Things you should know about Davido’s higher education

Davido Adedeji popularly known as Davido was born on November 21, 1992 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. But didn’t live there for long, his father, a wealthy businessman Adedeji Adeleke, decided to send his son to back to the States to receive his higher education.

According to Davido biography, in 2010, his dad dropped him off with his registration documents, $2,000 in cash and his passport by the doors of a formerly black Christian college Oakwood University.

Even though Davido father was rich enough to buy his son a house by the university, he probably chose not to, as Davido had to live in a dorm, along with the rest of the students. However, little did Adeleke Sr. know that this decision would have a very significant impact on his son’s life.

It just so happened that a guy who lived above Davido and his roommate from Rwanda had his own recording studio. Young David was instantly interested in making music, so instead of focusing on his studies, he chose to record some tracks to send to his cousin back in Lagos.

As a result, his grades slipped, and a little while later, Davido decided to drop out completely. However, he did not tell his dad and continued using the money meant for his education to pay for clubs, drinks and motels. Then, he left everything behind and went to London to pursue his passion for music further.

All the while, Dr. Adedeji Adeleke could not get a hold of Davido. So when the prodigal son returned to Lagos after his little unauthorised trip to London in 2011, Mr. Adeleke was understandably mad. The two fought for a while, as Davido did not want to study, while his dad could not imagine his son not having a degree. After a while, the two decided on a compromise. Let’s talk about what it was.


Davido and his studies at Babcock University

As Davido showed no interest in returning to his studies in the United States, his father did what any other responsible parent would do: he allegedly created a whole new
university programme just for his son. That sounds incredible, even though it is not the first time we have heard of it.

Taking into account Mr. Adeleke’s immense wealth, it was not hard for him to collaborate with a private university not far from his residence to create a brand new music department. The university in question was Babcock University.

It had a special place in the Adeleke family, as it was were Davido’s mother used to teach before she died back in 2003. Over the years, Adeleke Sr. invested over ₦200 million into this establishment, so when he approached the university administration with a request to open a new department, they had no other choice but to comply.

Thus, in 2012, Davido became the first and only part-time student of the new Music department of Babcock University. Taking into account that by that time, Davido has already been recording his own music and performing, it is surprising that he managed to keep up with his studies.

Over the next few years, the young artist tried his best to study. His Head of Department Olusegun Ojuola had only the fondest memories of David Adeleke (he only called him by his given name) during his time at Babcock University. He reminisced that, while he might have had some issues with the dress code at first, David was a diligent student who worked hard to get his degree.

As he was a part-time student, and his music career did not allow him to go to the university every day, Davido had to take his homework with him on tours and appearances. However, that minor inconvenience did not stop him from finally getting a degree.

In 2015, David Adedeji Adeleke graduated from Babcock University after four years of studies that resulted in his thesis about the ‘Challenges of Live performance of Afroacademic-pop artistes in Nigeria’. He received a Second Class Upper Division Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. It turned out that his time at Oakwood University was not spent in vain, as it was thanks to the credits he earned there that he was able to graduate so fast.