The management of Kwara State College of Education, Ilorin, has urged the staff and students of the institution to remain calm as the state governor, AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq is attending to the challenges facing the institution.
The management closed down the institution last Tuesday due to the disruption of the ongoing examinations by the lecturers who were demanding payment of one and a half months’ salary arrears owed them by the management.
Dissatisfied by their lecturers’ action, the angry students resorted to protest, a situation which forced the management to announce the closure of the college.
Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara State’s capital, the provost of the college, Dr Jimoh Ahmed Ayinla, said Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq, had during a visit to the institution, penultimate Friday, assured the management that the government would help the management to offset the salary arrears owed workers.
He said the management had documented the financial needs of the college and submitted it to the appropriate quarters.
“I want to appeal to both the academic and non academic staff to remain calm as the college’s needs are being attended to by His Excellency, Governor AbdulRahaman AbdulRazaq. I can assure them that very soon all their arrears of salary would be paid.
“And to our children, the students, I also want to enjoin them to remain peaceful and allow the government to bail us out of our predicament. They should not do anything capable of truncating their academic activities or prolong their stay in the college,” the provost stated.
Ayinla, however, blamed the inability of the management to meet its financial obligations to dwindling internally generated revenue (IGR) due to the refusal of a large percentage of the students population to pay their school fees.
” As I speak to you a large percentage of our students have not paid their school fees. We need the IGR to complement the monthly subventions we are receiving from the state government. The governor has been magnanimous by ensuring regular and prompt payment of our monthly subventions. But we need more revenue from IGR to complement the subventions to keep the college going,” he added.
He apologised to both the governor and the commissioner in the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Dr Afeez Abolore over the embarrassment the students unrest might have caused them.
He also advised parents to counsel their children against being used by antagonists of the government for their selfish reasons.
