Osun Students Accuse Oyo Of Secret Agenda To Take Over LAUTECH

The National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS) and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) called on the Oyo State government to stop unnecessary blackmail and propaganda over the crisis rocking the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.

The two bodies said Oyo State government should do the needful by and tell the public the true situation of things concerning the institution, jointly owned by Oyo and Osun state governments.

They also called on Oyo State to support its Osun counterpart in the payment of the salary arrears of members of staff of the university.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the institution has been embroiled in crisis over the outstanding salary of the workers of the university, which is jointly owned by the two states.

NAN also reports that Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo state had, on Sept. 5, accused his Osun counterpart, Gboyega Oyetola, of delaying the payment of LAUTECH workers’ salaries.

Makinde, while marking his first 100 days in office, said that he was ready to ‘divorce’ Osun, should it fail to live up to its responsibilities to the university in order not to make the members of staff and students to suffer.

But, addressing a joint news conference on Friday in Osogbo, Mr Elisha Oderinwale, the NAOSS President and Mr Abidoye Omololu, President of NANS, Osun axis, alleged that there was a clandestine move by Oyo to take over what jointly belongs to the two states.

They urged the Oyo state government to stop playing politics with the future of the students, adding that the students’ bodies were compelled to speak out.

They said: “Records have shown clearly that it is the same Oyo state that has been sponsoring tissue of lies against Osun state, accusing it of failure to live up to its responsibility over the years, especially concerning the funding of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo.

“At inception, the tenets of the joint ownership arrangement was that while Oyo pays salaries of workers at LAUTECH, Ogbomoso for six months, Osun will pay salaries of workers at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, also for six months and vice versa.

“Can Oyo State government tell Nigerian students and the discerning pubic why it stopped paying salaries of workers at the teaching hospital, Osogbo, the only one known to law and recognised by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria since 2013.

“We have it on record that from 2013 till date, Osun alone has been paying these salaries, and as we speak, it has expended N16,604,510,806.12.

“Ironically, within the same period, Osun has also committed over N9 billion to the funding of LAUTECH, Ogbomoso.

“So cumulatively, from 2013 till now, Osun has expended over N25 billion on LAUTECH. Oyo State should tell us its own level of commitment. ”

Speaking on what they termed inequality in the distribution of assets between the two states, the students explained that while seven out of the eight faculties in the institution were located in Oyo State, only one was sighted in Osun.

The students said that in spite of the “obvious lopsidedness”, Osun had continued to be alive to its responsibilities.

“If eventually the two states can no longer run the university jointly, they should follow the laid down pronouncement for division as clearly stated by the judgment of the Supreme Court in 2010.

“We, therefore, demand that Oyo State should henceforth stop unnecessary blackmail and propaganda and tell the public the true situation of things at all times,” they said.

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