Category: Education

The Governor of Osun, Adegboyega Oyetola, on Thursday announced the upgrade of the State College of Education, Ilesa, to a full-fledged university.

He said the decision was arrived having painstakingly and carefully examined the request made by prominent sons and daughters of Ijesaland to that effect.

“Let me say that, having looked into and examined carefully the request made by prominent sons and daughters of Ijesa Land, and the Owa, our highly-revered Royal Father, His Imperial Majesty, Owa Obokun Adimula of Ijesaland, Oba (Dr.) Gabriel Aromolaran, Government has decided to upgrade the Osun College of Education, Ilesa, to a full-fledged University.

“We have also engaged one of the nation’s best corporate Consultants, KPMG, to work out the sustainability plan of the upgrade”, he said.

This is even as the Governor inaugurated the Ijesa Community Funded Geriatric Centre in Ilesa.

The newly-inaugurated Geriatric Centre was funded and built by prominent Ijasa sons and daughters.

Inaugurating the Centre, which is a product of the magnanimity of the Ijesa people through the Ijesa Health is Wealth Project, Governor Oyetola noted that the initiative was another testament to the generosity and abiding passion of the great Ijesa people to add value to the lives of the people.

He said the gesture would go a long way to complement his administration’s sustained investment in the health sector as government has devoted unprecedented attention to revitalizing the health sector in the last three years.

According to him, the concerted development has given birth to the revitalisation of 332 primary health centres across all the wards in the State, improved welfare of medical workers, the construction of a 120-bed ward, construction of 30 units of doctors’ quarters at the State Specialist Hospital, Asubiaro, Osogbo, among others.

Oyetola, who noted that his Administration has successfully put Osun on the world map of quality health provision, said, “This is an intervention that other well-meaning indigenous groups should emulate and be counted to become frontline contributors to the development of our State”

Governor Oyetola expressed gratitude to the sons and daughters of Ijesaland for their unflinching support in general and for contributing significantly to the development of the State.

He said the newly- inaugurated health facility would further help to bring quality healthcare service delivery to the people.

“Considering our nation’s growing aged population and the absence of the requisite medical care for our senior citizens, this project is certainly excellently well-thought-out and has definitely come to fill a much-needed void.

“In other words, the Ijesa Geriatric Centre is a welcome development as it brings closer to our people a specialised geriatric care. This is against the background of the truism that being old is not a disease and that senior citizens have a right to medical care as indeed the younger population.

“Realising their invaluable role in the development of the society, our senior citizens should deservedly be treated with warmth, utmost respect and be provided a truly-enabling environment where they can interact with healthcare professionals with dignity.

“Doing so is instructive, as it shows that our senior citizens are valued for their contributions to the development of our society. This is the need that this Geriatric Center has come to fill, and we cannot thank you enough for making it possible, only ten months after its construction was commenced.

“Worth a billion Naira, this Centre is an expansive facility that comprises the general outpatient building, administrative building, ophthalmology and dental building, physiotherapy, theatre complex, inward among other essential facilities that will provide the best of medical care for our senior citizens.

“I consider this project absolutely complementary to our administration’s sustained investment in the health sector. You will recall that in the last three years plus of our administration, we have devoted unprecedented attention to revitalizing our health sector”, he added.

Earlier in his remarks, the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland, Oba Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran, thanked all illustrious and eminent Ijesa people both home and in the diaspora for the initiative, support, commitment and the degree of responsiveness to the developmental agenda of Ijesaland.

According to the revered monarch, the project has once again attested to the commitment of Ijesa people to igniting the contagious relentless efforts towards breaking the paradigm for community development.

Oba Aromolaran, who commended Governor Oyetola for his tremendous achievements in the various sectors of the economy, said it was a thing of joy that the new health facility was constructed to complement his monumental strides in the health sector.

