LAUTECH: Aregbesola, Ajimobi should respect terms of agreement on MoU ― ASUU

PERTURBED by the challenges of funding, bedeviling Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Friday told the two owner states’ governors, namely Mr Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) and Senator Isiaka Ajimobi (Oyo) to respect the terms of agreement on Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), regarding the funding of the institution.

Addressing a press conference in Osogbo, Osun State capital, after holding a rally, the zonal coordinator of ASUU in Akure, Comrade Alex Odili maintained that it was imperative for the two owner states not to allow LAUTECH go under as a result of their lackadaisical attitude to the survival of the university.

He called for the immediate release of the report submitted by the visitation panel constituted by the Visitors of the university on its perennial problems and recommendations to address such challenges.

According to him, “we are here today on the challenges facing LAUTECH. The negligence of the university has created problem for ASUU. The students who are the future of tomorrow are negatively affected by the non-payment of salaries and allowance.”

Odili emphasised that “there is decay in the infrastructures in the institution. The terms of agreement in MoU signed by the two owner states have not been fulfilled. You cannot use IGR alone to run the university. 10 months salaries and allowances have not been paid and efforts made to get the governors attention have not yielded results. We are holding this rally to tell the people of Osun and Oyo State that the Visitors should be alive to their responsibilities of funding the university.

He continued, “the report of the visitation panel submitted to the Visitors has not been implemented. The two owner states have reneged on the MoU. It is very unfortunate that the state governments have allowed the situation of LAUTECH to degenerate this level. Enough of politicising of LAUTECH. They should as a matter of urgency ensure proper funding of the university. The two states cannot even do what a state has done effectively well.”

“This means that two governors don’t mean well for the education of the people. Education is the vehicle that powers the development of any society. The governors of Oyo and Osun state should fund LAUTECH and not allow the institution to go under. This is parts of holistic plan to compel them to do the needful. The National Executive Council (NEC) has directed us to embark on this action and they would review the impacts of these activities.”

“The two states governors set up this university because they were capable of shouldering its responsibilities and they are still capable. The point of asking the federal government to take the university does not arise. They can run this university. Let them sit down and work out efficient modalities of running LAUTECH without a hitch.”

In his remark, the chairman of ASUU, University of Benin (UNIBEN) chapter, Professor Julius Iyasele decried the recent increment in tuition fees by LAUTECH management, describing it as an attempt to make education in inaccessible to the lower class in the society.

He averred that “few weeks ago, the management of LAUTECH released a new regime of tuition fees, whereby students would be paying as much as N300,000 per session. This is exorbitant. ASUU stands for proper and qualitative education so that our students can compete globally. We are not troublemakers. We are training people to stand up against evil forces that want to bring this country down.”