Seventh-day Adventist Educational Enterprise in South-western Nigeria

Seventh-day Adventist educational enterprise began with the arrival of adventist missionary, D.C. Babcock in Nigeria in between April and May, 1914. Begining from the vernacular schools established at Erunmu, 25 kilometers from Ibadan, the adventist network of schools soon spread to different parts of southwestern Nigeria.A School of Nursing was established in Ile Ife in 1944 at a time when the only tertiary institution in Nigeria was the Yaba Higher College.In addition to elementary schools and teacher training colleges, a liberal arts, college, the Adventist College of West Africa was established in in 1959 at Ilisan-Remo. The school now known as Babcock University provides holistic education, where students are taught vocational studies alongside their academic work.Spirtual mentoring, vegetarian entree and complulsory physical exercises and community service are part of the offerings. These components of education permeate all levels of adventist schooling and are geared to provide graduates who can stand on their own as employers of labour in the wake of dwindling 'white collar' jobs on the African continent due to globalization and other factors.