“It is noteworthy to openly declare that the primary concern of the entire Ijesa people through the Ijesa Community Development Assembly is the smooth, efficient, effective and prudent management of the Ijesaland Geriatric Centre and where necessary the people of Ijesa would always provide complementary support for the sustainability of effective service delivery to the elderly people”, the monarch added.

Also speaking, the Asiwaju of Ijesaland, Olayinka Fasuyi, expressed gratitude to the the sons and daughters of Ijesaland for the successful actualisation of the project.

He attributed the success of the project to the timely support and donations from the people of Ijesaland saying, “the meeting we held yielded bountiful results as we were able to put in a number of strategies to finally arrive at a total cost of the project.

“Strategizing and Mobilising funds for the project implementation have been the most harrowing challenge imaginable. Indeed, it is better imagined than experienced.

“It is important to salute the unparalleled commitment and dexterity of the Ijesa to their community development as generously demonstrated in these last two projects black-to-back.

“Today, Ijesaland has successfully built and delivered the second geriatric centre in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“We appreciate you for heeding our age-old prayers of upgrading the 44-year-old College of Education, Ilesa, to a full fledged University.

“Mr. Governor, You have honoured us, God will continue to honour you. You have listened to our requests and our overdue agitations. God will not forsake you. You have rekindled our hope as Ijesa people and you have made us proud with this declaration. You shall continue to be celebrated. I want to assure you that Ijesaland shall vote massively beyond your imagination in return of your kind gesture to us. It is only God in His infinity that will compensate you, “ he noted.

It’s the Day 6 of the 25th convocation ceremony of the Lagos State university for the Award of Diplomas, First degree, postgraduate Diplomas and Master degree.

Benjamin Damilare Olowu of the Department of Mechanical Engineering emerged the overall best graduating student, having attained a 4.97 cumulative grade point average out of the entire graduating students of the institution as 112 students bag first class degrees.

The 25th convocation ceremony lecture that will be delivered by the former Governor, Lagos State and National Leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will take place on Thurday, 24th March 2022 at the Buba Marwa Auditorium Main Campus Ojo Lagos.

The news media is awash with the most disturbing display of ignorance currently being showcased in our alma mater, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. The appointment of the Vice Chancellor, an erstwhile rancour-free internal process, has now become a subject of not only intense politicking among the academics and their non-teaching counterparts. The process has, deplorably, been extended to the town with the attendant malcontents.

The latest news on the invasion of the campus by some Ife indigenes and traditionalists, allegedly, to protest the failure by the authorities to appoint “an Ife indigene”, showcases the extent to which the system has sunk, almost irretrievably.

This is, perhaps, symptomatic of the pervasive rot in the academia. This thoughtless, reckless and misguided step forebodes untoward occurrences in the future. A situation which sees totally extraneous elements to the university environment invade the serene ambience to offer support, presumably solicited and sponsored by those who may have lost out in the selection process, is lamentable. There can be no worse signs than these outward display of attitudes alien to the academia.

There is bound to be this creepy feeling from all of us who have partaken of the glorious moments at that Fount of deep intellection and effervescent cultural expressions. To assert that we are disappointed is an understatement. All those responsible for this disgrace should be ashamed of themselves, and this is assuming they possess any sense of shame. This act should elicit the most strident condemnation from all good people. I condemn it without equivocation.

Obafemi Awolowo University has been a pride of the South West Region since her foundation by the purposeful political leadership at that period. Her new status as a national institution notwithstanding, the people of this geo-political space possess this emotional attachment, traceable to the politics of her establishment, anchored on the vision for the redemption of a race from colonialism, its tendentious predilections and the attendant loss of identity.

The motto of this great citadel is “For Learning and Culture”. Any attitude which detracts from this mission must be jettisoned and discouraged. The state of university education reflects the level of development in a society. A citadel of learning turned to a theatre for the most absurd display of inanities cannot contribute meaningfully to the advancement of any country.

