JAFAS condemns stoppage of subventions to Oyo tertiary institutions

The Joint Action Forum of Tertiary Institutions (JAFAS) in Oyo State has condemned the decision of the Oyo State government to stop all forms of subventions to state-owned tertiary institutions.

This was contained in a communique issued and co-signed by chairmen and secretaries of the concerned institutions at the end of the meeting held at Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, on Sunday, 9 October, 2016.

At the meeting, having carefully deliberated on the pros and cons of the decision, JAFAS members resolved that “the position of the government on the stoppage of the subventions to tertiary institution is unacceptable and that the status quo ante be maintained.”

The communique stated further that “the state House of Assembly should consider the negative implications of the decision of the executives with particular reference to the laws establishing these institutions and the approved and signed Appropriation Bill for 2016 fiscal year.”

The document also stated “that members of the public should be aware that this ‘commodification’ of education as being proposed by the Oyo State government is the surest way of producing an army of illiterates, who are surely going to be thrown out of school as a result of their parents’ inability to pay school fees, which could be as high as N350,000 per student in a session.”

Also according to the forum, the adoption of ‘LAUTECH Model’, where the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)-anchored initiative is being test-run is not sustainable as evident in the current LAUTECH situation, which has run into troubled waters.

It equally noted that the report of a committee headed by Professor A. S. Gbadegesin on the running of secondary education in the state portends a serious danger to the education of our children, particularly the children of the masses, who are the major tax payers, adding that “the policy is surreptitious sale of the public institutions to private hands. From all intents and purposes, it is privitisaton of government asset under the euphemism of School-Based Management Model (SBM).”