Oyo state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Salihu Abdul Waheed, on Monday, charged the leadership of State-owned tertiary institutions to look inward and seek alternative funding to complement funds received from the government.
The Commissioner made the charge while hosting the management team of College of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, Ibarapa, and Oyo state College of Education, Lanlate.
The commissioner said that the institutions should have initiatives that would attract funding from donor agencies and other organizations.
He promised that the ministry would continue to play her roles toward ensuring that some of their courses are accredited, urging them to do what is necessary as institutions.
Salihu maintained that the institutions need to find means of lobbying for interventions from statutory organizations and projects to their institutions.
He explained that only the government cannot provide all the needs of the institutions; hence there is a need for them to reach out to individuals, groups of people, organizations that can contribute to the development of their institutions.
“Let me quickly thank you for felicitating with me, and let me congratulate the Provost of the Colleges for their appointments.
“I keep on wondering because all the head of Institutions that have been meeting are Professors colleagues, Tech U, Polytechnic of Ibadan,LAUTECH,if we now give an appellate that Oyo state is the food basket, where do you expect the food to come from, is not Igboo -Ora,are we truly providing the food for the State, we need to think out of the box and start from somewhere and sustain the appellation of being the food basket of Oyo State?
“As regards the issue of accreditation for the courses at the Institution, the management needs to expedite action for the accreditation of the courses in the institution.
“Furthermore, as head of an Institution, you have to use your connection to bring development to the Institution, make ways of establishing relationships with influential Oyo state indigenes that can contribute to the development of your institution. Look at what you can tap from even the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, once you can establish that relationship you will be able to get one thing or the other.
“I want all the heads of the tertiary institutions to work with me, so we can jointly find solutions to the lingering problems in our institutions.
“Our door is wide open because we are operating open door policy and we are willing to chart a way forward.
Also, from our end here, we are trying to develop our feedback mechanism, to really know the happenings in all our tertiary institutions.”
In their separate remarks, the provosts of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora, Prof. Akinola Akinlabi and Oyo state College of Education,Lanlate, Mr. Falade Olukayode, said the purpose of the visit was to congratulate commissioner on his appointment and to intimate him about the activities of their institutions.
The duo commended Governor Seyi Makinde for his support for the institutions, saying that they are optimistic that the government will do more for the institutions.
While saying they have been challenged by the commissioner and are going to close the gaps identified by him,they promised to work with the commissioner in uplifting the education sector in the state.
