Kwara Government has ordered the immediate resumption of academic activities at the state College of Education in Ilorin.
This directive is contained in a statement issued by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Tertiary Education, Monsurat Amuda-Kannike, in Ilorin, yesterday.
Amuda-Kannike quoted the Commissioner in the ministry, Dr Alabi Abolore as saying that Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq gave the directive, following interventions by some relevant stakeholders on the need to find lasting solutions to the crisis in the institution.
The state government had, on October 19, shut the college, following the violent protest embarked upon by the students.
The commissioner said that government had to close the institution to forestall possible degeneration of the crisis within the college community.
Abolore said it took the ministry series of engagements with the college management and the leadership of the Joint Academic Staff Union in Tertiary Institutions (JASUTI), both of which pleaded for return to normalcy.
“Committee of Unions in Tertiary Institutions (CUTI) in the institution and other important stakeholders also intervened.
“Another takeaway from those meetings was the promise from the attendants never to allow anything that could threaten public peace and impede academic session in that citadel of learning happen again,” he said.
The statement added that the latest decision by government was to enable the college to continue with the examination that was put on hold, following the shutdown.
It, however, called on the school management to justify the confidence reposed in it by ensuring that the institution met the yearning of students vis-a-vis the service delivery.

The Federal Ministry of Education, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom and the United Nations Children’s Fund have partnered to sponsor the education of 1.5 million girls in northern Nigeria.
This three parties implemented the Girls’ Education Programme Phase 3 across Katsina, Kano, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara and Bauchi States between 2012 and 2022, in response to the low levels of participation of girls in schooling.
At the national closing ceremony of GEP3 held in Abuja, the partners reported that the programme’s investment of $109million yielded positive results in enrolling an additional 1.5 million girls into school.
The attendance rate of girls in primary schools in the six states improved from 43% to 70%, while gender parity improved from 0.73 to 0.97, a statement by UNICEF on Wednesday revealed.
Speaking on the project, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said, “In our commitment to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children, Nigeria appreciates the scaling of evidence-based solution in tackling this menace as provided through the GEP3.
“As we continue on this path, we would leverage on the success of GEP3 to plan better, budget better, and make better decisions in putting more girl-child in school.”
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, said, “GEP3 has not only been successful in getting more girls into formal and non-formal schools, but it has also improved learning outcomes.
“GEP3 has raised the profile of educated girls, created new positive social norms in many communities and enabled a transformational shift in mindsets about the importance of girls’ education. It is critical that we advocate scaling of the approach in all states.
“I express the deep appreciation of UNICEF to the UK Government for this long-term commitment and funding for girls’ access to primary school in northern Nigeria.
“Together there remains much work to be done, to ensure that girls transition to, and complete secondary education. This is important not only for the economic prosperity and wellbeing of the girl and her family, but to stem the high population growth expected in Nigeria.
“We see FCDO and the government of Nigeria as steadfast partners in this complex endeavour.”

The National Institute for Nigerian Languages (NINLAN), Aba, Abia State will hold her first convocation on December 2, holds her first Convocation.
The institution was established in 1992.
The institution will use the occasion to honour some Nigerians, including Prof Ayo Bamgboshe, 91, one of the pioneers of Africa and Nigeria linguistics; Archbishop (Emeritus) Anthony Obinna; Prof Peter Ejiofor, the Emir of Zauzau, Alhaji Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli and Chairman of Innoson Motors, Chief Innocent Chukwuma.
Disclosing these during a pre-convocation press briefing, the Executive Director of NINLAN, Prof Obiajulu Emejulu said the convocation ceremony will lead to the award of Postgraduate Diplomas, Certificates and Diplomas to graduands since inception.
Prof Emejulu informed that the convocation lecture with the theme, “Finalization, implementation and sustainability of Nigerian Language Policy as strategy for retooling Nigeria’s security and Industrial Development”, will be delivered by Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Rasheed Adamu Abubarkar.
Emejulu who stated that circumstances beyond the institution’s control could not allow it hold her convocation over the years, disclosed that all graduands of the institution since inception have been contacted for the convocation ceremony and have indicated interest to attend.
The Executive Director regretted that the institute was yet to meet its core mandate of awarding degrees as a result of a lacuna being cited by NUC.
“NINLAN Act empowers the Institute to award Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates. But the long-standing obstacles to our starting the degree programme have not been removed.
“At the Government level, NUC objects to our doing degree programme because the name of our academic authority in our Act is ‘Academic Board’s and not ‘Senate’ as it is called in the University’s Act.
“Based on that, we were asked to have our act amended by the National Assembly and that has been going on for about three years now”.
He called on NASS to expedite action on this to enable the institution becoming a degree awarding as its the case all over the world.
In the meantime, Emejulu said NINLAN was going to affiliate with Nnamdi Azikiwe University for it to award Degrees to her graduands.
While restating that Nigerian indigenous languages should be vehicles for national development, the ED further disclosed that the convocation ceremony will be used to honour some Nigerians who have distinguished themselves in various fields of life.