The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Ekiti college

  • Fayemi: Ekiti College of Tech Agric to take off in 2019

    Ekiti State Governor Dr Kayode Fayemi has said the state’s College of Technical and Commercial Agriculture at Isan Ekiti will begin academic activities next year.

    Speaking at the weekend at the 26th Isan Ekiti Unity Day celebration, the governor reiterated his commitment to the development of agriculture, which is one of the four developmental agenda of his administration.

    The college, which was established in 2014 with focus on mid-level manpower development in the Agricultural sector, was neglected by the immediate past administration.

    Fayemi, who was named the Asiwaju Oluomo of Isan Kingdom and presented an award of excellence for his contribution to the infrastructure development of the town, said the Agricultural sector, when fully developed, would provide jobs for unemployed youths in addition to providing food surplus.

    The governor restated the readiness of his administration to fight unemployment, saying Ekiti “youths are hardworking and can excel in any field, if given the right opportunity”.

    Noting that he had not made up his mind to vie for last July 14 governorship election at the time last year’s Isan Day celebration was held, Fayemi urged Ekiti residents to replicate the support given to him to win the presidential election in the 2019 general elections.

  • Ekiti college inaugurates teaching aids

    •Begins online programme

    The College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, has inaugurated an ultramodern multimedia e-learning management system equipment and e-library facilities for the use of staff and students.

    The facilities were donated by the ICT University Foundation, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions.

    Under the agreement, the college now has the opportunity to award top-up degree of ICT University in all accredited programmes from bachelors to doctorate levels.

    The equipment included Apple/Nac Computers, multimedia headsets, routers noodle, web fex platform and web servers, which were received under the first batch of facilities from the US varsity.

    The inauguration of the facilities kick-started the online programmes in the college, in which lecturers and students will now interact beyond the classroom environment.

    The Provost, Prof. Mojisola Oyarekua, said the facilities would eenable the staff and students acquire relevant skills and knowledge that would give them competitive edge above their peers.

    She noted that her administration initiated strategic partnership and institutional collaboration with the ICT University Foundation to improve the quality of teaching and learning and to encourage staff development and training.

    She identified other benefits of the partnership to include online training of academic staff, exchange opportunities for lecturers, students and administrators.

    The provost explained that researchers from the college will have the opportunity of staying in the US between six months and one year for their research projects in areas mutually beneficial to the two institutions.

    The college, she added, would also benefit from grants to promote research and opportunities for the academic staff to do their sabbatical at the Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US to promote cross fertilisation of knowledge.

    Mrs. Oyarekua said: “It is worthy of note that this rewarding academic partnership has underscored the readiness of our administration to place the college on the path of academic excellence, innovations and remarkable exploits.

    “It is therefore imperative for members of staff and students to take the advantage of this unique opportunity and maximise all the potentials to the fullest, considering the fact that a sustainable development of any institution can only be achieved through efficient use of human and material resources.”

    ICT University President Prof. Victor Mbarika is hopeful that the new facility would change the face of teaching, learning and research at the college.

    Mbarika, a Cameroonian, said ICT is the way to go in the 21st Century and a catalyst to spread of knowledge in the digital age.

    He said: “Students of the college will now have access to learning anywhere on the campus through their phones which will receive signals from this centre.

    “Students can access information online and not through the library any longer. The electronic age has come to stay and nobody can stop it.

    “From now on, college students will be able to access their courses online, read their books online and download materials.”

    Mbarika also added that training on e-learning will be available for the staff with Certificate in e-learning Proficiency to be awarded at the end of the training.

     

  • Ekiti college debunks underhand recruitment plan

    Authorities of the College of Education at Ikere-Ekiti have said they have no plan for a mass recruitment of workers at the behest of the state government.

    A statement yesterday by the college’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr. Temitope Akinbisoye, said adding a dime to the current wage bill under any guise would be suicidal.

    The college, the statement said, had been battling with dwindling resources, adding that recruitment of workers was not its priority.

