THE voice of the masses, the press, individuals and other relevant bodies on the near state of decay that the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) is currently experiencing is appreciated.
As a concerned parent, I am of the opinion that if LAUTECH will remain relevant to the 21st century university education, stakeholders need to take proactive steps in digging deep into the root of instability in the university with a view to solving it.
Presently, it has suffered enough haemorrhage due to sit ins, boycott of lectures, warning strikes and eventual stoppage of work by the staff. This has forced the university to its knees academically.
The cost of this action is enormous on the university, the lecturers, the students and the parents. The university is losing in terms of man hours which the lecturers are supposed to put into work and research which is the hallmark of the indices of growth and development of all universities worldwide.
This casts doubts on the quality of students the university turns out into the labour market. This is the simple reason for the unimpressive performance of Nigerian graduates when it comes to dispensing knowledge in the areas of their specialisation. The action of the stakeholders raises the fundamental question: which direction is the university going?
The lecturers have suffered greatly; the months of strike have taken a serious toll on their families. The strike has turned some to beggars in order to meet the immediate needs of the members of their families. They too pay tuition fees of their children.
The non-payment of salaries has caused serious hardship. More disturbing is the intent of some of them to seek employment in places that dangle the carrot of good pay to them.
If the current problem is not addressed, the exit of some lecturers from the university will be counterproductive because the money invested in them for training and acquisition of skills will be a waste.
The students seem to be worst hit by this development. They have been compelled to stay at home, wasting away.
The crisis has caused most students emotional stress. The final-year students are paying dearly for the avoidable stay-at -home order. Their losses are unquantifiable, having stayed at home for eight months.
They will definitely pay for the extra year that they are spending staying in school. They will also pay rent and other expenses which, all other things being equal, could have been avoided. Also, the year of graduation will be extended and service year is subject to permutation and combination of unlike terms.
The stakeholders should consider the plight of the students, if their motive is to turn them to world-class graduates. The parents are tired and emotional traumatised.
If this situation continues, the pride and glory hitherto ascribed to LAUTECH will become history.
- Oluranti Oyetola,
Ibadan, Oyo State
and then