Video: Youths protest against relocation of College of Technology in Osun

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo

Youths in Esa-Oke, in Obokun Local Government area of Osun State, embarked on a peaceful protest to kick against the purported plan by the State Government to move the State College of Technology, (OSCOTECH) from the town.

The youth, in a video obtained on Monday, vowed to resist the plan of the government with whatever is within their power.

Speaking in the video, they alleged that the plan by the chairman of the governing council of the institution, Prince Diran Odeyemi, to relocate 10 out of the 16 departments in the institution to his hometown in Ibokun has been exposed.

The youth, who went to the palace of the monarch in the town to register their grievances said, ” We gathered that they are coming to sign an agreement on the relocation on Tuesday, we will not allow them to enter the school.

“We will barricade the school gate with masquerade, tomorrow morning. Whoever wants to shoot should shoot us and whoever wants to kill us should not hesitate but we will not relent,” the youths said.

But the State Government in a statement by the Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole, stated that the allegation of planning to site a satellite campus of the institution elsewhere is “unfounded and entirely baseless.

Eluwole stated that the allegation “must have emanated from anti-government individuals who are enemies of peace, tranquility, and progress of the State.”

“The Ministry enjoins the good people of Esa-Oke community to rest assured that the Institution continues to exist within the community as there are no plans to establish any Satellite campus in the now, by Osun State Government,” the commissioner said.

Similarly, the chairman governing council, Diran Odeyemi, in a separate statement, explained that the council plans to seek NBTE approval for a proposed Mass Communication program and the new program being proposed will require the setting up of necessary facilities for teaching and practicals.

“For emphasis, we are not relocating any department away from the main campus of the College. What we plan to do is to expand our academic scope through mounting of new programs without adding more burden to finances of the institution,” Odeyemi said.