The upgrade of the Osun State College of Education to a University has sparked Protest by the members of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU).
The lecturers on Monday embarked on a peaceful protest over what they described as unaddressed issues resulting from the upgrade of Osun State College of Education to a university.
The protesting lecturers were led by the National President, Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, Dr Smart Olugbeko.
Olugbeko said; “There is need for consequential amendment of certain laws of the state, such as (but not limited to) the Pension Reforms Law and other establishment regulations that designate the institution as COE Ilesa. This all-important step would remove legal landmines from the path of the ‘new’ university.’
“We use this medium to request a certified true copy of the law establishing UNILESA via the upgrade of COE llesa. As critical stakeholders, it is pertinent for us to interrogate the law with our concerns on certain transitional issues.’’
“Most critically, it is necessary to establish the answer of the UNILESA Law or for the implementation guidelines to pay due consideration to the all important questions of what happens to the COE Ilesa? Will the college be obliterated or, is it to be relocated or will it be merged with another college?
“What happens to the existing students of COE Ilesa offering NCE programmes and affiliated degree programmes? How do they graduate appropriately after the take-off of the University.”
The Vice President South-West, who is the Zonal Coordinator of COEASU, Olusegun Lana, who spoke with Newsmen in a phone interview said; “The state government must provide answers to our questions before the implementation of the upgrade of the college to a university. Till this moment, they have not given us the law of the university contrary to their promise and we need to interact with this law.’’
“They have not also called us to negotiate the transitional issues that we identified. To us these issues must be negotiated and agreed upon before they can implement the upgrade otherwise there will be crisis. But they seem to be in a hurry and are not concerned about our fears. What will happen to the students, the staff, staff pensions? We need answers to these before the implementation.’’
“We need more than verbal assurances, we must sit to negotiate these issues to avoid future problem for us and the university. They have been elusive and this is creating anxiety.”