Dr. Habib Adetutu Omotola is an economist, human capital researcher, educator and social impact advocate whose work is driven by a commitment to building people and strengthening the systems that shape their lives. As a lecturer at Babcock University and the university’s pioneer Career Services Lead, she has spent years exploring the relationship between education, human development and the world of work.
Beyond the university, her passion for education has found expression in initiatives that support children and young people, including The Palms Tutors Learning Hub, which provides free after-school academic support to children from low-income families in Awa-Ijebu, Ogun State. Through her research, teaching, mentoring and community development work, she continues to explore how people can be equipped with the knowledge, skills and character they need to thrive.
In this interview with The Impact Lens (TIL), we sat down with Dr. Adetutu to discuss the story behind The Palms Tutors, the realities of making education accessible, the lessons her mentors have taught her, and her vision for building people and transforming communities.
TIL: Beyond your titles and achievements, who is Dr. Habib Adetutu Omotola, and what drives the work you do?
Dr. Adetutu: Dr. Habib Adetutu Omotola is a people builder.
I believe better societies are built by equipping and empowering the people who build the systems. The quality of people in any society depends directly on the education they receive, and transformative education must be holistic. It must reach the head with knowledge, the hands with relevant skills, and the heart with good character.
Whether I’m teaching mathematics to a child in primary school, lecturing at a university, or researching how to improve livelihoods and workplace outcomes, my aim is the same: to help people build the skills, capability and character to thrive, earn a decent living, and make their immediate environment better.
For me, it starts with people. When we get people right, systems align. And only then can we build sustainable systems where every person grows while looking out for the growth of others.
TIL: Tell us the story behind The Palms Tutors Learning Hub. What inspired you to start it? Was there a particular experience or moment that made you feel you needed to do something?
Dr. Adetutu: The Palms Tutors started as a pet project. I wanted to use my knowledge of mathematics to help students understand a subject I have always loved.
But as the work grew, my understanding of the need began to change. While teaching at a university, I saw how gaps in foundational mathematics could affect students’ ability to understand economics. At the same time, helping my young daughter learn mathematics made me realise how important it was for children to learn from teachers who understood their context and could explain concepts using familiar examples.
That was how I began creating localised mathematics video lessons for Nigerian children. But over time, through my engagement with children in my community through a monthly mentorship programme, the First-2-Nine Teenagers Club, I realised that access to lessons alone was not enough. Children in rural communities also needed access to learning resources, digital skills and opportunities to develop beyond the classroom.
That realisation expanded the mission beyond online mathematics tutoring. In July 2025, we established The Palms Tutors Learning Hub in Awa-Ijebu, providing free after-school academic support to children from low-income families. For some of these children, the Hub provides access to learning resources and experiences they might otherwise struggle to obtain. We also go beyond academics by introducing them to values, leadership and personal development, because we believe education should build both competence and character.
The Hub is our way of bringing the mission closer to the children who need it. We want them not only to understand what they learn in school but also to develop the skills, confidence and character to thrive.
For us, it is about making learning accessible and giving children the opportunity to discover and develop their potential, regardless of where they come from. Impressively, we have provided support to over 120 children within a year of launch, with an average daily visit of 15–20 children.
TIL: Your PhD research explored income, food inflation and human capital development in Nigeria. What did this research teach you about how economic hardship affects people’s opportunities in life?
Dr. Adetutu: I explored this out of a deep interest in how economic factors and the social environment shape people’s access to quality education and a quality life, including their health.
The research was interesting because it surprised us.
We found that Nigerian families place a very high premium on education.
When food prices rose sharply, real purchasing power fell. Incomes stayed fairly stable, and in some cases rose, but they bought far less than their nominal value suggested.
Yet families kept their children in school, but not without trade-offs.
Parents moved their children from more expensive schools to cheaper ones, or to schools closer to home to cut transport costs. They gave up private lessons, textbooks and other learning materials so they could keep their children enrolled and still cushion the cost of food.
That leaves an important question: is school enrolment a complete measure of human capital development, or of the quality of education, especially in a developing country like Nigeria?
Another finding was the role of public schools. Some parents moved their children from private to public schools, which underlines the importance of government investment in education.
In Nigeria, though, much of education is funded by individuals and families. Whatever happens to their pockets affects the quality of education the country gets. And this is why we must look beyond enrolment figures. We must also ask whether children have the resources, support and learning conditions they need to develop their capabilities.
The paper is published. I encourage you to read it, and I will share the link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2025.e02954
TIL: As a university lecturer and the pioneer Career Services Lead at Babcock University, what do you think is missing in the way we prepare young people for the world of work?
Dr. Adetutu: To put it plainly, it is the gap between knowledge and capability.
Education in Nigeria is still tilted towards acquiring knowledge, not building capability.
Imagine if, in every classroom, we asked who our young people will become, not only what they should know. I believe that shift would change how we train them, how we educate them, and how we get them ready for work.
The second thing we are missing starts at home, and it is not only about universities.
Too often, education is seen as collecting a certificate that gets you a job that gets you money. When that chain breaks, or anything goes wrong along the line, the child begins to feel like a failure.
