Founder and Chancellor of the Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), Afe Babalola, has charged the staff and other stakeholders in the university to ensure that the institution emerges as one of the 50 topmost universities in the world.

Babalola spoke through the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, yesterday, at a press conference on the 2026 Higher Education Sustainability Impact Rating in Ado Ekiti.

Olarinde said: “Following the publication of the 2025 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, barely one year ago, I vividly recall the reference made to a profound conversation between the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, and our revered Founder and Chancellor in 2015.

“Filled with admiration for Aare Babalola’s extraordinary accomplishments, Justice Tanko Muhammad remarked: “You have earned a distinguished name, amassed remarkable success and wealth, and achieved what many can only dream of. What more could you possibly desire?”

“He then challenged us, once again, with an even higher aspiration: that ABUAD should continue its upward trajectory and secure a place among the world’s top 50 universities.”

Speaking on the ranking of ABUAD at the top in Nigeria and among 72 worldwide, the Vice Chancellor said that the accomplishments did not happen by accident