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Michael Ade-Ojo told the incoming governing council of Elizade University that the institution he founded must start reducing its dependence on his personal money.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the university's fourth governing council, held at the Council Chamber of the campus in Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, and reported on Sept. 11. Ade-Ojo, who is the founder and Visitor, said he had put several billions of naira into building it.
"The time has come for the university to strive for self-reliance," he said.
He is not withdrawing. Ade-Ojo told the same gathering that his financial commitment to the university would remain strong, and that his determination to nurture it to maturity had not waned.
What he wants alongside his own money is an endowment. He instructed the council to run an aggressive endowment drive, building relationships with corporate organisations, philanthropists and development partners, and to treat financial sustainability as its central task.
The council is chaired by Ademola Adebise, the former group managing director of Wema Bank, who becomes pro-chancellor in succession to Emeritus Professor Olufemi Bamiro. Its members include Raphael Aladetimi, Professor Helen Olayinka Ogunsuyi, the senior advocate Ayodeji Omotoso, Suleiman Adedokun and Olakunle Ade-Ojo, the founder's son, who runs Toyota Nigeria.
It is the fourth council since the university opened. The first was inaugurated in April 2012 under Professor Oluwafeyisola Adegoke, the second on Oct. 20, 2016 under Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, the former Access Bank chief executive, and the third under Bamiro, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan.
The money behind all of it came from cars. Ade-Ojo founded Elizade Nigeria in 1971 and built it into the country's dominant Toyota distributor. The company's name combines his wife Elizabeth's with his own.
He opened the university in 2012 in Ilara-Mokin, with 13 programmes and two faculties. It now runs 35 fully accredited academic programmes.
His stated purpose was to keep Nigerian students at home. Ade-Ojo said the institution was established to provide quality education for Nigerian young people and reduce the attraction of foreign universities, which cost Nigerian families substantial sums in foreign exchange every year.
A medical school is the next step. Vice-Chancellor Philip Oguntunde said the National Universities Commission had recently carried out a resource verification exercise for a proposed bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery programme, and that the university would invite the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for an advisory visit once the result arrives. It intends to admit its first medical students in the 2026/2027 session if the approvals come.
Oguntunde said the administration was working to diversify the funding base, and that council members would be expected to use their professional and corporate networks to attract support. Research, infrastructure, academic standards and accountability were listed alongside it.
Ade-Ojo ended with a warning about the council itself, telling members to work as a team and avoid divisive politics that could undermine the university. Adebise, accepting the chairmanship, called it a call to service and said the council would lead with integrity, honesty and diligence.
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