Two Kwara communities bicker over location of new varsity

Two Kwara communities located in the different Senatorial zones have intensified their lobby with the Kwara State government for the siting of the proposed Kwara State University of Education  in their respective domains.

Arewa PUNCH recalls that the Kwara State Governor, Mallam AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq had on November 17 last year inaugurated an 11-member committee led by Professor Shuaib Abdulraheem, the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin to study, plan and implement the proposed University of Education to be established in the state.

“The 11-person committee will work out the modalities for the establishment, workings, and funding of the school. It will, among other things, develop the rationale and justification for a state-owned specialised university of education, including an assessment of the existing conventional, non-degree awarding —NCE/Diploma — colleges or university which limited facilities may fall short of the eligibility for automatic registration with the Teachers’ Registration Council,” a Government House statement signed by Rafiu Ajakaye, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor had further stated.

As a result, the two communities through their respective unions – the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union in the Kwara Central Senatorial zone and the Igbomina Professional Association in the Kwara South Senatorial District have at different fora appealed to the state government to favour the location of the proposed university in their respective zones.

The President of the IEDPU, Alhaji Aliyu Otta-Uthman in his valedictory address at the 58th National Conference of the union which held at the forecourt of the Emir’s palace in Ilorin on December 25, 2023 while making an appeal on behalf of the people of Ilorin stressed that the government should consider the siting of the proposed university in Ilorin, the state capital.

While praising the state government for its giant strides in the education sector, the IEDPU president further appealed to the government to site the proposed Kwara State University of Education within Ilorin metropolis.

Otta-Uthman pleaded, “it would serve as a training institution where some of our gifted and talented indigenes can develop their initiative, acumen and get certified for the needed technological and and economic development of not only our state but of the nation in general.”

However,  the Igbomina community in Kwara South Senatorial District of the state has equally advocated that the proposed Kwara State University of Education be sited within his area.

The IPA, at a news conference in Ilorin on Saturday, January 6, 2024 observed that its geographical area is more suitable and appropriate for the siting of the institution than the state capital which already hosts 90 per cent of the education institutions in the state.

The President of the Association, Mr Bayo Atoyebi while disclosing that the people were very happy to know that the state government plans to establish a University of Education in Kwara, added, “We have submitted a memorandum as requested by the 11-man panel constituted by the state governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq in November 2023.

“We called this conference to state why the proposed Kwara State University of Education should be sited in Igbomina land and not anywhere else.”

Atoyebi argued that the Igbomina land occupied a large portion of Kwara and contributed a big percentage of citizenry and resources to the state, yet, no single public university and establishment to provide jobs and developments is sited within their domain.

He maintained, “We also wish to state that the Igbomina land has a vast land suitable for educational institutions like the proposed University of Education.

“We believe that the location of a government university in Igbomina land will boost government programmes and attract businesses in their different forms and other developmental projects.

“It will also enhance and promote the government’s inclusion of Igbomina people in its scheme of development.

“We are disturbed by the utterances of some groups demanding that the proposed university be located in Ilorin the state capital, where more than 90 per cent of state and federal institutions are located,” the IPA president remarked.

Atoyebi who insisted further  that the proposed University should not be sited in any other part of the state than Igbomina area which occupies three local government areas in Kwara South Senatorial zone narrated the history of higher education in Kwara, from its creation on May 27, 1967, saying that the first higher institution owned by the state – College of Technology, w

was established in 1973 and sited in Ilorin.

“Also, two of its foundation schools, School of Engineering and School of Management and Vocation, located in Ilorin.

“The University of Ilorin, established by the Federal Military Government in 1975, also sited in Ilorin.”

The IPA president noted that the College of Education, Ilorin, was originally conceived and established as College of Education, Oro, an Igbomina community, but located in Ilorin.

He also mentioned that Kwara State University, Malete, located in Ilorin, as well as KWASU Teaching Hospital, formerly General Hospital, and the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital are both in Ilorin.

Not done, Atoyebi reminded that the State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, College of Nursing and Midwifery, Football Academy, College of Aviation, College of Agriculture, and Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies are all in Ilorin.

He added that the newly established Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital is in Ilorin as well, saying that the association also seeks to attract development projects to its area in Igbomina land.

The IPU leader said that they were taken aback by the spirited demand by the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union that the proposed Kwara State University of Education be sited in Ilorin.

The president said that the IEDPU should have considered the fact that the state capital is already saturated with state government-owned and federal tertiary educational institutions to the detriment of the two other senatorial zones of the state.

According to him, “This, to all intents and purposes, will be unjust and repudiates justice, equity, and fairness.

“We believe that the concentration of these institutions and other amenities in Ilorin has led to the uneven development and huge rural-urban migration in the state.”

“We believe that our Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, is a decent and fair-minded leader who will consider our request for justice and fairness in the establishment of this university,” Atoyebi concluded.