Protest Trails Upgrade of Ilesa College of Education to Varsity

Members of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union on Monday, October 17 staged a peaceful protest on what they called unaddressed issues arising from the upgrade of the Osun State College of Education Ilesa, to a University.

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The National President of COEASU, Dr Smart Olugbeko, who led the protesting lecturers said there were issues that needed to be addressed urgently by the state government before implementing the upgrade of the college. 

He said the fate of the students and lecturers among other stakeholders must be known and agreed upon to avoid crisis that might crop up in the future.

The union president said it’s members needed to have a copy of the law establishing the university so that they would be able to interact with it.

 

Olugbeko said, 

“There is need for consequential amendment of certain laws of the state, such as (but
not limited to) the Pension Reforms Law and other establishment regulations that designate the institution as COE Ilesa. This all-important step would remove legal landmines from the path of the ‘new’ university

“We use this medium to request a certified true copy of the law establishing UNILESA via the upgrade of COE llesa. As critical stakeholders, it is pertinent for us to interrogate the law with our
concerns on certain transitional issues.

“Most critically, it is necessary to establish the answer of the UNILESA Law or for the implementation guidelines to pay due consideration to the all important questions of what happens to the COE Ilesa? Will the college be obliterated or, is it to be relocated or will it be merged with another college?

“What happens to the existing students of COE Ilesa offering NCE programmes and affiliated degree programmes? How do they graduate appropriately after the take-off of the university.”

The Vice President South-West, who is the  Zonal Coordinator of COEASU, Olusegun Lana, also said the state government must address the concerns of the stakeholders before the implementation of the upgrade policy.

He said, 

”Government has been elusive over the matter and we need to negotiate the issues which we have identified so to avoid crisis in the future.

” We need much more than verbal assurances which they gave. We need to document our agreements so that all of us will feel protected.

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