By Adeyinka Adeniran
As the argument for and against the change of name of The Polytechnic, Ibadan rages, Governor Seyi Makinde has said he is open and willing to bow to superior argument devoid of sentiment in a bid to retain the name of the institution.
Corenews reports that, the governor had weeks back announced the change of the name of the institution after its first Principal and former governor of the state, Dr Victor Omololu Olunloyo.
The pronouncement has attracted jeers and attack particular from the current students under the aegis of Students’ Union Government and the old students under the aegis of the Alumni Association.
Both groups said they are kicking against the name change, not because the late former governor did not deserve such honor but that they were not consulted as relevant stakeholders, before the decision was taken.
They urged the governor to consider either a part, structure, building or a facility, either old or new the school to be named after the later former governor instead of a total name change of the school.
Apparently aware of the various insinuations, Governor Makinde said the government got the reactions of the alumni of instituion, promising to sit with them and engage them on the development.
He also charged the old students to also channel their grievances to the House of Assembly, which, according to him, would soon be considering a bill in that regard.
Makinde spoke while inaugurating the Governing Councils of five state-owned higher institutions, namely; The Polytechnic Ibadan, Ibadan; Oke Ogun Polytechnic, Saki, now Michael Koleoso Polytechnic, Saki; Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora; Oyo State College of Education, Lanlate and Oyo State College of Health Science & Technology, Ibadan at an event which held over the weekend.
Those inaugurated as chairmen are Prof Lanre Nassar (The Polytechnic Ibadan, Ibadan), Rt. Hon. Babatunde Olaniyan (Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology, Eleyele, Ibadan), Comrade Olusegun Oyewumi, (Oyo State College of Education, Lanlate), Dr. Amusan Damilare Gideon (Oyo State College of Agriculture, Igboora), and Dr Bisi Ojebola (The Oke Ogun Polytechnic, Saki).
The governor at the event reiterated his administration’s commitment to upholding quality and excellence in state-owned tertiary institutions by continuing to provide necessary support to them.
He said he has been wondering if the Alumni Association would have given the same reaction if the government had decided to upgrade the institution to a University like it did to the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education which was upgraded to a University.
Makind said: “I know that this Inauguration would not be complete if I refuse to say one thing or the other about the issue regarding the renaming of The Polytechnic, Ibadan after a former governor of Oyo State, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo.
“Well, the Baba, according to the record available to us, was the first Rector of The Polytechnic, Ibadan. So, what it means is that they must have handed over to him maybe some buildings and a clean sheet of paper that made this happen. So, he must have done his part. I have heard the alumni and the current student union body.
“If some of our executive members may remember, we argued about the name of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology at a point. The pro-chancellor came to me and said, ‘Yes, this university was founded to offer only technological-related education but we are seeking approval to allow them to offer other courses in humanities and other areas.
“We said okay, go ahead. And the issue of name change came up. We said, well, since they are not offering only technology-based courses, will the name still stay as LAUTECH? We argued back and forth. I wanted the name to be changed to Ladoke Akintola University, but the alumni sent representatives to us and I said, ‘Okay, if you have any superior argument, we will listen to you’.
“And they came up with a list of schools that have undergone the same transformation and they still retained that name. So, we allowed superior arguments to prevail.
“After all, what we should be mostly concerned about is the quality of products from that school. I threw a very simple question to some of the people agitating to retain the name of The Polytechnic Ibadan. I said, ‘Look, let’s even say we now move to something like what we did at Emmanuel Alayande College of Education. We upgraded the institution from a college of education to a university of education.
“So, if tomorrow we upgrade The Polytechnic Ibadan to a university, will they tell us that it should still be The Polytechnic, Ibadan?’
“We are ready to engage with the people, if you have any superior arguments apart from sentiment. And, if you are coming to us to even talk about the infrastructure and the quality of graduates coming from that institution and making a case for us to put in more resources and all of that, I can understand.
“But still, we are ready to engage and my appeal to the students is, when you protest openly and you disturb others from going about their lawful activities, you need to realise that where your own freedom stops is where the freedom of others starts from.
“So, if there are differences, please go through the proper channel. This is an administration that listens to you. If you have a superior argument, then we will listen to you and we will even apologise to you.
“The process is on. If you have any issues, not about sentiment, I will listen and I will do whatever I can do within my own power to ensure that we lift the infrastructure in that institution, that will ensure that adequate resources are provided; be it monetary, be it material, be it human. We just need to ensure that we have good products coming out of that institution.”
Governor Makinde also used the occasion to express the government’s readiness to solve the challenge of subvention to the institutions with a view to seeing to it that they are well-funded.
“I also need to mention this. I know that almost all the institutions are struggling with their subventions. But why did I meet with JAC before I was elected? They were being paid a fraction of the subvention, and after we won the election, the government of the day moved from 50 per cent subvention to 100 per cent but they did not pay it for one day. It was left for the incoming administration to execute.
“So, from day one in office, that singular act added one billion naira to the expenses of the state. Then we continued to manage with the understanding from JAC when we had to negotiate a new minimum wage from N18,000 to N30,000. Now, minimum wage, again, within this administration, has moved from N30,000 to N80,000.
“I know some of you have been coming to us. I believe we had to make a special arrangement for the College of Education, Lanlate, for them to be able to pay salaries over these past two months. So, I know you are struggling and we don’t want this to be some kind of hardship posting for the Governing Council in those institutions.
“So, we are going to be engaging with you shortly to see what we can do. The resources of the state are limited and we still have to ensure that we give quality education, that we have a good learning environment, and we will do everything to ensure that our graduates from those special institutions can compete with the best from around the world.
“So, I acknowledge openly now that you are faced with those challenges. And, in the days or perhaps weeks ahead, we will definitely solve that problem,” the governor added.
