Founder of the Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola, has described as discouraging and embarrassing the continued refusal by the Federal Government to issue a free trade certificate to his university.
Babalola raised the concern on Wednesday in Ado-Ekiti while hosting delegates from the China-Nigeria Consortium on Industry and Education, at the ABUAD-China Partnership Forum Meeting, held at the university.
The legal icon said the over 132 units of ABUAD’s industrial park, located in Ado-Ekiti, were enough to turn the story of Nigeria around, if well harnessed and utilized.
He wondered why China, which was a very poor country some years ago, could suddenly overtake Nigeria in the scheme of economic matters.
According to Babalola, the certificate would have enabled foreign companies to establish businesses in the park, thereby boosting Nigeria’s economy.
The ABUAD founder stressed that a free trade zone would facilitate international trade and industrial activities, ultimately contributing to the country’s economic growth.
He lamented that such progressive ideas would have been embraced under the defunct regional government system, while also reiterating his call for a people-oriented constitution to foster national development.
“In 1999, I traveled to China. At that time, China was a very poor country, but the Chinese people were very wise. They created an area called a free trade zone, which allowed countries like the United States and Germany to set up industries there.
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“Unknowingly to those countries, the Chinese learned from these foreign industries, which eventually contributed to their remarkable global development today.
“However, for the past two years, I have applied for the same concept here, but the government has refused to grant us a free trade zone certificate,” he said.
Continuing, he said, “There is an American company ready to begin manufacturing cars in my industrial park, but the lack of this certificate has stalled their plans.
“If we still had the regional government system that we used to have, we would be more developed than we are today. This is why we need a new constitution.”
In her address, Ms. Wendy Wang, the Secretary-General of the China-Nigeria Consortium on Industry and Education, who spoke through an interpreter, commended Afe Babalola for his visionary achievements in education, engineering, and health.
She described ABUAD as the best institution in Nigeria, highlighting its integration of cutting-edge technologies in its curriculum.
Earlier in her address of welcome, the Vice Chancellor of ABUAD, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, commended Babalola for allowing the partnership between the university and ABUAD to thrive.
She described the visit as a replica of the one earlier made by her and a select ABUAD team, which Babalola sponsored to China on a working tour recently.
She disclosed that, with the partnership, ABUAD would soon start manufacturing vehicles and robots.
Other highlights of the event were the presentation of the ‘Chinese Plus Digital Intelligence Education Gold Medal’ to Afe Babalola, in recognition of his commitment to quality and functional education in Nigeria.
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