The Oyo State Governor, ‘Seyi Makinde has assented to the bill to upgrade the 126-year-old Emmanuel Alayande College of Education (EACOED), Oyo thereby officially turning the College of Education into a full-fledged University of Education.
The governor, who assented to the bill on Monday at the Exco chamber of the Governor’s Office, noted that the event was a landmark achievement as the state now has three state-owned universities.
He added that the bill was even more important as education remains one of the pillars of his administration as contained in his Roadmap for Accelerated Development 2019-2023.
Governor Makinde noted that the bill signed into law will be known as Oyo Law 2022.
Recall that the Oyo State House of Assembly had, earlier in November passed the bill to turn the College of Education into a university into law and was waiting for assent by the state governor.
With this assent, the university is expected to kick off anytime from now and more activities will be seen in the coming days.
The Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde has directed that the policy of ‘no tuition no exam’ be suspended in LAUTECH, Ogbomosho.
The suspension was disclosed today in a statement sent to ODUDUWA NEWS by the Students’ Union President, Adeboye Anuoluwa as reproduced below:
As promised, in less than 24hrs, the Visitor of the University, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, who is also the Executive Governor of Oyo State, His Excellency, Engr. Seyi Makinde has directed the University Management through the Governing Council Chairman, to suspend the No Tuition No Exam Policy.
Recall that on the night of Wednesday, 30th November 2022, the SUG President, Adeboye Anuoluwa, and Vice President Olayinka Titilayo had an exclusive meeting with the Governor where they passionately appeal to him to intervene in the No Tuition No Exam Policy. In the meeting, the SUG President, Adeboye Anuoluwa, expressed the interest of the affected students and considered the policy to be anti-students policy. He also noted to the Governor that thousands of students have been greatly affected by the policy thereby causing them to have an extra year on campus. He then passionately appeal and requested a quick intervention from the students-friendly Governor.
Today, 1st December 2022, we are glad to inform the students and general populace that the University Management has received the directive from her visitor through the Governing Council Chairman for the suspension of the No Tuition No Exam Policy. In compliance with the directive, all students are now eligible to write the examinations.
We want to sincerely appreciate the Executive Governor of Oyo State, His Excellency, Engr. Seyi Makinde for swiftly responding to our appeal and granting it immediate approval. This has once again proven to all students that you are our God’s sent, deserving authority, and advocate of education for all in Oyo State. We are forever grateful.
While we continue to work on Makeup examinations for those that have missed the previous examinations, we want to urge all students to make use of this golden opportunity to study hard, sit for exams, and excel. We wish you all success in your examinations.
Signed: ADEBOYE, Anuoluwa PC: Anuoluwa President 08160860820
OPALEKE, Okiki Ibrahim PC: Famousbee General Secretary 09028853993
MICHAEL, Love Gabriel PC: Young General Public Relations Officer 08146077415
Members of the Oyo State Chapter of All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools have distanced self from a publication in which some secondary school principals allegedly reported to have threatened a showdown with the State governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde over non payment of school grants.
Recall some school principals according to interview granted anonymously have threatened that the first term exam slated to have commenced Monday this week would not go on unless the State government releases grant and subvention that would serve as logistics for the exam purpose.
In a statement issued on Wednesday and signed and sent to ODUDUWA NEWS by the State Chairman and the Secretary of ANCOPSS, Pastor Ojetunde Mojisola and Comrade Akin Akinade respectively, the body described the publication as another propaganda that must be challenged, as there was no time or occasion that called for such threat.
They said the cordial relationship between the present administration and the State’s ANCOPSS would not be allowed to be destroyed by those behind what they termed ‘spurious allegation’ which claimed that the body has directed all principals in the State not to commence examinations in schools until school grants are paid.
Oyo ANCOPSS challenged those behind the report to come up with written or oral evidence of such directive from the leadership of the Principals.
“The attention of the leadership of All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools in Oyo State, ANCOPSS, has just been drawn to a publication by ‘Oyo Today’ with the caption above. Ordinarily, the Confederation,(ANCOPSS), as a responsible and reliable professional body, would not have dignified the publication with any response, but since the paper categorically stated that the leadership of the principals directed them not to start examinations until the grants are paid; then there is an urgent need to set the record straight.
“Joseph Goebbels, the infamous Nazi Minister of Propaganda said; ”The bigger the lie, the more people will believe, If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it and you will even come to believe it yourself”, So, there is the need not to allow such spurious allegation to go unchallenged as it may be seen as the truth if left unchallenged.