    Ekiti State governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, through his Media Office, yesterday alleged that the Ayo Fayose administration was

    planning a mass recruitment of workers, who are mainly Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members, into the college to create problems for the incoming administration.

    But Fayose said plans to recruit new workers were afoot before the July 14 governorship poll.

    The governor added that he would continue to perform his constitutional functions till he leaves office on October 16.

    Denying the alleged recruitment plot, the college said: “The attention of the authorities of the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, has been drawn to trending news, warning the college management against mass recruitment into the college on the orders of the Ekiti State government.

    “It has become imperative to situate things in the right perspective lest our silence be treated as implicit consent and subtle affirmation.

    “The college authorities will like to state without equivocation that the allegation of mass recruitment is not true.

    “The college has not made any recruitment lately and there is no plan whatsoever to make recruitment either en masse or in bits as the current economic situation gives no room for such.

    “For an institution battling with salary arrears and low students enrolment, adding a dime to its current wage bill under any guise will be suicidal.

    “The college anchors its operations on the altar of professionalism and only commits itself to academic excellence and transformative service culture.”

     

     

  • Ekiti college workers protest unpaid salary

    Ekiti college workers protest unpaid salary

    •It’s not true, says provost

    Academic activities have been paralysed in the last two days at the College of Education at Ikere-Ekiti as the institution’s workers protest unpaid eight-month salary arrears.

    The protest, which started on Monday, continued yesterday as the angry workers chanted solidarity songs and blocked the college’s main gate.

    The protest was spearheaded by members of the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) but was joined by members of the College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU).

    The workers accused the Provost, Prof. Mojisola Oyarekua, of allegedly holding on to three months salaries they claimed was released by the state government to offset part of the arrears.

    The Monday protest lasted about three hours during which the workers prevented vehicles from going in and coming out of the campus.

    While the protesters allowed students into the campus, no worker was given access.

    The action has disrupted the second semester examination that was supposed to start on Monday.

    But the protest assumed a frightening dimension yesterday when the workers shut the gate and tied palm fronds to it as a sign that “the place was a no-go area”.

    Many of them carried placards and fresh branches of plants.

    They sang: “Iya yi to, iya yi too, iya yi to Jesu ko ba wa lara mu” (This suffering is enough, it is enough, it is enough Jesus, it is unpalatable); “Solidarity forever, solidarity forever, we shall always fight for our rights”; “Awon to n ni wa lara Baba, ni won lara O” (Father, oppress our oppressors), among others.

    Some of their placards read: “We are dying of hunger, pay our salaries”; “No salaries, no exam”; “A Labourer deserves his wages”; “Madam Provost, pay our salaries”; “Denying workers of their rights is cruel,” among others.

    The workers said they would not resume at their duty posts until they received salary alerts.

    Addressing reporters during the protest, NASU Secretary Wale Animasaun said the decision for the action was reached at a congress held last Wednesday in which the college management was given up till last Friday to pay their salaries or face a mass action.

    Animasaun said the protest was not against the Ayo Fayose administration but against the college management, led by Oyarekua.

    He said: “The governor has released three months out of the salary arrears owed us, but the college management has refused to pay us. They used to give us net pay, but they have even refused to pay anything.

    “This is despite the fact that they are generating revenue from other sources, like the N2,500 each candidate pays as post-UTME fee, reparation fee students paid during the last riot and other miscellaneous fees.

    “We, the workers of College of Education at Ikere-Ekiti, are suffering. We will not allow anybody, no matter how highly placed, to deny us of our legitimate rights.

    “This protest will continue until our demands are met. The exam that supposed to start on Monday (November 6) will be on hold. We want to plead with students to show understanding with us.”

    But Prof Oyarekua denied receipt of three months salaries from the state government.

    The provost maintained that the college authorities had not received any subvention from the state government.

    She said: “The allegation (of holding on to three-month salaries) is not true. In fact, I am embarrassed by the allegation because we have

    not got any subvention from the government.

    “A particular union is behind the latest crisis in the college. People are free to go and verify from the office of the Accountant General on the situation of things. We have not got any subvention from the government.”