•Oyo gets 21-day ultimatum
The College of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) of the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education (EACOED), Oyo, has given the state government a 21-day ultimatum, to provide substantive principal officers for the college, or risk industrial action. The ultimatum took effect from April 5.
A communiqué signed by the union Chairman, Dr. Olugbenga Ayena, at the end of its Congress, noted: “Interim” arrangement that should have ushered in a substantive management within a predetermined period of time, has outlived its usefulness and is, therefore, “illegitimate, boring, frustrating, and unproductive.”
“The union, specifically identified some fallout which have emanated from the stand-in arrangement to include no specific terms of reference and tenure for the arrangement that has been in place for about 20 months now, and inability of the interim officers to act in substantive capacity thus further creating problems.
“Others include the non-release of capital grants for the 2011\2012 academic session, gross understaffing of some academic departments both at the main campus, and Lanlate campus, as well as infrastructural decay.
“The union noted the apparent inaction of the Governing Council on this issue despite persistent complaints made, and unequivocally condemned the apathy of the council to it,” he said.
However, COEASU praised the government’s landmark achievements in the tertiary education sector, and significant improvement in the performance of state-owned secondary school students in both West African School Certificate(WASCE) and National Examination Council (NECO), describing it as, “noteworthy and a great achievement, which is indicative of the success of government education reformation agenda.”
