The executive members of the Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN) which is a fully inaugurated affiliate of the Nigerian Union of Journalists has paid a courtesy call on the Founder and President Emeritus of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola.
In her speech, its Chairperson, Mrs. Neta Nwosu explained that their visit was aimed at identifying with the Founder’s giant strides in leading education reforms in Nigeria by example.
She disclosed that her Association was formed to impact positively on every sphere of our economic activities.
She said BJAN does not only criticize the wrongs in industries, they also appreciate good works and commend its outstanding drivers.
According to her, “Vision and Branding are critical to success in all spheres of life. While vision challenges one to plan ahead with clearly defined fundamental objectives and strategic direction, branding enables you to build a distinct personality and admirable character that attracts positive attention because of the discernible elements that have been put in place. A site tour of the campus showed that the setting of the University is superlative and impressive with world-class facilities that can compete with prominent Universities anywhere in the globe”.
While applauding ABUAD as essentially a brand, transforming University education from its chaotic and crisis laden status into a citadel where graduates are trained to be job creators rather than job seekers, where discipline thrives, where things work, where lives are secured, where cultism never occurs. Mrs. Nwosu described ABUAD Founder Aare Afe Babalola as “A brand- name that sells, a brand that opens door and a brand that talks and people listen’’.
She was grateful to God for blessing Aare Afe Babalola, not only with the wherewithal to achieve his dreams but with “a framework that consist of vision for the future; a mission that defines his accomplishment; values that shape his actions and strategies that enables him to achieve his key success approaches with goals and action plans that guide, his daily implementations”. She commended him for his unique lifestyle which propels good behavior, discipline and value creation that enhances the quality of lives of those who came across him.
Pursuant to his efforts in putting the world on notice that ABUAD is not established for “business as usual” but a pacesetter in molding future leaders laced with his shining qualities and the general response and consensus from relevant stakeholders in Nigeria’s educational sector, the BJAN Chairperson, therefore announced that the Founder, Aare Afe Babalola has emerged the winner of the Award as the Most Brand-Friendly Personality of the year. He will be decorated at a ceremony, sometimes in October this year.
Accepting the notification of the Award, Aare expressed his gratitude to them for appreciating his efforts, He called on other notable well-meaning Unions and Organizations to acknowledge achievement and celebrate it. He explained that his University was set up as a practical example of how problems militating against the growth of Nigerian Universities can be solved adding that his philosophy was to “lead by example”. He promised not to derail from the path of transforming education into a functional sector. He urged them to patner with the institution in its effort to transform education in Nigeria.
Present at the courtesy-call were top Management Staff of ABUAD and six other Executive Members of the Association. These include Mr. Akin Adewakun (Vice Chairman), Mr. Daniel Obi (Secretary), Mr. Michael Orie (Financial Secretary) and Mr. Dickson Akinwunmi (Internal Auditor). Others were Mr. Goddy Ofosie (Ex-Officio) and Mrs Kehinde Olesin (Treasurer).
WRT/AYO.