OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY DR. LUCKY ORIMISAN AIYEDATIWA ON THE NEED TO DISSOLVE GOVERNING COUNCIL BOARD OF ALL STATE OWNED TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS.
Your Excellency, permit me to felicitate with you on the occasion of your 60 years birth anniversary that you celebrated just of recent.
Sir, 60 years is not just a mere age numbers but a milestone in which a man reassesses his life and look forward to having a meaningful contributions to life, particularly for the sake of God and humanity.
In that wise, your excellency, the next four years of your administration is for you to prove your self to the good people of Ondo state by impacting positively on their lives. This is how you can write your name in gold as a Governor who came when the state was at a cross road of leadership crisis and restore it to the path of growth and economy prosperity.
Your Excellency, your transformation, innovative and infrastructural drive for the growth of our dear state can not be completed without you not taking a holistic look into the composition of the Governing Council of the state owned tertiary Institutions.
Sir, the management of our tertiary Institutions is a microcosm of your leadership style and intention in the state because they are your representatives in these Institutions. Their actions and inactions is a reflection of the direction you want the state to go.
Your Excellency, i must honestly inform you that the composition of members of Governing Council in all the State owned tertiary Institutions of late, has been politicized and all manners of people have found themselves as members of Council. These are people whose interest is to come and take instead to contribute to the development of these Institutions.
Your Excellency, in the past, members of Governing Council are people of high integrity, impeccable character and with a genuine interest to contribute their quotas to tertiary education in our dear state.
Sir, in Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo, the late Chief Akintan, an illustrious Son of Idanre left an indelible marks on the Polytechnic. Baba, brought his honest and integrity to bear on the Polytechnic in term of policies direction which eventually culminated into making the Polytechnic the best state Polytechnic in Nigeria.
Also, during the tenure of Senator (Dr ) Bode Olajumoke as the Pro-chancellor of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko, the senator brought a remarkable achievements to the University. From his personal purse, he built a hostel for physical challenged students.
Your Excellency, you need to take a look at the background of people constituting members of Governing Council in all the State owned tertiary Institutions, and you will realize that apart from few, most of these people have no business being a member of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of secondary School not to talk of Governing Council of a tertiary Institution. A citadel of higher learning and kingdom of knowledge.
Your Excellency, there is an urgent need to dissolve the current Governing Council of all state owned tertiary Institutions as constituted. You need to identify and choose right people with an impeccable character to turn around the fortune of these Institutions.
Your Excellency, Governing Council of a tertiary Institution is not a retire home for politicians but a place for intellectual juxtaposition and a platform to develop and formulate progressive and innovative policies that would assist the Institutions in tapping from resources within and outside, for an efficient service delivery.
Your Excellency, Ondo State is blessed with many highly cerebral individual that can contribute to the growth and development of our tertiary Institutions without having the mind set of coming to fight over contracts, sitting allowances and official cars.
Sir, 21st century Institutions should be chaired by people of visions, ideas and zeal to drive the transformation agenda of Your Excellency.
Your Excellency, the Governing Council of all the state owned tertiary Institutions in Ondo State have outgrown their usefulness. This is the time for you to dissolve them.
May God give you the courage to do this, the wisdom to choose the right people and sound health to take Ondo state to an enviable heights.
Comrade Saka-Olokungboye Nurudeen (S02).
Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnics (SSANIP), Rufus Giwa Polytechnic Owo chapter
