The acting provost, Kwara state College of Education, Ilorin, Dr. Jimoh Ayinla, has canvassed for the upgrading of the college to a degree-awarding university.
This is just as 11 applicants jostled for the advertised position of the substantive provost.
Ayinla said during an exclusive interview with Blueprint Weekend in Ilorin that the institution, the oldest state-owned College of Education in the country, “is long overdue for a transformation into a university.”
Ayinla said the college had been running degree programmes in affiliation with the Ekiti State University, Ado- Ekiti, adding that it “has all it takes to be a degree- awarding institution.”
“We have three colleges of education in Kwara state. In our request to the governor and the commissioner for Tertiary Education, we said we want this college, being the first among equals in Nigeria and one of the first colleges of education in the country and in fact, the first state government-owned college of education in Nigeria, to be upgraded to a degree-awarding institution.
“We want the present government to do that to immortalise the administration, just like Governor Mohammed Lawal did to the Kwara State Polytechnic, so that we will be awarding B.Sc. in Education, while those two in Oro and Lafiagi can continue with the NCE programmes.
“The structures are there and we’re already running degree programmes in affiliation with Ekiti State University. We remit almost all the money we realize to the university,” he said.
