Oye-Ekiti community promises support for FUOYE, tasks FG on payment of compensation to land owners

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3 years ago

The people of Oye-Ekiti, Oye local government area of Ekiti state have promised to cooperate and support the management of the Federal University Oye(FUOYE) towards achieving peace, growth, and development of the institution.

The Vice Chancellor of FUOYE, Professor Abayomi Fasina, and the leadership of the students union had last week in a statement expressing concerns over what they termed “hostile” treatment accorded students in the community and contractors by the indigenes.

Worried by the reactions generated by the publications and the need for peaceful co-existence between the gown and town, the community through its traditional ruler, Oloye of Oye-Ekiti, Oba Michael Ademolaju conveyed a stakeholder meeting in his palace at the weekend tagged, ‘Crown, Gown and Town parley’ which was attended by the VC, students, community leaders and heads of security agencies in the state.

Oba Ademolaju while speaking expressed reservations about the publications from the university management, adding that the community since the establishment of the university in 2010 had contributed and supported the institution which he said was evidenced in the donation of structures currently being used as the mini campus in the university.

He explained that the community would not tolerate activities of miscreants and hoodlums against the students and contractors in the university land, stating that all issues relating to the acquisition of lands should be resolved through negotiation and not through force or violence.

Describing the people of the community as peace-loving and admirers of development through the institution, the traditional ruler appealed to the federal government and the university management to consider payment of compensations to citizens who had their farmlands and crops destroyed to pave way for construction.

In a communique released after the meeting and signed by the president of Oye Progressives Union, Bola Oniyelu, Dr. Jimi Oke, Prince Wale Aribatise, and Professor Sesan Fabamise, the stakeholders harped on the need to bridge the existing communication gap in the interest of the institution and the community.

The communique read, “The misunderstanding between the FUOYE and Oye town was created by the apparent communication gap amongst the three vital stakeholders.

“That Oye community has been doing a lot with respect to safeguarding the lives and properties of both FUOYE staff and students. The Permanent ban on all festivals and cultural practices that were once seen as a hindrance to the attainment of full potential in the town is commendable.

“That there is the need to impress it upon the government that payment of compensations to the land owners in the town whose lands were acquired for the university is identified as a prerequisite for attaining permanent peace in the town.

“ That both Students of FUOYE and some miscreants in the town are to be blamed for whatever security breaches that exist in the town and that both the students and the indigenous miscreants are warned seriously that the town will not tolerate any untoward behavior from anybody again.”

On his part, Professor Fasina while promising more collaboration with the community, explained that the success and development of the university necessitated all actions taken in the past in accordance with the directives of the federal government.

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