A legal practitioner and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sola Ajisafe has asked the Ekiti State and the Federal Governments to repair the road leading to the Federal Polytechnic and Afe Babalola University ABUAD) in Ado-Ekiti.

Ajisafe described the road leading to the institutions of higher learning as an eyesore that must be addressed without further delay.

In a statement titled: “The Shame of Afe Babalola Way: Why Ekiti and Abuja Must Fix This Road Now” Ajisafe said he saw what the governments have failed at and what individuals have done in fixing infrastructure in the country.

Pointedly, Ajisafe said: “The Ado/Ijan Road, now known as “Afe Babalola Way,” is an eyesore.”

According to him, the road which had been abandoned serves a Federal Polytechnic, a world-class private university, the Ekiti Golf Club, an agricultural settlement, and multiple government establishments.

Ajisafe expressed dismay that neither the Federal Government nor the Ekiti State Government has treated the road as a priority.

“For 16 years since ABUAD was established, this critical corridor has been left to rot. This is not just bad infrastructure. It is ingratitude. Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, is Ekiti’s most significant living contribution to Nigeria and the world.

“A local boy who conquered the legal profession and was recognised by leaders, including Queen Elizabeth II. At 97, he has built what no government in Nigeria has matched.

“Over the past sixteen years, he has created employment and opportunity on a scale that rivals the state itself. ABUAD currently employs more than 2,500 academic and non-academic staff, with over 5,000 additional support staff, including cleaners, artisans, drivers, farmhands, and others. That employment base has turned the institution into one of the largest private employers in Ekiti.

“The university’s impact has not gone unnoticed. It has been ranked No. 1 in Nigeria by Times Higher Education for four consecutive years, 2022 to 2025, No. 3 in Africa, and No. 84 globally on impact ratings. Those rankings reflect not just academic output but the university’s role in advancing healthcare, research, and community development.

“In healthcare, ABUAD operates a Multi-system Hospital ( AMSH) that has become a referral centre for the country. The hospital operates an MRI unit, CCT scanners, digital X-ray machines, and has 1 and 7 dialysis machines, and has performed over 400 dialysis procedures.

“Just two weeks ago, more renal transplants were successfully performed bringing the total to 50 renal transplants carried out without complications for donors or recipients in ABUAD. The centre also performs cardio-thoracic surgeries and runs an IVF clinic.

“Beyond the hospital, Chief Afe Babalola established the Afe Abiye free antenatal programme for women in Ekiti State, a model similar to Ondo’s Mother and Child scheme, ensuring that thousands of women receive care without cost.

“He also established two hospital annexes at Odo,-Ado (Girigiri), and Basiri all within Ado Ekiti. His philanthropic contributions to Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, and Ekiti State University coupled with yearly empowerment programmes for Ekiti State farmers, traders, artisans, and scholarships for students are monumental.

“Where government infrastructure has failed, ABUAD stepped in. The university runs an independent power plant not connected to the national grid, and a private dam that meets the water needs of the university and its farm.

“It also operates an industrial park with space for 126 factories, and a fully integrated farm that produces vegetables, fruits such as pepper, mangoes, papaya, and tomatoes, livestock including birds, fish, and other animals, and processed products like flour, cassava, plantain, rice, pepper, and cashew nuts for local consumption and export. The farm even has its own feed mill for livestock, and the institution is involved in recycling to sustain its operations.

“The economic multiplier effect is evident. ABUAD attracts students from all 36 states and the FCT, as well as from countries including the US, China, and across Africa. To further open up the State, Chief Afe Babalola personally contributed N2 billion for landing equipment at the newly established Ekiti Cargo Airport and N450 million for the construction of its current car park.

“This is what one man did for Ekiti without waiting for Abuja or Ado- Ekiti. He even provided his house as the take-off administrative office for the State University at its inception. And what did Ekiti and the Federal Government do in return? They left the road to his university impassable,” he said.

Ajisafe tasked Governor Biodun Oyebanji, whom he described as a good man to fix the road instead of using the alternative route to the institutions along the Ado-Ekiti/Ijebu road.

Ajisafe said President Bola Tinubu, being an alumnus of ABUAD and having received an honorary doctorate from the university should direct the Federal Ministry of Works or the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to fix the road.

The legal practitioner said both the federal and state governments should honour Afe Babalola while he is still alive and not when he is dead.

He said: “How does a country honour its heroes while they are alive? The best gift Ekiti State and the Federal Government can give Chief Afe Babalola at almost a century is not another plaque or title. It is to fix the 8.5km road that bears his name so he can drive on it, and so the students, patients, staff, and investors who keep ABUAD running don’t destroy their vehicles and waste their lives in traffic and dust.

“Anything short of immediate resumption and completion of work on this road is a dent on Governor Oyebanji and Minister David Umahi. It tells the world that Nigeria celebrates its builders only in speeches, not in deeds. Ekiti opened its doors to the world because of ABUAD. The least the world can expect in return is a road that works.”