But if we help children see themselves as active participants in their communities, people who acquire knowledge, skills and capability to live a better life and contribute to the society around them, we will have more people who can think within the box and outside it, create local solutions to local problems, and add to the wellbeing of society.
TIL: You have created hundreds of mathematics lessons that have reached thousands of learners. What have you learnt about making education accessible to children who might otherwise be left behind?
Dr. Adetutu: One thing I have realised is that every advancement in technology tends to push people who are already behind even further behind.
When I started teaching online, I was targeting families who could afford to pay. Some families can afford that extra support for their children. But when those children get it, their peers who cannot access it fall far further behind.
Artificial intelligence does the same thing. So does digital classroom learning.
So if we want education to reach children who might otherwise be left behind, we have to be very intentional about how we bridge the gap.
Children who are already behind need to reach where the rest of us are now, before we start talking about the future.
For every advancement, that child needs double the support to catch up.
TIL: You do a lot of work across research, education, mentoring and community development. What has been the most difficult part of this journey? Was there ever a time you felt like giving up, and what kept you going?
Dr. Adetutu: In research, one of the biggest challenges is resources, especially funding. Good research needs a lot of money, and in this part of the world, it is not readily available. But through productive collaborations and mentorship, I am learning to build and work around the resources I can access.
In education and community development, the hardest part is this.
You identify a problem. Then you have to convince the owners of the problem of three things:
- That they have the problem.
- That they need a solution.
- That the solution you are offering, free or at low cost, should actually be used.
It can be very discouraging when you see a need and go out with a solution, and still have to work around people. Many of my projects are in rural communities. They involve children, but their parents are responsible for their wellbeing, and the parents’ level of education and exposure can make it hard to see why these things matter.
What keeps me going is, first, what Jesus did in his ministry. He was the solution to every problem on earth, yet he did not wait where he was. He went about, preaching and convincing people that they needed him.
Second, I tell people who run non-governmental organisations: if you do this work to be praised or seen, you will be discouraged. It is usually one in ten. Maybe one in ten will come back, or acknowledge what you did, just as with Jesus.
What drives me is seeing a child empowered. A child whose story changes, who is left with a lasting impression, who learns to make better decisions through the example we set and the resources we put in front of them.
That keeps me going. I want to make as much difference as I can for every child within my sphere of influence.
TIL: Throughout your career, has there been a mentor who played an important role in your journey? How did you meet this person, and what are some of the lessons they taught you that have stayed with you?
Dr. Adetutu: I have had many mentors, but I will mention four.
My mother. She believes every girl child should be educated, and that education frees people from poverty, in cash, in kind and of the heart. That belief shaped how I see education and the journey I am on.
Uncle Olatinji, my Agric teacher in secondary school. I was playful, with a serious side. He was intentional about helping someone like me become more focused, more guided and more directed, and he did it in a very godly way.
He did it without being asked and without being told. That still motivates how I pour into other people. I see myself as someone like him, placed in a young person’s life at the time they need it most.
Professor Stephen Afolami and Professor Grace Tayo, two bosses I have worked with. Both are people of integrity. They do things as they should be done. They pave the way for others and look out for the people who work with them. They build systems on godly principles and on stewardship.
I could say more, but to keep this brief, I will leave it there.
TIL: If you could change one thing about Nigeria’s education system to give children from underserved communities a better chance, what would it be?
Dr. Adetutu: This is unconventional, and I hope people do not come after me for it.
From my experience, one thing I would change is the free education system that began with the Universal Basic Education programme in 1999. I would refine it, or even abolish it as it works today.
I think that system has failed Nigeria.
It makes it very difficult for people to demand even the barest minimum. Public education has become so weak that the barest minimum is already lost. Public schools should set the benchmark that private schools must meet. Instead, many private schools struggle to meet the standard.
So I ask: is education really free? Parents still pay, in one form or another. It is a cost to them, and that cost is lost somewhere. The resources provided, do they reach where they should?
That system needs to be reviewed.
Second, I would make sure communities are invested in educating their own people. Communities can shape what they want from their young people through partnership, participation, sponsorship and endowments within the community.
That is where I would start.
TIL: When you look at all the work you are doing, what change do you most want to see in the lives of the people you serve?
Dr. Adetutu: The change I most want to see is that the people I serve are empowered with the skills, the capability and the character to improve their opportunities in life.
I think especially of children from underserved communities. Young people in rural communities struggle to reach the resources, the skills, the markets and the opportunities that can bring them out of the cycle of poverty.
It would fulfil me deeply to see them break through that cycle, through the work we do and the exposure our projects and services give them.
TIL: If you were in a room with the children, young people and graduates your work serves, what is the one thing you would want them to know, and why?
Dr. Adetutu: I want every young person to know this: you are not an accident.
God is a master planner, and he was intentional when he made each of us.
The Bible tells us that to each, he gave talents and gifts. As a long-term investor, he did not give any talent or opportunity just for the sake of it. It is an investment.
In Genesis 2:15, God put man in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
So I want every young person I meet to know that you are here for an assignment, for a purpose.
You have a responsibility to yourself. Beyond that, we owe society a responsibility of care: in the way we do our work, the way we relate to people, and the way we handle collective resources.
