Osun Determined To Kill LAUTECH – Oyo Group

An Oyo State-based socio-political organisation, the Oyo Kajola Group (OKG), has weighed in on the controversy between Oyo and Osun States over the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, saying that the needless drama being orchestrated by the government of Osun State was unhelpful and condemnable.

The OKG, in a statement by its media coordinator, Adebayo Ayandele, said that reports coming out of Osun State in recent weeks on the LAUTECH issue show that Osun was bent on running down the school for no just cause.

Expressing its views on the issues, the group said:

“In recent weeks, we have heard all manners of half-truths and unfounded stories about payments made to LAUTECH by the co-owners. Osun State, in particular, had released statements to the effect that it has been paying far more than Oyo State in recent years.

“Our findings, however, indicate that Osun State mixed facts with fiction in the statement it released recently. We have since confirmed that the two owner states of LAUTECH have since separately taken ownership of the two Teaching Hospitals. While Oyo had taken control of the Teaching Hospital in Ogbomoso, Osun had taken ownership of the Teaching Hospital in Osogbo.

“In effect, whatever Osun State spends on LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo is its responsibility and should not be mentioned as part of expenses meant for LAUTECH as an institution.

“We also read with surprise a claim by Osun State to the effect that LAUTECH should by now be self-financing, since according to that statement, the Osun State University established well after LAUTECH has allegedly become financially independent.

“Let us place on record here that no university around the world can be self-financing as such. The Secretary to the Osun State whom the statement was credited to must have spoken tongue in cheek just in search of excuses to justify the contempt Osun has for LAUTECH. We are aware that top universities across the globe survived on huge grants from public-spirited individuals, governments and families to attain the status they now parade.

“LAUTECH is a school to be nurtured and we must bear in mind that education is not basically a profit and loss venture. Its social impact is unquantifiable and as such government subsidies are always of good benefit.

“We want to use this medium to urge the Governor of Oyo State, Engineer Seyi Makinde, to take immediate steps to save LAUTECH from the trap of death, which Osun State has set for it.

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