The collective pool of resources from the South West Region ensured the establishment of this beautiful university. The institution attracted the best from all over the world. Merit was the only yardstick necessary to undertake any venture and for inclusion in same. Capacity was pivotal in the building of the most beautiful campus on the Continent of Africa.

Our founding fathers had a vision. They had a mission. They picked the best to fulfill these lofty dreams. The current absurdity represents a hope betrayed. The disturbing facts emanating from Ife over an appointment which is internal, almost entirely, reveal the depth of rot in that system. The intensity of campaign for an office which serious scholars declined to take in the past for the fear of distraction, gives a glimpse on the quality of research purportedly undertaken in most places in recent times. It is disheartening!

This latest assault on intellection by elements who, ordinarily, should not have any business with that ambience is unsettling. The silence of the intellectuals in that university suggests complicity and connivance. The supervisory authorities should, as a matter of urgency, weigh in heavily on this strange phenomenon creeping into the university. A university should live up to its charter of establishment. Certificates are awarded on Character and Learning.

The events of the last few days depict, clearly, that our universities seem interested in issues too distant from teaching and research. The painful reality which comes with the knowledge that our Great Ife has joined other erstwhile centres of excellence which deal with the burden of rapidly receding glory, is sad indeed. The fact that the ancestral home of the Yoruba is where this desecration takes place should goad our people to act fast before permanent damage is brought to bear on our collective psyche.

If it is not enough to be a scholar and professor than to be a Vice Chancellor, then we should stop looking elsewhere for reasons for the pervasive decadence in the country. The age of innocence is long gone. The Gown appears too eager to learn from the Town in many ways. The battle seems lost, irredeemably.

The glory has departed.

A professor of Agricultural Economics from the Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire has been announced as the Vice-Chancellor of the university. Bamire’s appointment takes effect from June 7, 2022.

Addressing newsmen on the university campus on Thursday, Owelle Osear Udoji, Pro-Chancellor & Chairman of Council, said Bamire was picked as the 12th Vice-Chancellor out of the 16 candidates that contested the office.

Udoji said, “As you are aware, the post of the Vice-Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ile will become vacant by 7th June, 2022.

“Council, at its meeting held on 7th December, 2021 flagged off the processes for the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor who is expected to assume duties on 7th June, 2022.

“In line with approval of the Council, the vacancy was widely advertised in compliance with relevant Statutes and Acts guiding appointment to the position.
“At a Special Meeting of 14th February, 2022, the Council perused the Curriculum Vitae of all the twenty (20) applicants who indicated interest in the position. At the end of the exercise, sixteen (16) of them were shortlisted, having met the advertised criteria.

“The interaction with the candidates began on Monday, 14th March, 2022 and ended on Wednesday, 16th March, 2022. All the sixteen candidates appeared before the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board, with fifteen of them present physically and one, at his request, virtually. The Selection Board painstakingly examined the Curriculum Vitae and interacted with each candidate, and scored them accordingly to stipulated criteria. The three highest scoring candidates were presented to the Council for further consideration as provided by the law. The entire exercise of the Joint Selection Board was witnessed by the representatives of the Federal Character Commission who have confirmed the exercise was fair and transparent and carried out in full compliance with the provisions of the Federal Character Commission Act.

“In line with the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act as amended, the report of the Selection Board was considered by the Council which, after a careful and dispassionate review of the report, decided to appoint Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire, Professor of Agricultural Economics from the Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as the Vice-Chancellor of the University with effect from June 7, 2022, The decision of the Council shall be communicated to the Visitor to the University, His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari through the Hon. Minister of Education.”

The academic activities at the Polytechnic of Ibadan were distrupted as cult members caused uneasiness on the campus today.

It was reported that an alleged cult groups unleashed terror on the campus for a reason not yet known at the time of this report.

A report from an eye witness, a student of the institution (name withheld) said the students were running for thier lives, while the security operative of the institution were making all efforts to curb the incident.

Details later.