Why we renamed TASCE after Awujale, by Ogun govt
THE Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has given reasons for renaming the Tai Solarin College of Education even as he refuted claims by a segment of persons in the state that the action was done in bad faith.
Abiodun, who stated this at combined ward meeting of All Progressives Congress ( APC) at Ijebu- Ode, flayed those behind the claims, saying they failed to realise that the late scholar still has the first university of education in the country named after him.
He explained that renaming TASCE after the Awujale wasn’t done to remove the name of the late Tai Solarin from history, stressing that contributions of the late social critic and educationist would remain indelible.
“Last week, we changed Tai
Solarin College of Education to Sikiru Adetona College of Education, Science and Technology. Some mischievous people are now asking if Tai Solarin is no longer a hero after we changed his name from the school?
“What of Tai Solarin University of Education? Is that university not bearing the name of Tai Solarin again?”
Meanwhile, the state Commissioner for Education, Prof Abayomi Arigbabu, has shed more light on why the state renamed the college.
Setting the record straight, Arigbabu noted that in 1978, the state government established the erstwhile Ogun State College of Education ( OSCE) to produce highly qualified middle level manpower to meet the needs in the sector in line with the Ashby Commission report of 1960.
But, following the death of Tai Solarin in 1994, the College was renamed Tai Solarin College of Education ( TASCE) to honour him.
“The College later metamorphosed into Tai Solarin University of Education ( TASUED) following an official pronouncement of the then governor, Gbenga Daniel, on January 29, 2005. The pronouncement was later given the required legal backing via the Tai Solarin University of Education Law, 2005.
“The original intention at the commencement of TASUED was to have a university that will subsume the erstwhile college. Hence the law that established TASUED made provision for this.
“Sequel to the refusal of the National Commission for Colleges of Education ( NCCE) to allow the cohabitation of the college of education with the university, a situation whereby the Provost, who was supposed to be the Chief Executive Officer of the then college was under the direction of a vice chancellor, the college was disarticulated from the university.
“It was at this point that the college that was re- established should have assumed a new name. The old name was, however, retained for some strategic reasons, and the state then ended up with two institutions named, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, and Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu- Ijebu.”
He said: “The Ogun State House of Assembly ( the 8th legislative house) actually passed a bill that changed the name of Tai Solarin College of Education to Ogun State College of Education on April 24, 2019. The bill was one of the three bills titled,” HB. NO 31/ OG/ 2018- Ogun State College of Health Technology ( Amendment) Law, 2018, HB. No 32/ OG/ 2018- Gateway Polytechnic, Igbesa ( Amendment) Law, 2018 and HB. No 033/ OG/ 2018- The TaiSolarin College of Education, Omu ( Amendment), Law, 2018.
“The Gateway Polytechnic, Igbesa, which became Ogun State Institute of Technology, has assumed the name since then. The crises that engulfed TASCE towards the end of the last administration probably never made it possible for the college to assume the new name,” Arigbabu said.
The commissioner noted that the law passed in April 2019 was really in response to the need to resolve the confusion that had often accompanied the university and college bearing Tai Solarin. According to him, official communications often got mixed up, adding that the renaming was also meant to correct what the law on reestablishment of the college at Omu- Ijebu in 2008 would have done.”