Professor Babalola Borishade, Nigeria’s former Minister of Education, died in a London hospital on Wednesday.
The former minister was 71 years.
Borishade was rushed to the Reddington Hospital in Lagos earlier last week after which he was flown to London where he died from lung and heart-related illness.
The Usi-Ekiti native was born to the Ebi Ilotin family on March 7, 1946.
Borishade served as a federal minister in Nigeria between 1999 and 2011. Notably, he served as the minister of education from February 2001 to May 2003. Borishade’s achievements in Nigeria’s educational sector caught the attention of the United Nations, where he was elected Vice-Chairman of the E9 Group of the United Nations and President of the UNESCO International Conference on Education, and Chairman Education for All (EFA) Forum of African Ministers of Education.
In 2004, he was appointed as Minister of State for Power and Steel, where he initiated the ‘Gas to Power Project (G2P) that was sponsored by World Bank and designed to ensure sustained gas development and availability for power production in Nigeria.
Between July 2005 and November 2006, Borishade was Minister of Aviation, during which a Civil Aviation Bill was passed to replace the 1964 Act and the direct flight between Nigeria and the United States of America was restored.