By Adesina Wahab

The Nigeria French Language Village in Ajara, Badagry was set up in 1991 by the administration of Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida. It was set up for the purpose of conducting Language Immersion Programme for undergraduates studying French Language in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

The purpose is to save the nation the foreign exchange hitherto spent on students going for the programme abroad.

Lateef Babatunde Ayeleru, a Professor of French Language at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State is the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of the school, as his five-year tenure is being concluded. When he took office in February 2020, the condition he met the place is better imagined.

His words, “If you are familiar with the place, you will know that what we have now is far better than what we had before. Right from the environment, there has been a great change. From the main road, whenever it rained then, nobody would be able to access anywhere on campus – everywhere would be flooded. The hostels, lecture rooms, everywhere would be flooded. We know that the government cannot do everything, but you have to be proactive. “So, we blocked all financial leakages. That didn’t go down well with some people and they even reported us to community leaders among others. But the community leaders told those who reported us that before these people came on board, we knew how the place looked like and we can now see all the changes that are taking place. They even asked the union leaders to tell them where we were getting the money to do all that we were doing. We moderated our lifestyle, we didn’t steal and did not allow anybody to steal. Go to the hostels, you will see that we have renovated them and the students are happy. The little we get, we use judiciously. We hope that when we leave, the system will not go back to what it was.”
As usual with change, there was resistance here and there. The development pitted him against some union leaders and vested interests on campus, but with tact and doggedness, he scaled through.
He explained how he managed the situation and the aftermath, “I have no issue with union leaders. I am also a member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and I know what to do and the importance of workers’ welfare, as well as that of students. I won’t take the issue of welfare for granted. Crisis dogged the tenures of some of my predecessors. When I came, I told them my plans. Even during my time, the non-academic staff have gone on strike, but I didn’t allow them to disrupt academic activities. There was a time they went on strike for two months, they came back to work on their own. I went to put on the generator and pumped water into the hostels and lectures held. I told them that we are a specialised institution, if we disrupt academic activities here and that affects the students sent here, do you think their schools will want to bring another batch of students here? It is my administration that promoted many of them. They were stagnated.”
On collaborations with international bodies and the French Embassy in Nigeria, Ayeleru explained that he visited the French Embassy to secure technical assistance for the Village, “this also yielded positive result as officials of French Embassy paid a historic visit to the Village in March 2023 and declared the Nigeria French Language Village as the future of Francophone in Africa. As for student enrolment during my period, from February 2020 to January 2025 the Village has trained 7,842 students in various aspects of French Language studies.
“Following our new rapport with the French Embassy, they sponsored 10 lecturers on a three-week training in France on teaching French as a Foreign Language (FLE) methodology. Installation of Wifi: Microwave Internet with SMT-1 (155Mbps) bandwidth Campus Wireless Area Network (WAN) was also installed. Scholarship for DELF / DALF Examination: 100 undergraduates students in the Nigeria French Language Village benefit from scholarship to write the examination yearly and 69% success rate was recorded.
“We also got over 500 books donated to us on French as a Foreign Language and an e-library was installed while three classrooms were supplied with Interactive Boards and furniture.”
As the world has gone digital, Ayeleru also spearheaded online teaching of French Language, while staff training and development has led to six academic staff pursuing doctorate degree programmes, two have completed, 80 academic and non-teaching staff also received training on topic relevant to their job schedules while 14 management staff members were trained on procurement.
The implementation of Tripartite Agreement on Promotion of Academic Staff initiated by the National Universities Commission, NUC through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Nigeria French Language Village and the Lagos State University has enabled the promotion of six senior academic staff to Professorial cadre. Some of them have even given their inaugural lectures, a series introduced by Ayeleru.
The physical development of the Village was a priority to the outgoing CEO. Among some of the steps taken were the supply and installation of all-in-one solar powered street lights, supply and Installation of 500KVA generator, supply and installation of 150KVA generator, as well as the improvement of Road Network/ Extension of Concrete Drains on campus.
“We also gave priority attention to the welfare of staff and students that made us to rehabilitate the students’ hostel (Princess Hall), purchase a stand by ambulance, renovate classrooms and we also extended the Academic Building. We stocked the hostels with steel bunk beds and mattresses to replace the old and dilapidated wooden bunk beds. We also rehabilitated Administrative Blocks A & B, rehabilitate Blocks C & D female students hostels and built a maintenance building and reconstructed the clinic.”
New postgraduates programmes were introduced and the administration, through advocacy, also discouraged the sending of Nigerian undergraduates to mushroom centres in neighbouring countries for the Language Immersion Programme, thereby helping to increase the inflow of students to the Village.
In helping the military in its effort to tackle insurgency, Ayeleru in 2021 paid a courtesy visit to the former Chief of Defence Staff, General L.E.O. Irabor, where the possibility of synergizing with the Armed Forces in the fight against insurgency was discussed and how the Nigeria French Language Village could intervene in the area of offering French Language training to the military for effective intelligence gathering to tackle insurgency. That yielded result as the Village in collaboration with the Armed Forces organizes various customized French training programmes for staff of the Armed Forces with a view to enhancing their mastery of the French Language.
The giant strides recorded by the CEO didn’t go unnoticed, as some philanthropists have assisted the Village in one way or the other. One of such is Prof. Tunde Fatunde, who was a professor of Francophone African Literature at the Lagos State University, Ojo. And as a member of the Governing Council of the Village, donated his entire library to the Village and also willed his two apartments located at Peridot (formerly Echostone) Estate, Idale, Badagry, to the Nigeria French Language Village. Following the signing of Deed of Gift by the family and their legal representative, the apartments were officially bequeathed to the Village on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.
While leaving office to pursue other things, Ayeleru is convinced that the vision of setting up the Village has been achieved.