By Peter Adedoyin
The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has refuted claims by a section of the state that the renaming of the Tai Solarin College of Education was done in bad faith.
Abiodun who stated this at the All Progressives Congress (APC) combined ward meeting held at the Ijebu-Ode Local Government premises, flayed those behind the claims, saying that they have failed to recognize the fact that the late scholar still has the first University of Education in the country named after him.
He explained that the renaming TASCE after the Awujale wasn't done to remove the name of the late Tai Solarin from history, stressing that contributions of the late social critic and educationist would remain indelible.
"Last week, we changed Tai Solarin College of Education and to Sikiru Adetona College of Education, Science and Technology, some mischievous people are now saying that is Tai Solarin no longer a hero after we changed his name from the school?
"What of Tai Solarin University of Education, is that university not bearing the name of Tai Solarin again? What is their problem," the governor querried.
Abiodun, however, called on the people of Ijebu-Ode to go all out and get their Permanent Voter's Card in preparation for the general election next year.
In the same vein, the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu said the renaming of the institution became imperative to address and resolve the confusion that often accompanied the University and the College of Education bearing 'Tai Solarin'.
He noted that the government took steps to resolve the
age -long confusion in nomenclature by showing that the two institutions are different entities named after two eminent sons of the State.
Arigbabu also disclosed that the 8th Legislative House of the State Assembly had with bill number HB. No 033/OG/2018- The Tai-Solarin College of Education, Omu (Amendment),Law, 2018, passed a bill that changed the name of the Tai Solarin College of Education to Ogun State College of Education on Wednesday 24th April 2019.
Going into the history of the College, Prof. Arigbabu stated that the erstwhile Ogun State College of Education was established by the state government to produce highly qualified middle level manpower to meet the needs in the education sector in line with the Ashby Commission report of 1960.
Following the death of the education icon, Dr Tai Solarin in 1994, Prof. Arigbabu stated further, the College was renamed Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE) to honour the distinguished educationist. The College later metamorphosed into Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED) following an official pronouncement of the then Governor of the state, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, on 29 January, 2005.
He said the pronouncement was later given the required legal backing via the Tai Solarin University of Education Law, 2005.
The Education Commissioner noted that the original intention at the commencement of the University was to have it subsume the erstwhile College hence the law that established TASUED made provision for this as part IX sections 65 to 69 of the law are very clear on this, stressing that section 69, subsections I and 2 put a legal seal termed “transfer to the University of land, properties and obligations of the College”:
Section 69 subsection 1, he explained, "All properties vested in the College immediately before the appointed day shall as from the appointed day vest in the University by virtue of this Law and without further assurance, and as from the appointed day the University shall have all rights and be subject to all liabilities which the College had or to which it was subject immediately before the appointed day".
"Subject to the provisions of this Law, every Deed, Agreement or other instrument or any arrangement whatsoever, to which the College, either by itself or through any other authority or person was a party Immediately before the appointed day shall, as from the appointed day, have effects as if the University had been a party to the same", he explained.
Arigbabu noted that with the take over of the College, the University by right actually 'inherited' the name ‘Tai Solarin’.
'Sequel to the refusal of the National Commission for Colleges of Education to allow the cohabitation of the College of Education with the University, a situation whereby the Provost, who was supposed to be the Chief Executive Officer of the then College was under the direction of a Vice Chancellor, the College was disarticulated from the University.
He said with the re-establishment of the College the name should have been changed, but the old name was however retained for some strategic reasons, which made the State to end up with two institutions with the name ‘Tai Solarin’.
"While a number of people have welcomed this development there were few that expressed reservations about the renaming. This group probably thought the name of our late sage, Dr Tai Solarin, was replaced with that of Kabiyesi", the Commissioner concluded.
The Ogun East Senatorial Chairman of the APC, Adeleke Adedoyin, who noted that they are happy with the successes recorded by the governor in the state, assured that victory is certain for the governor come 2023.
A member representing Ijebu-Ode in the State House of Assembly; Kemi Oduwole, while commending Governor Abiodun for embarking on the reconstruction of internal roads in the town, urged the people of the town to show support for the governor's second term bid.
No comments:
Post a Comment