- Varsity is a curse to us, host communities cry out, petition govt
. We’ve not been paid for one year, some staff have died of hunger- Non-Academic union
. I’m not aware its unlicensed, my driver and I are the only staff for now- VC
. College’s upgrade to varsity a fluke, a big lie- Academic staff union
. We’re already taking action on the matter- Edo govt
By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba
Trouble is currently brewing at the Edo State-owned College of Education Ekiadolor near Benin City now upgraded to the Tayo Akpata University of Education without a licence and appropriate academic staff.
It was gathered that the purported upgrade of the college of education to a university was the handiwork of the immediate past governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, who is now the national chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress
Oshiomhole allegedly used the unlicensed university to hoodwink the members of the then angry host communities, whom he promised to make the institution a reality if they cast their votes for him during the election for his second term in office.
Sources told our correspondent that the immediate past governor of Edo State had allegedly deceived the over eleven host communities that a conversion of the College of Education to Tayo Akpata
University of Education, would provide them the most suitable environment for business and socio- economic development.
But this was not to be as the host communities, including Ekiadolor, Iguedaiken, Isiukhukhu , Evboneka, Iyowa ,Iguikhinmwin, Iguoevenmwen, Iguodia, Eko Abetu, Ovbiogie and Iwu, which had suffered serious hardship and lack of developments during Oshiomhole’s first four years as governor continued to wallow in misery and lack of infrastructure.
It was gathered that the people of the eleven communities had vowed to truncate Oshiomhole’s second term bid due to his alleged failure to develop their communities and even threatened to vote for the opposition People’s Democratic Party’s governorship candidate.
The College of Education, Ekiadolor, was founded by the administration of former governor, Prof. Ambrose Folorunsho Alli, shortly after it came into office in 1979.
But the college, which has produced a number of personalities within and outside the state, the indigenes of the host communities alleged, had been reduced to a shadow of its former self by both the past and present government in the state.
The current administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki, it was learnt, upon resumption of office, had promised to ensure that the institution returned to the standard it had from the outset, but nothing had so far been done in that regard.
Successive administrations before Obaseki, it was further gathered, also showed little or no interest in the development of the college. Rather, sources alleged, they were only interested in cornering the institution’s internally generated revenue.
Besides the developmental problem confronting the college, which runs over 20 accredited courses, and was doing well academically, the road to Ekiadolor town, the community hosting the institution, is in a deplorable state. As a result of this, the staff of the institution are usually forced by commercial bus operators to pay high transport fare, while during the rainy season, the roads usually become flooded and many of the staff usually would have to wade through the pool of water to get to the school.
Unconfirmed Sources said Ekiadolor may even have been facing “untold spiritual problems,” being the most under-developed among the communities in Edo State, despite the location of a college of education in its domain.
An indigene of the community, Fredrick Osasenaga, who spoke with our correspondent, said, “None of the successive administrations in the state has deemed it fit to develop Ekiadolor, a very big community near the state capital, Benin City. The community has no light, no good road network; we are suffering here; no water. Obaseki has no time for us at all. We are completely neglected, we don’t know our offence. The only school we have here was converted into a university without a licence, no staff, no students. All these are handiworks of Adams Oshiomhole.”
HOST COMMUNITIES PETITION EDO GOV
Trouble started sometimes in November 2018, when the eleven host communities petitioned Governor Goodwin Obaseki over what they called, “Abandonment of College of Education/ Tayo Akpata University, Ekiadolor in Edo Senatorial District.”
In the petition duly signed by the Odionweres (elders) of the various communities, the petitioners drew the attention of Governor Goodwin Obaseki to an alleged abysmal neglect of the College of Education that was established in 1979 under the late Prof. Ambrose Alli administration, adding that in 2014, the then Governor Adams Oshiomhole upgraded the college to a university and named it Tayo Akpata University of Education.
The Edo University, Iyamho, which was also created at the same time with the Tayo Akpata University of Education, Ekiadolor, has since commenced operations and its first set of students would be graduating this year. But both the College of Education and the Tayo Akpata University of Education, Ekiadolor, have been completely abandoned. The university has not been licensed and so not functioning. Its Vice- Chancellor, Prof. Aduwa Ogiegban has no office accommodation and no support staff with which to run the institution.
The community’s petition read in part, “The proposed university till now has no operating licence from the National Universities Commission and cannot be verified on any website,” stating that the state government’s directive stopping admission into the college since 2015 as the last batch of students in the institution just rounded off, was a painful development which should be addressed urgently.
While that the socio economic activities of the host communities have been reduced to the lowest ebb as a result of the abandonment and total neglect of the institution, the petitioners averrred that the three senatorial districts in Edo State are blessed with various categories of tertiary institutions, as the Edo Central has Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, and College of Education Igueben, and in Edo North, there are the Edo University, Iyamho and College of Agriculture, Agenebode, respectively, in Edo South all the tertiary institutions have either been closed down or abandoned outright.
The petitioners, however, appealed to Governor Obaseki to return the College of Education, Ekiadolor and allow it to commence admission of new students as soon as possible.
