The other members of the NAAIP’s BOT are former NUC
Executive Secretary and the brain behind the formation of the association,
Emeritus Prof. Peter Okebukola, Prof. Rukayat Ahmed Rufai, Prof. Suleiman
Ambali, Prof. Anayo Ugochukwu and Chief Chucks Igwillo, SAN
The news was contained in a letter dated June 13, and
delivered to Babalola, an Artificial Intelligent enthusiast, by a four-man team
led by the NAAIP President and the immediate past Vice Chancellor of Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede.
ABUAD’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Tunde Olofintila, in
a statement in Ado-Ekiti yesterday, named others in the team as including ABUAD
Vice Chancellor, who is also the NAAIP Vice President (South-West), Prof.
Smaranda Olarinde, NAAIP Secretary-General, Dr. Kehinde Abiola and Prof. Albert
Abegunde, the Chairman of TETFUND Technical Advisory Group, Abuja.
Ogunbodede predicated Babalola’s appointment to the high
office on his “revolutionary efforts in transforming tertiary education in
Nigeria and your keen interest in Artificial Intelligence and other
progressive, forward-thinking developments in education and the general
society”.
Ogunbodede, the NAAIP boss, lauded Babalola for his
contributions to the institutionalisation of quality and functional education
since his seven-year stint as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the
University of Lagos during which, with the cooperation of his colleagues in the
council and the university management, he was able to record the following
ground-breaking achievements: upgrading the profile of the university,
eradication of cultism on the campus, ensuring stable and predictable academic
calendar, turning the university around by ensuring accountability, using his
own resources, and goodwill and connections to develop the university.
The statement added that Babalola was twice voted the Best
Pro Chancellor of Nigerian Universities, voted the Chairman of all Pro
Chancellors of Nigerian universities, UNILAG was voted Number 1 University in
Nigeria, and its Vice Chancellor then, Prof. Oye Ibidapo-Obe, was voted the
Best Vice Chancellor.
According to the statement, Babalola reformed the admission
process into Nigerian universities by introducing the Post-UTME when it was
noticed that many of the students admitted into Nigerian universities through
JAMB were not only academically deficient, but they could not justify the high
marks scored in JAMB Examinations which they procured at some examination
centres, christened “miracle centres”.
The introduction of the Post-UTME, the quantum of students
who were asked to withdraw because they could neither defend the high scores
they were parading nor cope academically upon admission, dropped considerably.
Also, Babalola initiated an Endowment Fund Scheme in
University of Lagos, which he encouraged well-to-do members of the society to
contribute to. The annual income from capital investment of donation is being
used to award scholarships to students in the University of Lagos. About 500 scholarships were awarded in
February 2006 alone.
He Introduced different awards to different categories of
students, teachers and non-academic staff, established income-generating units
to support the finances of the university, built new hostels through Build,
Operate and Transfer (BOT) system, ensured an enabling and conducive Academic
environment in UNILAG, introduced the Parents and Teachers Association which
enhanced discipline among the students of the University and also reclaimed the
university land encroached upon by land grabbers back to the university.
Zeroing in on Babalola’s achievements in his 15-year-old
university, Ogunbodede said with what ABUAD has achieved, which has resulted in
its carting home several awards and accolades from national and international
education stakeholders, including being ranked number one university in Nigeria
for three consecutive years and number 200 globally by the Times Higher
Education Impact Rankings, the future of education in Nigeria is in private
universities.
Babalola, who has written many articles on Artificial
Intelligence in his weekly columns in the Nigerian Tribune and The Vanguard,
lavished praises for Okebukola, the brain behind the formation of NAAIP and the
promoter of the Virtual Institute for Capacity Building in Higher Education
(VICBHE), for his altruistic and immeasurable contributions towards the
institutionalisation of quality and functional education in the country. He
also thanked the NAAIP leadership for appointing him as its pioneer BOT chairman
and for coming personally to deliver the letter to him in Ado-Ekiti.
His words: “I appreciate you and the totality of NAAIP for
appointing me as your pioneer BOT Chairman. I appreciate you the more for
coming all the way to Ado-Ekiti to deliver the letter of appointment. Your
coming to deliver the letter to me is a demonstration of the love and respect
you have for me for which I am very grateful”.
“You have demonstrated leadership and your belief in serving
others. If we all make up our minds to work hard and serve and not necessarily
for what we can benefit therefrom, this country will develop and rapidly too.
“It is a fact that this country is blessed in all
ramifications. This is a country that is not too hot or too cold. This is a
country where the rain falls for at least eight months in a year. With all
these advantages, we should not find it difficult to produce what we can eat
and export the excess.
“Besides, we have people with brains, yet we are not moving
forward because we don’t appreciate what we have. We are in a society that has
lost its vision. This is the problem. We must retrace our steps and stop being
interested in self-aggrandisement which will not help us. I am prepared to work
with NAAIP towards the realisation of its aims and objectives”.
NAAIP was founded on April 29, 2024, as a high-point of the
Graduation Ceremony of 931 participants drawn from universities, polytechnics
and colleges of Education across Nigeria who participated in a 13-week rigorous
training on the use of Artificial Intelligence to support teaching, research
and community engagement.
The aims of the association are the advancement of
Artificial Intelligence practices with the use of computers, machines or any
other devices capable of providing services that mimic or perform tasks that
are ordinarily done by human beings. In addition, NAAIP shall seek to confer
competence, advantages and privileges, impose necessary responsibilities on it
members and encourage them to promote ethics of AI practices which is important
for AI practitioners and the public.