By Banji Ayoola
Some erudite scholars from Ondo State have appealed to the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC) to stay on track and implement the Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo (Establishment) Act 2021.
The petition, written under the umbrella of Osemawe Academic Consultative Forum” (OACF), and titled “Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo: Why the Antics of Pretentious Stakeholders Must be Frustrated”, was signed jointly on behalf of the scholars by the forum’s Chairman, Prof. S. R. Ogunduyile, and its Convener, Education Matters’ Group, Prof. A. N. Duyilemi.
It urged the NUC and the Federal Ministry of Education to shun the antics of some senior members of the former Adeyemi College of Education, (ACE), who, in the protection of some alleged selfish interests, are said to be running around federal offices in Abuja to frustrate the implementation of the Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo as passed into law by the National Assembly and signed by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Following is the appeal in full: “It has come to the attention of the “Osemawe Academic Consultative Forum” (OACF) that some senior members of staff of the former Adeyemi College of Education (ACE), in the protection of some banal, selfish, and ungodly interests are angling to undo the historic transition of this citadel of learning from a College of Education, to a Federal University of Education.
“We have it on good authority that these elements, having failed woefully in their spirited efforts to frustrate the passage of the “Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo (Establishment) Bill 2021,” and its subsequent signing into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, are now on an evil binge to ensure that this new University, the very first conventional federal university of education in Nigeria, does not take off.
“They are running helter-skelter from one office to the other in Abuja, seeking to bribe their way through to undo what God has already used both the National Assembly and President Buhari to do for our long neglected community, which had panted for this federal institution for more than five decades.
“It has now been confirmed that these elements hide under the guise of staff union leadership to propagate this evil agenda, as the position they hold in the unions they represent may no longer be tenable in a university setting. And so, they would rather that an Act of Parliament – the “Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo (Establishment) Act 2021,” – be not operationalized, for their own narrow and selfish personal aspiration to be promoted.
“For one, it is a demonstration of arrant ignorance on the part of these elements to imagine that they could, through blackmail, bribing, and other forms of subterfuge, stop the implementation of an Act of parliament in a civil democratic dispensation that Nigeria is.
“Secondly, these selfish and unconscionable individuals obviously have no attention to the lessons of history that when a people desires a public good, as the good citizens of Ondo Kingdom do in relation to the new Federal University, no force, pretending to be a stakeholder, is powerful enough to stop them.
Thirdly, it is evident that these lobbyists have no compunction in putting the otherwise distinguished careers of the high officials in the relevant government offices they are seeking to compromise in jeopardy, when such corruptive engagements are eventually brought into the open.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the campaign to have ACE become a university started several years ago, even before many of the current revisionist elements were born. Now that it has pleased God to use the current leadership of the country to bring this age-long and noble communal aspiration to fruition, Ondo people are not about to fold their arms and allow some unconscionable individuals, who by their actions have shown that they have neither regard nor respect for Ondo Kingdom, to undermine our interest. They should desist from these treacherous acts and allow the new Federal University to take off as necessary. A word is enough for the wise.
“In conclusion, we humbly appeal to the Ministry of Education, the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to stay on track and ensure the implementation of the “Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo (Establishment) Act 2021.”
“This is the desire of Ondo community, and the noble intendment of both the National Assembly and President Buhari. These critical agencies of government should not allow some selfish individuals frustrate this, in defense of some ignoble intentions and interests.”
