronic journals and legislations provides the on-line library with current research materials with a view to enhancing learning and research. The Law Auditorium is equipped with automated facilities and is fully air-conditioned and it has a seating capacity of 1500 persons. There are also several fully air conditioned lecture rooms which are also equipped with electronic boards. The modern Moot Court and the Law Clinic are our laboratory equivalents for practical training. Our College houses modern offices in its serene environment while the Law Garden adds to the learning atmosphere a relaxing and beautiful setting for staff, students and visitors.
The College of Law is privileged to have a team of highly qualified scholars some of whom have advanced degrees from national and international leading centres of education, such as Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, Aberdeen and London Universities, and from other parts of Europe and North America.
The College of Law plans to establish a world-class oil and gas research institute in September, 2012 for sustainable research on laws, policies and developments in the local and international oil and gas industry.
Please permit me to conclude this citation by reiterating our avowed mantra, which is that the noble vision of our great Founder and his ideal for quality education in Nigeria shall remain for us an inexhaustible source of inward motivation, ideological guiding principle and intellectual sagacity.
E. Smaranda Olarinde
Associate Professor and Acting Provost
College of Law Afe Babalola University
14th August 2012