“We are also conscious of the fact that this is the season of election where all sorts of lies are bound to fly around all in the name of dirty politics. Consequently, the Confederation will not fold its arms and allow purveyors of lies to destroy the cordial relationship that exists between the Confederation and His Excellency, Engineer Seyi Makinde (FNSE) since the inception of this administration.
“The Confederation wants to make it categorically clear that the leadership of ANCOPSS in the state at no time instructed its members either orally or in writing or in any form not to start the examinations. We challenge the writer to bring any proof to the contrary since the burden of proof is upon the person making the allegation. Such a bogus claim could only have emanated from the warped imagination of the writer.
“It should also be noted that this is the first term examinations where each principal is allowed to use his/her discretion to decide when to start, unlike the joint promotion examination with a rigid time table, as a matter of fact, many of our schools already started their examinations while others are preparing to start this week and early next week.”
They also punctured another claim in the said publication which stated that Oyo State was came thirty-three in the ranking of the 2022 West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations, saying that the council’s head in Nigeria has denied the report over a month ago.
“The Publication also claimed that Oyo State placed 33rd in the 2022 WAEC conducted senior secondary school certificate examinations. This is despite the fact that the Head of National Office in Nigeria came on national television to deny such a ranking more than four weeks ago.
“The Commissioners of Education in the South West Geopolitical zone invited the Head of WAEC in Nigeria to a meeting where he denied that the organization made such a statement. All these were generously reported by both print and electronic media, but these purveyors of fake news still went ahead to make their bogus claims.
”It is crystal clear that it is the desire of these political jobbers to destroy the cordial relationship between GSM and the principals which led the enemies of progress, the brewers of hate, discord and disharmony to script a dirty tale to ruin this cordial relationship because, they nurse a noxious, deep-rooted loathing for ANCOPSS as a supporter of GSM’s administration.”
The leadership of Oyo State ANCOPSS went further to reveal that many opposition parties have invited the body to meetings in the build-up to the 2023 general elections which were turned down as they would not want to be dragged into open politics.
“May we also place it on record that the leadership of ANCOPSS has been invited by many politicians to meetings that they politely turned down with the explanation that we are professionals, not politicians. It is on account of this that they assembled morally degenerate dissemblers who accept money from their pay masters, then go ahead projecting their moral fragility, journalism ethical rottenness and lack of principles.
“The Principals in Oyo State are very senior public servants with ample knowledge of public service rules and would therefore, not allow anybody to drag them into the murky waters of politics. We have informed our legal adviser to take any action he deems fit to ensure that nobody tarnishes the good reputation built over six decades by our founding fathers and mothers.
“The principals in Oyo State already keyed in into the vision of His Excellency for accelerated educational development in the state, and we shall continue running with that vision.
”Having traveled far and wide and having exchanged notes with our colleagues from all the States of the federation, we can say without fear of contradiction that we stand with His Excellency on his educational policy.
”Virtually all what principals in other States are begging for have been given to us without any agitation whatsoever in Oyo State. These include the position of Tutors General, employment of over 5000 teachers in one fell swoop while over a thousand non-teaching staff have been converted to teaching staff.
“Also, there have been distribution of furniture and laboratory equipments, intervention classes for students across the State, promotion of members as at when due, regular payment of salary and pensions, training and retraining of teachers and many others. We stand with GSM,” the statement read.
The Oyo State Government has said it will sanction principals and parents of recently delisted schools by the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) for examination malpractices in the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barrister Abiodun Abdu-Raheem said this on Monday in Ibadan.
Abiodun said the state government would sanction both the Principals and parents found wanting because of its zero tolerance for examination malpractice.
He also warned principals to desist from encouraging examination malpractice which was becoming endemic in both the private and public schools in the state.
“It should be noted that the Oyo State Government has zero tolerance for examination malpractices, therefore, Principals and Teachers of both Private and Public Schools and parents were earlier warned to desist from any act of collaboration on examination malpractices as sanctions would be meted to concerned staff and parents,” he assured.
Abiodun disclosed that only the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has the authority to release a list of schools that were identified to be involved in examination malpractices and de-recognise such schools accordingly.
He further disclosed that derecognized schools will not be permitted to present candidates for WAEC for a period of two years, saying “however, this does not debar students of such schools from sitting for the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC), as they are mobilised to the nearest school to write the WAEC; only the identified school is derecognized as a WAEC Centre”.
