The Management of Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, Ilorin received the purported industrial action declared by the Academic Staff Union of the College with utmost disappointment! This is so, when considering the sincerity of purpose of the present Administration of the Executive Governor of Kwara State towards the repositioning of tertiary education in the State, more particularly, the positive attention being received by the College from the State Government in the recent time.
In fact, the action of the Staff Union is ill-timed, because all the grievances listed by the staff Union are currently receiving the attention of the State Government as negotiations are ongoing! Therefore, the declaration of the industrial action is tantamount to illegality as well as preemptive of the outcomes of the ongoing negotiations. This is quite unfortunate and unacceptable to the College Management!
To this connection, the College Management has no iota of doubt in the ability of the State Government to put the State tertiary education on a higher pedestal and to be a role model for other States in Nigeria. In particular, CAILS has never been so blessed with the State Government attention before the present Administration came into being! The ultra-modern Radio and Television Studios fully funded by the present Administration can never be easily forgotten! Also, the recent releases of funds to the College to finance the accreditations of both NBTE and Degree programmes readily come to mind. The prompt releases of monthly subventions which enable prompt payments of staff's salaries as well as payments of backlogs of salary arrears by this same State Government are pointers to the fact that the State Government means well for the College and staff welfares.
The College Management, therefore, has unalloyed loyalty to the State Government and is ready to support the State Government to take the Tertiary Education to the promised land.
Malam Afolabi Suleiman (MNIM),
Ag. Registrar, CAILS, Ilorin
