Former Senator representing Ekiti North Senatorial District, Ayo Arise, has claimed that he played a major role in the establishment and location of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Arise, who represented the district between 2007 and 2011, made the claim while speaking on the controversies surrounding the establishment of the institution. He also recounted his relationship with Jonathan and the roles played by other political actors in ensuring that the university was eventually established in Oye-Ekiti.
You were said to be at the forefront of the Federal Government’s approval that led to the establishment of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti in 2011 under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. But there are indications that your role in locating the university in Oye Local Government Area was undermined. Can you speak on that?
I have become aware of recent narratives about the establishment of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti. Some of these accounts appear to be deliberate attempts to diminish my role in the efforts that, by God’s grace and with President Jonathan’s approval, led to the university being established in Oye-Ekiti.
On Sunday, November 28, 2010, President Jonathan announced his intention to establish six new universities in states without federal universities. The announcement was aired on the NTA network at about 9pm.
The following day, I wrote to the Minister of Education through the ministry’s then Permanent Secretary, Prof. Afolabi, requesting that one of the universities be established in Oye-Ekiti. He advised me to address the letter to the then Minister of State, the late Kenneth Gbagi.
I immediately went to his office and waited for him. He arrived a few minutes later with Prof. Julius Okojie of the National Universities Commission and Prof. Mahmood Yakubu of TETFund, who later became the Chairman of INEC.
After my presentation, Prof. Okojie said Oye was a rural community because he had previously visited the area to inspect a proposed location for Crawford University before it was moved to Ogun State.
Gbagi told me he was looking for a location where the university could commence operations immediately. I informed him that Oye was ready because there was a teachers’ college established by the Federal Government in the 1970s.
I then asked him whether he would not consider the hometown of the man who gave him his job simply because the community was rural. He subsequently told me that he already had locations for two of the six proposed universities — Otuoke and Oye-Ekiti.
The next stage was the inspection of facilities. During the visit, the team paid a courtesy call on the newly inaugurated governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who took them to Ikole-Ekiti for inspection.
Gbagi thereafter declared that he had established a Federal University of Agriculture in Ikole. However, this was not done with Federal Executive Council or presidential approval. This subsequently became a serious issue between the two communities.
Some people later created the impression that I had relocated a university from Ikole to Oye-Ekiti. That was not the case. Nobody had requested the university for Ikole before I submitted my letter and met with Gbagi, Prof Okojie and Prof Yakubu.
What was your relationship with President Jonathan at that time?
I became the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatisation in July 2007. At that time, Vice President Jonathan was the statutory Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation. My committee had direct oversight responsibility for the council.
We had a good working relationship. Out of respect for his office, I periodically went to the Presidential Villa to hold committee discussions with him. This relationship continued until he became Acting President on February 9, 2010, and later President on May 6, 2010.
So, there was more than two years of working relationship between us before the issue of the university establishment arose.
Some quarters believe that another personality also played an active role in facilitating the establishment of the university. What can you say about this?
There was a gentleman, Mr Femi Ajayi, who had a relationship with President Jonathan from their time together at Iresi.
The President appointed him as his Senior Special Assistant on Diaspora Affairs, later as Director-General of the NDLEA and subsequently as Executive Secretary of the PTDF.
Dr Ajayi was the person I could most easily reach at the Presidency, and he reliably conveyed my messages to Mr President. If I had routed my letters and occasional gifts through official channels, I could only have guessed whether they reached the President or what response they received.
As far as I am concerned, Dr Femi Ajayi remains a good man. Through the federal positions he held, he had opportunities to serve the people of Aiyegbaju, and I believe there are many testimonies to his impact. He was undoubtedly one of those who supported my efforts when necessary.
Were there other people who played roles in the establishment of the university?
Top on my list of those who went out of their way to assist me with Mr President was Mrs Diezani Madueke. I had booked an appointment to see the Petroleum Minister on another matter when she called me two hours before our meeting to say she had to go and see Mr President.
I quickly used the opportunity to tell her that one of the reasons I needed to see her was to get the President to commit to establishing the Federal University in Oye-Ekiti. I gave her all the details and explained why Oye-Ekiti was suitable.
She was the first person to tell me that the issue of Oye-Ekiti as the location of the proposed university was a done deal.
Senator David Mark almost got tired of me because of the way I kept pestering him, particularly when some elites in Ikole believed that I was trying to relocate a university that was originally meant for Oye-Ekiti.
I must also mention my friend, Senator Gbenga Daniel, whom I called to discuss the location of the university with President Jonathan. He never wavered in his support.
Engr. Segun Oni was saddled with the responsibility of coming up with a location in Ekiti. Naturally, he pushed for Ifaki, but he had already located a state university there, which was later cancelled by his successor.
When it became obvious that the late Caleb Olubolade, who had a strong relationship with President Jonathan, was keen on convincing the President to resolve the Oye-Ikole disagreement by relocating the university to Ijero, Engr. Oni supported my position.
I must also mention the late Senator Uche Chukwumerije, who ensured that the university’s name and location were not altered following interventions by some legislators who came after I left office in 2011.
Dr Fayemi gave me an audience on July 31, 2011, for almost two hours when he was not initially willing to issue the Federal Ministry of Education a Certificate of Occupancy for the land in Oye-Ekiti.
We both agreed that a dual-campus arrangement was the solution, with Ikole taking off with the Faculty of Agriculture. Dr Fayemi and Prof Chinedu Nebo added the Faculty of Engineering, making the two faculties the take-off faculties, while Oye-Ekiti remained the campus approved by the Federal Executive Council.
He thereafter issued the Certificate of Occupancy to the Federal Government. The rest is history.
Some people have argued that there was no legislative bill backing the establishment of the university. What is your response?
The people raising the issue of my failure to present a bill for the establishment of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti appear to overlook what happened at the time.
The current Minister of Budget and Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, and I discussed the establishment of federal universities in states that did not have one as of the third quarter of 2010. He was then Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, having briefly replaced Senator Joy Emodi.
Shortly after that discussion, the Presidency announced plans to establish six federal universities in states without federal universities, one in each geopolitical zone. The number was later increased to nine.
There was therefore no need for me to sponsor a private bill because the universities were established through an executive process before the legislative bill came later. Senator Ndoma Egba subsequently read the bill on the floor of the Senate as the then Senate Leader.
It is also on record that Senator Opeyemi Bamidele used his position in the Senate to facilitate the establishment of the Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences, Iyin-Ekiti, for his people.
The bill was passed during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari but was signed into law under President Bola Tinubu.
We all know the relationship between Senator Bamidele and our President. The people of Ekiti expect performance from their representatives. Senator Bamidele remains, in my view, the most consequential senator Ekiti has produced.
I am happy to be one of his inspirations, and I will continue to celebrate every Ekiti son and daughter who sets and raises the bar of excellence.
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