Mixed reactions have trailed the demolition of Aquatech College of Agriculture and Technology, Adeoyo, by the Oyo State Government. The college, which is located at Fodacis, off Adeoyo Hospital Road, Ibadan had its structures pulled down to the amazement of many. According to an eyewitness report published online in a video; a lot of agricultural investments of hundreds of millions in farm structures, fish ponds, poultry and feeds, were lost to the demolition.
Aquatech College of Agricultural and Technology, is a government-approved private institution, where the need for broader knowledge in larger areas of agriculture and technology and other related programmes are being taught with its recognition on the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board portal. Some military men had reportedly come with bulldozers recently to pull down structures in the premises. Confirming the incident, the Rector and Founder of the institution, Dr. Ayobami Omidiran said, “Well, it’s true. We approached the Ministry of Lands some 20 years ago and all we have been doing is to process the land and it’s in the file. I have a file there, and we have been doing all that we need to do. We even paid rent to the ministry of land this year, according to their demand notice around April”.
“It was later they told us they wanted to recover the land, but it’s difficult to just get the college out of that place because the college is in session and we have students in the hostels”. He continued; The college is duly registered and we even had our first set of students through JAMB in 2013. It was yesterday (13th July, 2023) that we just saw the demolition squad arrive at the premises and pull down our structures. I am presently down now, I don’t even know what to think now”, he said.
Reports have it that there had been notice of this demolition months back and some agriculture business owners had heeded to the warning to move their wares away to another location. According to Omidiran, the agro-tourism sites, college buildings and many agribusiness stakeholders, staff and students have been displaced. He lamented that they had appealed to the government before now, however their pleas fell on deaf ears. When contacted, the Ministry of Lands, Housing, Survey and Urban development responded that the state government had ordered the demolition after serving due notice.
