Renowned legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), has sought Federal Government’s approval for the Afe Babalola University in Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) Industrial Park.
He said the 132-unit industrial park would turn the story of Nigeria around, if well executed and utilised.
Babalola sought the approval when he hosted delegates from the China-Nigeria Consortium on Industry and Education during an ABUAD-China Partnership Forum meeting yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.
The legal icon, who described the continued Federal Government’s refusal to issue a free trade certificate to ABUAD as discouraging and embarrassing, noted that the approval would have enabled foreign companies to establish businesses in the park, thereby boosting the nation’s economy.
According to him, a free trade zone will facilitate international trade and industrial activities, ultimately contributing to the country’s economic growth.
Babalola noted that such progressive ideas would have been embraced under the defunct regional government system, saying his call for a people-oriented constitution was meant to foster national development.
“In 1999, I traveled to China. At that time, China was a very poor country, but the Chinese were very wise. They created an area called free trade zone, which allowed countries like the United States and Germany to set up industries there.
“Unknown to those countries, the Chinese learnt from the foreign industries, which eventually contributed to their remarkable global development today.
“However, in 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.
“There is an American company that is 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.”
The Secretary-General of the China-Nigeria Consortium on Industry and Education, Ms. Wendy Wang, who spoke through an interpreter, hailed Afe Babalola for his visionary achievements in education, engineering, and health.
She described ABUAD as the best institution in Nigeria, highlighting the integration of cutting-edge technologies in its curriculum.
In her address of welcome, ABUAD’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Smaranda Olarinde, described the visit as a replica of the one she earlier made with a select ABUAD team that Babalola sponsored to China as a working tour.
She stressed that with the partnership, ABUAD would soon start manufacturing vehicles and robots.
The Nation
