Education
Abiola graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1992 and Harvard College in 1996.
Abiola graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover, in 1992 and Harvard College in 1996.
Hafsat Olaronke Abiola is the eighth child of Nigeria"s uninaugurated (June 12, 1993) President-elect, the late Chief Moshood Abiola, who was put in prison by the dictator General Sani Abacha for treason after declaring himself president The elder Abiola later died under detention in 1998.
She received an honorary doctorate from Haverford College.
In 2000, Abiola was honored as a Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In 2003, she was elected as a Fellow of the Ashoka: Innovators for the Public in recognition of her international status as a social entrepreneur.
In 2006 she was nominated to be a founding councilor at the World Future Council. In 2006 she raised funds by organizing performances of The Vagina Monologues in Nigeria.
Since May 2008 she is also a Councilor at the World Future Council among 49 other well known personalities.
In 2008, the Europe-based A Different View chose Abiola to be one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy. Other champions include Martin Luther King Junior., Nelson Mandela, Corazon Aquino, and Sima Samar. She is an advisory council member at the Fetzer Institute as well as the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
In 2015 she was chosen to be one of 21 women who met for a conference at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government funded by Hunt Alternatives.
The group included Judy Thongori from Kenya, Fauzia Nasreen from Pakistan and Olufunke Baruwa, Esther Ibanga and Ayisha Osori also from Nigeria. The results show that she has about seventy half-siblings.