Oyo State Government has disclosed the payment of ₦5 billion out of the ₦8 billion agreed sum to Osun State Government for full ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso.
Disclosing this in a statement, the State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Prince Dotun Oyelade, said it was done through instalmental payments of ₦1 billion annually.
It was disclosed that full payment would be made before the end of the present administration.
The statement recalls that both states struck a deal on 20th November 2020 to cede LAUTECH to Oyo State.
“The joint ownership of LAUTECH was acrimonious between the governments of the two states from 2007 to 2019, when Governor Seyi Makinde took over and surprisingly reached an agreement with his Osun counterpart to make Oyo the sole owner of the institution.
“Ever since, the institution has grown in leaps and bounds, reclaiming its position as the best state university in Nigeria.
“Despite the academic excellence in the wake of this development, LAUTECH has also expanded physically and in scope, with the establishment of the LAUTECH Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Iseyin Campus.”
It was revealed that Governor Makinde has released ₦650 million as a take-off grant for the Teaching and Research Farm at the Iseyin Campus.
The government has also commenced, simultaneously, the construction of health centres and road networks at LAUTECH Iseyin Campus, the Abiola Ajimobi Technical University, Ibadan, and the Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo.
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