Indigenes of Kwara South senatorial district, under the aegis of the Igbomina Professionals Association (IPA), have made a strong case for siting of the proposed Kwara State University of Education in the Igbomina axis of the state.
Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Saturday, the president of the group, Barrister Bayo Atoyebi, pleaded with the state government to site the proposed University in Igbominaland to redress the visible imbalance in development projects location in the state where he said that more than 90 per cent of tertiary education projects are concentrated in the Kwara Central zone to the detriment of the other two zones in the state.
The IPA, which commended Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq government for coming up with the idea of establishing a University of Education in the state, said that it would shore up the educational needs of the people of the state.
“Like every well-meaning Kwaran, we were highly elated when news went round that the state government was planning to establish a University of Education in the state. We want to state that the proposed Kwara State University of Education should be sited in Igbomina land and not anywhere else,” he said.
He also said that the group had submitted a memorandum on the matter to the 11-man panel constituted in November last year by Governor Abdulrazaq, “but we are disturbed by the utterances of some groups demanding that the proposed University be located in Ilorin, the State Capital, where more than 90 percent of the State government and Federal institutions are presently located”.
Pointing out that Ilorin Emirate is already saturated with government institutions of higher learning such as the Kwara State University, Malete, KWASU Teaching Hospital, the University of Ilorin, the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, the Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies (KWCAILS), the Kwara State College of Nursing and Midwifery, the Kwara State Football Academy, the Kwara State College of Aviation, the Kwara State College of Agriculture, Michael Imoudu National Institute of Labour Studies (MINILS), as well as the newly established Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Barrister Atoyebi said that for some people to be demanding that the proposed University of Education should still be located in Ilorin “will be unjust and is a clear repudiation of all sense of justice, equity, and fairness”.
According to the IPA President, “the concentration of these institutions and other amenities in Ilorin have led to the uneven development and huge rural-urban migration in the state”.
He, therefore, stressed that for justice and fairness, the Igbomina axis of the states is the best place to host the proposed University of Education.
Barrister Atoyebi said, “Igbomina land occupies a large portion of the State and contributes a large percentage of resources to the state, yet there is no single public university and establishment, which could provide jobs and developments for our people and the entire Igbomina land.
“We also wish to state that Igbomina land has a vast land suitable for educational institutions like the proposed University of Education”.
Barrister Atoyebi said that the Association believes that “the location of a government university in Igbomina land will boost government programmes and attract businesses in their different forms and other developmental projects.”
He added that it will also enhance and promote the government’s inclusion of Igbomina people in its scheme of development.
“Igbomina land also offers a serene and peaceful environment required for academic work and intellectual activities.”
He expressed the conviction that “Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, is a decent and fair-minded leader who will consider our request for justice and fairness in the establishment of this University”.
“We believe he will listen to us and site this university in Igbomina land,” he added.
. TheWitness
