Demands
Probe of Prof. Olu Akeusola-led MOCPED Administration for Mismanagement of
College Funds
PRESS STATEMENT
Today Monday 26 January 2015, degree students of the Michael
Otedola College of Primary (MOCPED) embarked on a peaceful protest. Their
demands are for the immediate non-release of their results and certificates by
the school administration.
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) fully supports this
protest and demands that the College's administration meets all students'
demands.
MOCPED located at Noforija, Epe in Lagos is an affiliate
college of EKSU. This means that students are able to seek admission into
MOCPED for degree programs that would bear EKSU's certificate. While students
pay fees to MOCPED and also receive lectures in MOCPED, there is a cost-sharing
and responsibility-sharing arrangement between both institutions which requires
that MOCPED regularly pay some amount to EKSU while it must also regularly
compile students' results and present same to EKSU Senate for approval.
Unfortunately since the degree program started about eight
(8) years ago, MOCPED has not issued statements of results and certificates to
any of the students who have completed this program and neither has any
proceeded for the National Youth Service.
This is because the authority of MOCPED is heavily indebted
to EKSU, and as a result is unable to present students' results to EKSU Senate
for approval. This is in spite of the huge amount realized from the high
tuition the degree students pay. We must put it on record that a similar degree
program of EKSU is affiliated with Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education
(AOCOED) and there are no complaints about non-release of results or
certificates.
Confirming the above, the management of the Ekiti State
University (EKSU) issued a public statement on the 22nd January 2015 in which
it distanced itself from the on-going problems in its degree program affiliated
with the Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Noforija, Epe,
Lagos. According to the public statement published in The Nation Newspaper (22,
January 2015), the management of EKSU "strongly condemns the nonchalant
attitude of the Michael Otedola College of Primary Education on the huge
indebtedness to EKSU and non-presentation of the students' results to EKSU
senate for approval". This indebtedness is alleged to span several years
and the EKSU Vice Chancellor had on occasions visited MOCPED "on debt
recovery mission and the result issue without positive results". The
statement added: "The Management of EKSU would want to make it clear to
the whole world that the problems between students and MOCPED authority were
caused by the Management of that Institution".
To start with, this is evidence that students agitation has
begun to have an impact. For years now, students have been agitating over this
issue but both the MOCPED authorities and Lagos State government have generally
ignored them. Last year, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) intervened and
sent letters to the authorities of EKSU, MOCPED and the Lagos State government
demanding to know why degree students of the college were not getting their
statement of results and certificates. Unfortunately we got no response until
now.
However this allegation of indebtedness raises pointed
questions including whether or not student fees are not being mismanaged or
embezzled by the Prof. Olu Akeusola-led administration of MOCPED. The best way
to allay this fear is for the College administration to be probed. The ERC
hereby calls for an independent probe panel to be constituted and include
elected representatives of students union and staff unions of the College to
probe the administration of Prof. Olu Akeusola in order to ascertain how the
College managed to default on payment to EKSU despite the huge amount degree
students pay as tuition.
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) for the umpteenth time
calls on the Prof. Olu Akeusola-led administration of MOCPED to immediately
release the final statements of results and certificates of all those who have
completed EKSU's degree program affiliated with the College. The situation has
now gotten to a stage where further refusal to release the results and
certificates could warrant mass protests and demonstrations by the concerned
students who have been patient for so long.
The import of EKSU's public statement is that the blame for the
non-release of students' result and certificates lies with the Prof. Olu
Akeusola-led administration of MOCPED. This administration has been found to be
particularly despotic and crude in its dealings with its students. This is
aside allegation of financial impropriety and mismanagement of the College's
fund by the authorities.
If the authorities of MOCPED believe intimidation will be
enough to stop students from demanding what is theirs, then they are in for a
rude shock. Instead of abating, this agitation and campaign for the release of
results and certificates will be intensified until the MOCPED authorities are
prepared to meet the demands.
We condemn the Lagos State government which is the owner of
MOCPED for failing to come to the aid of the degree students of MOCPED who have
been suffering this ill-treatment from the authorities for years now. We
believe that it will amount to gross irresponsibility if officials of the state
government continue to feign ignorance of the happenings in MOCPED. We call on
the Lagos State government and its relevant departments to intervene on behalf
of the degree students of MOCPED who are suffering immensely.
Hassan
Taiwo Soweto Michael Ogundele
National
Coordinator National Secretary
07033697259
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