WE’VE NOT BEEN PAID FOR 12 MONTHS, MANY STAFF HAVE DIED OF HUNGER- NON-ACADEMIC UNION
The Chairman, Non-Academic Staff Union of the College of Education, Ekiadolor, Mr. Sam Omoruyi, said, “Two of our staff have died of hunger. Many of us are living in hunger, no salary for 12 Months now. Governor Goodwin Obaseki has refused to pay us. No students in the school again, the buildings are falling apart, nobody is listening to us, even all the letters we wrote, they sat on it. We are suffering. The road to the school is very deplorable. What is our offence? Obaseki promised to pay us our salaries, but up until now, nothing. We are suffering, and our family members, too, are suffering.”
Investigations revealed that virtually all the school buildings have become dilapidated with some part of the roofs already blown off while the hostels abandoned by the students have been taken over by rodents and weed.
MY DRIVER AND I ARE THE ONLY STAFF OF THE VARSITY- VC
Also in his reaction, the Vice Chancellor, Tayo Akpata University, Prof. Aduwa Ogiegban, said, “The situation has not been too good. My driver and I are the only staff of the university. I’m not aware it has no licence. I think the state government will do everything possible for the university to function very well. It’s unfortunate that we are faced with many irregularities, but with time, we will have cause to smile. The university is Just there and no operations for obvious reasons.”
Those in the know said that the situation might persist for a long time.
It was gathered that a one-time speaker of the state House of Assembly (names withheld) recently claimed to have erected a N100million building on the campus of the institution amid allegations that funds running to billions of naira were diverted into private pockets in the course of executing projects at the university.
COLLEGE’S COVERSION TO VARSITY A FLUKE, BIG LIE- ACADEMIC STAFF UNION
The Chairman of the College of Education Academic Staff Union in the institution, Fred Omonuwa, told our correspondent that the institution lacked the requisite legal backing and licence issued by the NUC for its existence.
According to Omonuwa, “Tayo Akpata University of Education is a fluke. It is a complete lie. The then Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, may have created it for political exigencies as he wanted to establish the Edo University, Iyamho, and pronounced the College of Education, Ekiadolor as Edo State University of Education. Somewhere along the line, he now changed the name to Tayo Akpata University of Education. Since then the school has not been licensed and is not operating. Sometime in 2015, he instructed his then commissioner for education, Gideon Obhakhan, to write a letter to us (College of Education Academic Staff Union, Ekiadolor chapter) stopping the intake of new entrants for the NCE course. Meanwhile, there was still no licence for the university to start operations.
“Initially, when the name of the school was changed to the Edo State University of Education, a bill was passed by the state House of Assembly and signed by Comrade Oshiomhole. However, somewhere along the line, Oshiomhole changed the name to Tayo Akpata University of Education and the law establishing Tayo Akpata University has not been passed, which means there is no university. We have been trying to know our status. What becomes of us if you stop intakes for NCE course and the university is not kicking off? Oshiomhole left and Godwin Obaseki, who we discovered is the private partner in the Edo University, Iyamho, succeeded him. We found out that the Edo University, Iyamho, is a PPP kind of arrangement. That the private part of it is Afrinvest, which managing director as at then was Godwin Obaseki.
“We have been pursuing it but it has not got anywhere. We have met Governor Obaseki many times and he keeps making unfulfilled promises. We want our NCE back. The Tayo Akpata University of Education is a lie. There is no university anywhere. As we speak, there is no single student in that school. We are now prayer warriors because the man (Governor Obaseki) can wake up one day and do the unimaginable. Initially, we took them to court when they were trying to deprive us of direct membership of the university arrangement. Then we thought that they were serious. So, we took them to court to tell them that we are direct members of the university by the law that says that you must take over assets and liabilities. It is a complicated story.
He added, “Some time ago, Oshiomhole appointed a governing council headed by Rt.Hon. Thomas Okosun and a Vice Chancellor, Professor Ogegban, and they came up with a lot of things. He gave them N100million to play with. They bulldozed some things there (at the College of Education, Ekiadolor, premises) and started to conduct interviews because there was a need to justify the N100million. They now told us we are not staff of the university. We took them to court.
“Edo state government is not serious about what it is doing. Sometime last year, when we protested and met the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Barrister Osarodion Ogie, he told us that the university was going to take-off in November. Two days after, the governor told us he was taking us to Abudu campus in January 2019. Are we still in January? No pronouncement has been made. Edo State Government is playing with the lives of the people. We tried to reach out to the Oba of Benin by way of a courtesy visit but we have not been replied. We are staff and our jobs are at stake.
“It is a Benin problem. As far as I am concerned there is a conspiracy to destroy education in Edo South. Go to Ekiadolor to confirm whatever I am saying. Last year, the villagers protested that their houses were falling. If nobody lives in a building, it starts to dilapidate. You’re trying to destroy some thing of forty years. May be there is something in this matter that we do not know. They say that they want to upgrade.
The COEASU chairman further said, “They don’t even know what upgrade means. I have to go to Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) and the one in Port Harcourt to get information. I got books which I brought to Thomas Okosun and the Vice Chancellor. There is a big problem in that institution. There is no school, there are no students, the workers are tired and nothing is happening there. That is the situation that we have found ourselves.”
GOVT ALREADY TAKING STEPS TO CORRECT ANOMALIES- SPOKESMAN
But when contacted, the Special Adviser to Governor Obaseki on Communication and Strategy, Crusoe Osagie, said the state government was doing something about the controversial Tayo Akpata University and College of Education Ekiadolor, adding that the Governor was committed to the development of the state by providing the basic infrastructure.
