"You're too slow", TASCE lecturer tells Gov. Dapo Abiodun

Dapo Abiodun

A lecturer at the Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu Ijebu, Adebola Talabi, has accused the governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun of being "too slow to attend to our cause."

Talabi, in a facebook post, said if he had the opportunity to stand before Abiodun, he would tell him there was no need to await the report of a panel before paying their salaries and arrears. 

The lecturer recalled how he and other staffers of the college had met Abiodun before the election to narrate their ordeals. 

He said what the governor has been doing since his inauguration on May 30 has been far below their expectations, urging him to prevent the college from going into extinction by fulfilling his promises. 

Read the full text below:

If I Had a Chance to Stand Before Governor Dayo Abiodun. 

As a staff of Tai Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu Ijebu,if I had the chance to meet the governor, I would tell him what we expected from him apart from setting up the visitation panel. 

I would  remind him that we are the ones that approached him before the election and laid bare our predicament of non payment of salaries and the resultant high death rates and life of penury,  poverty and sickly health conditions. 

I would remind him of his promise to make things better for the school as soon as he is sworn in. 

I would remind him that we had series of meeting with him in which he assured us, through our representatives, that he would attend to us speedily.  He showed a lot of sympathy and empathy. 

I would tell him that we embarked on work to rule when our endurance elasticity snapped, with the hope that we would soon resume when the new governor, who is sympathetic to our cause is sworn in. He is aware that we are on work to rule. 

That now that he is in office, he is too slow to attend to our cause. The immediate solution does not need the report of the panel. We need the salaries for April, the 50% of May Salary, and 100% salary of June. 

We want substantial part of the 56 months salary owed to be paid so as to motivate the dehumanised staff to work. 

We want the suspension  of our current provost since we can no longer work with him. In a crisis situation in the school in which the provost had been locked out since December 2019, it is obvious that he is no longer wanted by the  staff. For peace to reign and the academic community to come alive,  he should step aside while the visitation panel carries out its investigation. This is because the life of many people depends the provost stepping aside. There are over 300 staff, and 4000 students in contention. Can one man hold all these to ransom?  Parents have paid school fees. The duration of courses is elongated. Why can't we make a temporary arrangement so that the school can move forward. Lectures for first semester had ended.  The students would resume, have a week or two of revision, and write their exam. The second semester can start immediately after the exam This is benefitting a larger number of people. 

We in Tasce believe that there are some people in the cabinet of the new government that he should watch closely if he wants to succeed. Especially those that had worked  with the former governor Amosu. They intend to continue with the dehumanizing policy of Mr. Amosu concerning Tasce. The advice of such people should be taken with caution. 

All above does not interfere with work of the visitation panel. 

I would tell him to put his full beam of compassion on Tasce and save us from extinction.