The Alumni Association of Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, has warned Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, against plunging the state into chaos with the alleged plan to merge the college with another state-owned College of Education in Ilesa.
The National President of Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, Alumni Association, Ayobami Fakeye, gave this warning at a press conference in Osogbo today.
Fakeye said the government’s plan to reduce the 28 academic programmes in the college to just two would paralyse economic activities in the town and lead to loss of jobs for some lecturers and non-teaching staff.
The alumni president said the association did not believe the explanation from the governor that he would not merge the college with any other one because he (Aregbesola) assured parent, teachers association of Fakunle Comprehensive High School, Osogbo, that he would not demolish the school but still went ahead to demolish it.
He said, “The Ila alumni is of the opinion that Osun State Government should not even contemplate the merging of the college with any other institution because the alumni sees the move as retrogressive, totally anti-progress, anti-peace, anti-development, ill-advised and capable of plunging the state into more chaos than it is currently experiencing.
“We do not want to assume that the move by the Osun State Government to merge the Osun State College of Education, Ila Orangun, with Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, is a mere rumour.
“You will recall that the demolition of Fakunle Comprehensive High School, Osogbo, was in the rumour mill for a long time and the insensitive government in the state went ahead to demolish it despite calls by well meaning citizens of the state against the move.
“Osun State Government is hereby warned not to merge the college in Ila with any other institution. The state government should listen and listen to the voice of reason in order to avert the untold consequences that may arise from the retrogressive move.”
He noted that the rumour of introduction of single uniform for all public schools in the state was also first refuted by the government before the uniform was imposed on principals and headmasters to force their pupils to comply with.