“It should be noted that the Government of Oyo State will waste no time to investigate any such occurrence, while the necessary punishments as enumerated above will be meted to anyone found guilty,” he added.
The Commissioner, however, advised heads of both public and private institutions in the state to desist from any act that could ridicule their schools and portray the image of the state in baa d light.
He, therefore, enjoined the general public to note that no student in the State would be prevented from writing the WAEC in the 2022/2023 Academic Session and subsequent years.
Members of the University of Lagos chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities on Tuesday protested against the half salaries paid by the Federal Government in October.
Our correspondent observed that some students also participated in the protest.
ASUU has condemned the half salary to its members and accused the government of attempting to reduce Nigerian lecturers to casual workers.
Some gunmen have reportedly invaded the staff quarters of the University of Ibadan and killed an official of the National Examination Council identified as Vincent Odinko.
It was gathered that Odinko, who resided in the boys quarters was killed, while his gadgets including mobile phones and a laptop were carted away.
The incident reportedly happened in the night, last Friday, as the gunmen broke into the BQ of a staff building where Odinko resided with his family.
The police are yet to give detail of the sad incident. However, when contacted by our correspondent, the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, said investigations had commenced to unravel the detail of the incident.
“Investigations have since commenced. Updates would be provided, please,” Osifeso stated in a chat with our correspondent.
The State Governor of Oyo, Engineer Oluseyi Makinde, has pledged to provide buses to all Student Union Bodies and indigenous organisations in all higher education institutions around the state as part of measures to promote the welfare of students in the state.
Makinde made the commitment during a discussion with the heads of the Students’ Union Bodies from various colleges and universities in the state.
The ceremony took place in front of the Presidential Lodge at Government House in Agodi, Ibadan.
In his speech, Makinde thanked the students for their support of his administration and promised that the state’s current administration will continue to work closely with Student Union organizations around the state to advance the education sector, one of the four cardinal pillars of the state.
The governor stated that the state government is always willing to involve students and other relevant stakeholders in the launch of the ideas they have already incubated, noting that government alone cannot meet their needs. He also pledged to address a number of issues raised by the student representatives, including state bursaries and other welfare concerns.
Makinde also urged the state’s youth to take an active role in national affairs and change the country’s fortune because he believes they have what it takes to advance the country.
The Special Assistant to Governor Makinde on Students’ Affairs, Hon. Victor Olojede, and some Student leaders had earlier praised the governor for being student-friendly in their various remarks.
While soliciting for employment opportunities and appointment of qualified student leaders into government, in order to create a basis for loyalty and recognize their moment of service, they called on the state government to remain sensitive to their plights
The programme was graced by political office holders as well as the cabinet members of the State governor.
The National Association of Nigerian Students NANS Oyo State Chapter as well as other indigenous student bodies have in the past two weeks threatened to embark on protest.
The students claimed among other reasons they wanted to embark on protest on the inability of Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde to accede to their demands for improvement on students welfare.
After several interventions by stakeholders, the students shelved their proposed protest on the premise that the Governor would meet them to listen to some of their demands.
Meanwhile, Governor Seyi Makinde had on yesterday met with the representatives of students from Oyo State tertiary institutions.
The governor according to him said he had addressed their requests, and also encouraged them to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit after graduating from school as this is a sure path to financial independence.
The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, speaks on the difficulty to resume work as a result of their pending eight months’ salary.
This comes days after the union conditionally suspended their eight-month strike following a court order to resume.
In a recent interview with Channels TV, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke highlighted a number of reasons making resumption difficult; one of which included transportation.
In his words; “In schools those days, every lecturer lives on campus and you can trek to your office but these days, many lecturers live 20, 30 kilometres to their offices. How will they pay for their transport to work?
These are the issues we are going to have, that the branches will have to deal with. We expect the government to pay the money [eigth months salary arrers] so that these people will go back to work while we are negotiating on other issues.
We suspended the strike hoping that the government will do the needful and by tomorrow, if the universities are open, hopefully, the lecturers will go back to work.
We are resuming because we are obeying an industrial court judgement because the issues have not been fully resolved, no agreement signed.
We are also hoping that with the intervention of the Speaker [of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila], as promised by him, we will resolve this problem within a very short time.
Our lecturers will teach but you can’t expect someone who is owed eight months’ salary, maybe from his bank, he has collected more than N1m as a loan and you have not paid him one kobo and you want him to go to class and teach.
I pray they go there because of the children and do the best they can do. You don’t expect a hungry man to go there [school] with an open mind.”
