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Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, has said his administration would reposition Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, as a centre of academic excellence, in collaboration with the university’s governing council, management and unions, students’ body, parents and other stakeholders.
The governor stated this while receiving a delegation of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), led by its vice-president, Mr. Akinteye Babatunde, in his office.
Oyebanjo said he had to constitute the university’s council after rigorous, careful consultation and came up with people he believed could add value to the institution and help solve the myriad of problems bedevilling it.
He stated that his administration would do what was administratively possible to return EKSU to its pride of place and save it from collapse, as he would not want to be seen as usurping the power and responsibilities of the governing council and management.
The NANS leadership sought the intervention of the governor in the tuition fee issue in the university in the meeting held at the Governor’s Office, Ado-Ekiti.
Oyebanji, who is also the Visitor to EKSU, identified what he called “politicization of school fees” by some political leaders as one of the sources of crises in the university.
He said a situation where school fees were reduced for political reasons without recourse to or consultation with council and management in order to arrive at realistic fees chargeable would always lead to crisis.
He stressed the need for all the stakeholders of the institution to have a meeting where the development and repositioning of the institution would be discussed, and bring an end to all problems once and for all.
Oyebanji, who noted that the institution was without electricity supply for more than 10 years, promised to restore electricity to the institution through the state-owned independent power project as well as the timely completion of the 12-kilometre road from Ado-Ekiti through the university gate to Iworoko Ekiti, to make the campus more conducive for academic work.
He commended the maturity displayed by all unions in the institution, thanking them for their perseverance, sacrifice and for having the interests of the state and the students at heart.
“I’m obligated to EKSU; EKSU produced me and I’m proud of it. So, I plead with you to show patience and see what we are going to do, because I have confidence in the ability of the newly appointed council members to bring to bear there wealth of experience in ensuring that we have a university that works, a university that gives you pride and which guarantees a stable educational system.
“As a government, we are working so hard to ensure that we get electricity to that place. We are constructing the road to Iworoko. Part of the reason we are doing that is to ensure that you have a thoroughfare to campus and we’ve spent billions of naira on that road just to make life easy for you.
“EKSU is sick, extremely sick, and its in ICU. And we have a choice to either leave it to die and close it down or we attempt a revival of that institution. One thing I can assure you is that we can’t be emotional about the problem in EKSU. Students complain that they don’t graduate on time. Workers are not been paid regularly. You spoke about subvention.
“We have a choice either to push for a 21st century institution or a glorified secondary school. I went to the same university and I know how it was then compared to now with respect to quality of education, not minding the physical structures. I don’t know if you are aware, Mr. Vice President, that, for the past 10 years, EKSU has no electricity despite having students studying Engineering and Computer Science; last week I demanded what it would cost government to extend the state’s IPP to the university and they said it would cost N500 million, I would rather do that than ask the university to bear the cost.
“The reason I am saying this is for you to know that we have a stake in the university because most of the cabinet members, including myself, are alumni of EKSU. I have an endowment of N250,000 in the institution for the best student. So, all of us are critical stakeholders in that university,’’ he said.
Earlier, the VP of NANS, Comrade Akinteye Babatunde, requested the intervention of the governor to make EKSU management reverse the hike in the tuition of the institution, saying education was a right of every Nigerian and should not be commercialized.
Akinteye noted that the high tuition fees of the institution has led to drastic reduction in student enrolment at EKSU, stressing the need for government to increase subvention to the institution to enable it meet its responsibility to its workers and offset its debt of N13 billion.
Also at the meeting was the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Habibat Adubiaro, Head of Service, Mr. Bamidele Agbede, Special Adviser on Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Bimpe Aderiye, Special Adviser, Media and Strategy, Mr. Yinka Oyebode, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Dr. Kayode Arogundade and former President of NANS, Comrade Sunday Ashefon.
