By Ibrahim Salaudeen, Lagos
Twenty three years after graduation, 46 – year old Ambassador (Dr) Babatunde Adeyemo returned to his alma mater – University of Lagos on Friday, December 19, 2025, not as a student but for honour by the nation’s first generation prestigious University in recognition of his contribution to nation building through leadership, excellence and service to society.
‘Excellence, leadership, legacy and building transformative management’ was the theme of the event put together by the institutions Faculty of Management Sciences, which it also tagged 2025 Dinner & Award Night, where the Vice Chancellor, Professor Folasade Tolulope Ogunsola, was the Chief host.
Before it commenced around 6.30pm, Adeyemo who arrived the Akoka campus in company of his wife, children and staff, took his family for a leisure walk round some places he deemed remarkable in his undergrad days and they are still remarkable till date.
In what looked like a mini tour, he guided the family and staff first to a place he called “love garden” which elicited a nostalgia of ‘serious and no so – serious students’ hang out in his time. The location is reputed for its cool ambience which is made possible by vegetations that provide all round shades and complemented by enhanced square – like sitting arrangement. It was pulsating sight as a number young male and female students were seen resting there while a few others were heard nattering.
Then the tour took them to the lagoon side where the family, particularly the children beheld both the beauty and wonders of nature before taking them to a place he likened to a zone of ‘rise and fall, death and fainting.’ He bent low and pointed it out. It is the departmental notice board, where results are pasted. It has not changed position decades after. It still looks bland. He recalled that it was a zone some students would have loved to avoid, if they could.
Ambassador Babatunde Adeyemo, a veteran broadcast journalist and major player in the nation’s real estate sector is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, a Nigerian top – notch real estate firm behind Pelican Valley Estate Laderin where unusual homes happen, Pelican Brief, Pelican Valley Ecostay Apartments and Pelican Valley Greenish Acre Farm Estate – all located at the Laderin Abeokuta Kobape corridor of Ogun State.
He is also the Founder of Oko Opo Widows Foundation, a not – for – profit organization that caters for widows, children and downtown members of the society.
A bold dreamer, as a youth he gained admission to the University of Lagos in 1998 to study Labour and Industrial Relations, Faculty of Management Sciences, graduating four years later in 2002 with a flying colour.
After an distinguished career in journalism, Adeyemo veered into real estate where he is using integrity, due diligence and quality delivery to not only change the narrative in the real estate business in the last 15 years but also set enviable records in providing tech – driven smart homes to the upwardly mobile Nigerians at home and in the diaspora.
Like the saying goes, a golden fish always stands out from other sea fishes. His class and course mates, some of whom are senior lecturers and professors in the department today, were not surprised that Adeyemo was found to be a good ambassador of the department, faculty and the university. And they all turned up to identify with him on his Day of honour December 19, 2025 at the University.
It was thunderous of cheers and ovation when he took the stage for the Distinguished Alumnus Award for “Exemplary Leadership and Service to Society” which was presented by the Director of Academic Planning, Professor Matthew O. Olori.
The dean of faculty Faculty of Management Sciences, Professor Abdul – Hameed Sulaimon, captured succinctly why Adeyemo deserved the honour bestowed on him
Prof. Sulaimon described him and other products of the faculty as future leaders and change agents prepared to navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic world.
He assured of the faculty’s commitment to delivering relevant education, impactful research, and real world solutions.
“The faculty of management sciences thrives because of collaboration, shared purpose, and unwavering commitment. The celebration is not merely about awards; it is a reaffirmation of our collective belief that meaningful progress is achieved through teamwork, integrity, and sustained partnerships between academia, industry and society,” he said.
Adeyemo, not a stranger to awards, said he was particularly happy for award, saying he would not take it for granted.
The real estate entrepreneur said that the integrity, character, diligence, excellence, persevering spirit and being thorough all of which defines his life and real estate business today were honed at his alma mater through the rigours of teaching, supervision and guidance imparted into him by lecturers, course mates and the university administrators.
Adeyemo was not the only awardee. Eight retirees from the faculty, including the former dean, Professor Emmanuel Oyatoye, former HoD, Actuarial Science, Prof, Joseph Mojekwu and Insurance Prof. Francis Chukwudi Anyim of the Employment Relations and Human Resource Management and Professor Olusoji George were also honoured for their outstanding stewardship in the university.
Besides, corporate organisations such as Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), 03 Capital Nigeria Limited, Vitafoam Nigeria PLC, and RTS Global Insurance Brokers Ltd were not left out – they took were recognized as key employers of labour, especially products of the faculty.
