The Abuja chapter of Oyo State Descendants Forum has called on Oyo State governor, Engr Seyi Makinde to redress marginalisation of Oyo and Ogbomoso indigenes in tertiary institutions by appointing Ogbomoso candidate as OYSCATECH next rector.
The group made the call in a statement signed by its Secretary Amed Bashir and Chairman, Adeniran Michael, and made available to FreshPage
Below is the full statement
We wish to start by acknowledging and commending the welfarist and open-door disposition of the present administration in the state under the leadership of His Excellency, Engineer ‘Seyi Abiodun Makinde which is a clear departure from the auto-democratic posture of the immediate past administration. May this administration succeed exceedingly well.
Worthy of attention also is the even distribution of resources to all the geo-political zones of the state since the inception of this humane administration in 2019 till date. This gladdens the heart of all citizens as it gives hope to both the rich and the poor in all the geo-political zones of the state. We are sincerely grateful for your chosen style of administration.
We observed that in the leadership position of all the tertiary institutions in the State, all the Zones have a relatively fair share of representation except Oyo and Ogbomoso Zones though we are aware that this is not a deliberate scheme against these Zones by the present administration. Furthermore, of the two Zones just identified, the case of Ogbomoso Zone is worse because while Oyo Zone had a go at the leadership of a couple of institutions in recent past, the last time Ogbomoso had this opportunity was way back sometimes around 2008 when Dr Alabi was appointed to head Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo. Unfortunately, he barely spent two and a half years before his tenure was abruptly brought to an end.
In summary, the leadership of the State owned tertiary institutions as it stands today is as follows: Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo is headed by a Provost of Oke-Ogun extraction and so is the acting Provost, Oyo State College of Education, Lalante. The acting Rectors, The Oke-Ogun Polytechnic, Saki; The Polytechnic, Ibadan and the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology Igbo-Ora are of Ibadan extraction while Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa is headed by an acting Rector of Ibarapa extraction. Going by this analysis, Oyo and Ogbomoso Zones appear to have been left behind in the scheme of things; this and the fact that one of the three candidates who have been adjudged qualified for the position of Rector of the institution so far is a candidate of Ogbomoso extraction. It is on this note that we humbly and passionately appeal to our humanitarian and exceedingly considerate Governor, Engineer ‘Seyi Makinde to use his good offices and high sense of equity and fairplay to ensure the appointment of the only candidate from Ogbomoso Zone as Rector, OYSCATECH, Igbo-Ora.
Going by the aforesaid, we hope His Excellency would further confirm his known sense of fairplay and commitment to even distribution of resources by doing Ogbomoso this honour coupled with the fact of the large size of Ogbomoso as the second largest city in Oyo State, second only to Ibadan in the whole of the State.
