From Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta
The new Governing Council of the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE), Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, has said that the 47-year-old college was bankrupt with N689million deficit annually.
It said that following its insolvency and the attendant inability to pay workers’ salary amid dwindling resources and other challenges, the college inevitably became the “beehive of instability and perennial agitation.”
The Chairman of the Governing Council, Prince Adeyemi Adefulu, who made this known to The Nation in a statement, said rationalisation of the workers, albeit a difficult path to travel, would redeem the institution from the scourge of instability and agitation by the workers.
He said the annual wage bill of the college remains N1.2 billion amid the subvention from the state government, which stands at N511million per annum, while the annual Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the college was also a paltry N110million, leaving a deficit of over N689million every year.
Adefulu lamented that even with the daunting challenges, the college also contended with bloated workers, saying it was about the only tertiary institution in the state with lecturer- students ratio of 1:4 (one lecturer to four students) as against the minimum 1: 30 ratio (one lecturer to 30 students) stipulated by the regulatory agency.
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“The truth is that today, this college is saddled with teachers it doesn’t need and cannot afford. Yet, the workers’ unions, which kept complaining about accumulated salary, don’t want to hear of an inevitable staff rationalisation.
“It must be clear to all reasonable men that unless drastic measures are taken, the hydra headed problems bedevilling the college will remain unsolved. An untreated disease can only lead to death.
“It is on record that the administration under former governor Ibikunle Amosun instituted a staff audit in 2016 and the report recommended downsizing of 138 workers due to redundancy, poor productivity, dwindling students’ enrolment, lack of discipline, poor financial strength of the college and poor student-staff ratio.
“Unfortunately, the report was never implemented. The last government could not pay the debt it inherited. It also refused to pay the salary of the workers for 17 months,” he said.
Adefulu, however, noted that the college had improved on students’ enrolment, accreditation of programmes, IGR and secured affiliation with the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, to run degree programmes in Education with the approval of the National Universities Commission (NUC).
He appealed to workers to align with the council in its efforts at rebuilding the college and setting it on the path of restitution, warning that the council would, going forward, be firm against errant behaviour and mischief.
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