For the management of the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, survival is one big question. The college, which was established 52 years ago, is strangely struggling to find its feet amid varying choices of higher institutions that dot the Lagos State landscape.
Arguably, colleges of education in Nigeria have been battling with the current challenge of low registration as candidates seeking admission now prefer to apply for university and polytechnics admissions. With this fact in contention, the federal college of education is factually gasping for breath despite the huge number of applicants into higher institutions in Lagos.
Even as the school jostles to find its feet among the committee of higher institutions, a lingering land dispute between the Federal College of Education (technical) and the University of Lagos, according to the acting Provost of the institution, Mr. Ephraim Dada, has continued to degenerate without any possible solution in sight.
It was gathered that several attempts by the Governing Council Chairman of the College, Iheanacho Obioma, to ensure that the Minister of Education, Prof. Adamu Adamu, intervene in the land dispute has not yielded good fruit.
Lamenting the daunting challenge of expansion, Obioma disclosed that a firm intervention by the Education Minister on the matter could go a long way in resolving the structural problem of the College.
He said, “As a College, we genuinely desire to expand across the adjoining canal ceded to the College in 1967 where a little parcel of land is available. Unfortunately, our sister institution, UNILAG, has also shown interest on the parcel of land”.
The management of the College said the struggle for survival is giving a serious cause for concern as the situation now affects the physical expansion of the institution. As a result of this, many of the physical structures in the school are being stressed and cramped as existing facilities are not large enough to facilitate conducive teaching and learning.
As things stand, our correspondent learnt that the living condition of the students is pathetic due to congestion and deplorable state of the hostel facilities. Checks showed that virtually all the facilities in the institution require urgent rehabilitation.
The compelling situation made the school to build multi purpose high rise buildings.
The acting Provost of the institution maintained that the issue of space posed a huge challenge as UNILAG refused to heed the call to cede the contentious landed property to the federal College.
He said, “The land dispute with UNILAG has not been resolved; the issue is still there. As it is, we went to court and the Minister of Education had intervened. The University of Lagos believes that the land at Akoka belongs to them. As it is, the Minister has said it belongs to government and they should allow us use the back but they refused.
“The struggle is still on and I don’t know who will help us to resolve it. We are all under the Federal Ministry of Education.”
He expressed displeasure at the demolition of one of the College buildings allegedly by the University saying it is sad that the land dispute remained unsettlement.
Dada said, “There was a time we built a fence but UNILAG brought people to demolish the fence. We went back to the drawing table and the Minister invited them but they didn’t turn up. By and large, we have some structures there but there are places they wouldn’t allow us use.”
He lamented the cost of building high rise structures for multiple purposes saying the logistics involved is overbearing.
He said, “On coping with space, which is a constraint, we have settled for high rise buildings which have multiple spaces in it.
“If we had land, we would just build bungalows because the cost of high rise buildings is enormous. This area is water-logged, so the cost of the foundation of building is always high. We have to do the pilling.”
According to him, the College of Education Staff Union had suggested the purchase of land but funds is the constraint.
The Provost said, “Since COESU suggested that we get a land, we are looking at Agbowa but we have not been able to raise enough money to acquire the land. Definitely, if we want to acquire the land it must be in acres. We also do not have enough money to acquire land outside of Lagos. As Yabatech went to Epe, we do not have money yet to acquire land.
“The space issue is affecting the growth of the College. Space is limited and we spend a lot of money in building.”
Also, he said the institution was choked with too many higher institutions around for it to attract candidates who are seeking admission.
He said government is not doing enough in projecting the College as a result of poor welfare packages to teachers.
“The economic situation of the country is affecting the system and also the environment. The difference between the requirements for NCE and degree are little so, many people prefer going for degree rather than going for just the NCE.”
“Government should try to employ more teachers; we have many people with first class grade that are willing to teach. In our College here, we have vacancies but we can’t employ on our own,” he said.
On the other hand, he blamed some parents for their perception of teaching profession in the country saying this is largely responsible for shortage of teachers in the land.
He explained, “According to NUT, every state has a deficit of 10, 000 teachers each. Many parents do not want their children to go into education. There is nothing wrong with being a teacher but it is when there is no other option that they come to education.”
Efforts by our correspondent to get reactions on the land dispute from the Publicity and Communication Unit of UNILAG were abortive as the officials were not willing to respond.
The head, Publicity and Communication unit, Mr Tajudeen Salu, refused to comment on the issue saying he was not authorised to make any remark on it.
