Dr. Bolanle Olawale Babalakin SAN, Chairman of Resort International Limited is a Nigerian businessman, lawyer and philanthropist.
He is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) as well as a recipient of the Nigerian national honour of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2007.
He was born on 1 July 1960 in Ibadan, Oyo State. His father, the Honourable Mr. Justice Bolarinwa Oyegoke Babalakin] is a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and his mother, Mrs. Ramotu Ibironke Babalakin, was a pioneer female hospital proprietress in Ibadan.
He attended Sacred Heart Private School, then proceeded to Government College, Ibadan (GCI) for his secondary school education.
He had his ‘A’ Levels at The Polytechnic, Ibadan and subsequently gained admission into the University of Lagos in 1978, where he graduated from the Faculty of Law in 1981. He proceeded to the Nigerian Law School and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1982.
That same year (1982), Dr. Babalakin was one of only three Africans admitted into Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University for the pioneer Masters of Law Degree.
He was awarded the LLM degree in 1983 and proceeded immediately with his doctoral programme. He received his PhD degree in 1986 on the eve of his 26th birthday.
He returned to Nigeria in 1986 and joined the law firm of his mentor, Chief Frederick Rotimi Williams where he worked for one year and thereafter established his own firm, Babalakin and Co.
Dr. Wale Babalakin through one of his companies, Bi-Courtney Limited, applied for the concessioning of the Lagos Domestic Airport, the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 after the old airport structure was razed by fire and was completed in three years.
He was in 2005 appointed by the then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as a member of the National Political Reforms Conference where he served on the Legal Reforms Committee.
He also served as the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Sub Committee which was ultimately responsible for the drafting of the constitution. He was the Vice-Chairman of the Committee for the review of the Evidence Act.
He also had the unique opportunity of serving as the Chairman of two committees of the Nigerian Bar Association, namely the Real Estate and Construction Law Committee of the Section on Business Law and the Government Practice Committee of the Section on Legal Practice.
He was appointed alongside Alhaji Rilwanu Lukman as Honorary Advisers to the government of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
He had equally served as:
- Pro-Chancellor and the Chairman of Council of the University of Maiduguri.
- Chairman of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Federal Universities in Nigeria.
- Chairman of the Implementation Monitoring Committee of the Agreements entered into between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the various unions of the Nigerian Universities namely the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT)and Non Academic Staff Unions ( NASU) .
- Chairman of the Federal Government Committee to Re-negotiate the 2009 Agreement between Federal Government and the University Unions.
- Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the University of Lagos.
Dr. Babalakin is married to Olugbolahan Babalakin, the daughter of the late Honourable Mr. Justice Y.A.O. Jinadu, who is also a Lawyer by profession.