Commercial activities in Illorin, the Kwara State capital were paralyzed on Wednesday as union leaders and members of the Kwara State College of Education, as well as members and supporters of Good Governance Forum staged a protest in the state.
Members of the College of Education Academic Staff Union protested at the gate of Kwara State College of Education, while members of the Good Governance Forum marched on many streets in Ilorin, including Taiwo and Unity roads.
COEASU Chairman, Dr Mamman Saba, said members of the union were being owed many months of salaries.
He also complained of dilapidated offices, toilets, hostels, classrooms, lack of water and electricity supply, as well as unsafe environment.
He said, “The management is financially incapacitated to run the college with internally generated revenue. So, subvention should be restored to the college.”
Members of the Good Governance Forum displayed placards with messages, including ‘Water reticulation since 1993, no water,’ ‘$60m loan is for slavery,’ and ‘N5,000 bursary for students during holiday is a scam.’
Reacting, however, the Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulwahab Oba, said the state government was committed to educational development and good governance.
He appealed to the residents to bear with the government, saying strategies were being initiated to address some of the challenges in the state.
Oba said, “We are committed to education and infrastructural development, as well as good governance in the state.
“We will do everything humanly possible to take Kwara State to the next level.
“The challenge we have in the country made the complaints in the education sector inevitable.
“The challenges we are going through in the country is temporary. Soon, we will get over it and we will do the needful. Government is committed to good governance.”
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