Soji Ajibola
Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde has approved N136m for an upgrade of state owned College of Education, Lanlate in Ibarapa East local government.
Giving the breakdown of approval during an on the spot visit to the area, the governor said N36m out of the approval would be released as capital expenditure for infrastructural development of the institution, while N100m would serve as take off grant to address the challenges of the institution.
Makinde who gave an express approval for the release of N50m out of the N100m take off grant appealed to the striking staff of the Institution to call off the strike in the interest of the students and the general public.
He said: “I came here to have an on-the-spot assessment of the challenges and the issues that this institution is faced with, which are not allowing the institution to fulfill its mandate.
“When I was campaigning to get elected as the governor of the state, I met this JAC leadership and the new chairman of JAC. We met in Oyo and we discussed. When we were putting together the Governing Council for the institution, I invited them and we sat on my dining table. We kept asking for their input.
“So, for us as an administration, we know and we confirm that we are not the most intelligent, so we want everybody to come on board. We want everybody to have something positive to add.
“We are not playing politics, we are not interested in APC or PDP, we are talking about an institution that was supposed to produce teachers that will train our children, who will secure our future.
“First, I must say that this facility that I have seen since coming in here is not up to standard.
“Maybe it was worse than this in the past, but what you have done with this little improvement is that you have moved from a glorified primary school to a glorified secondary school.
“We are not ones to trade blames or to say oh, you are still being owed arrears from 2011. In 2011, I was contesting to go to the Senate and I lost. So, if you are owed from 2011 to 2021, that is 10 years and then you mentioned the arrears of promotion and also consequential adjustment to minimum wage. There are challenges but the approach to addressing those challenges matters.”
Governor Makinde, who stated that his government would do all within its capacity to address the arrears owed the staff of the institution from 2011, asked the staff members to show understanding and commitment, as Oyo State is their state
The governor, however, gave a condition for the institution to access the take-off grant, saying that stakeholders in the institution including representatives of the JAC, governing council, students and the Lanlate community must decide on how the money would be spent on (projects) that would make life better on the campus.
He said: “I will provide a N100 million take off grant, there will be a condition to access it. I am ready to release N50 million immediately and N50 million by half of the year but you must do something.
The representative of the students, the representative of JAC, the governing council and the Lanlante progressive unions will be the ones to administer this N100 million.
“You will identify projects that will lead to comfort on this campus. As soon as you have that committee set up, we will release the first tranche of N50 million.
“Finally, I want JAC to reach out to the staff and let them call off the strike immediately.”