NAN-H-61
LAUTECH
By Modupe Seriboh
Ibadan, June 6, 2017 (NAN) The Democrat, a Non Governmental Organisation, has appealed to the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to intervene in the crisis rocking the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho.
LAUTECH, which is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun State Governments, has remained shut for several months following the inability of the proprietors to pay the arrears of the nine months salaries owed workers as well as inadequate funding to run the institution.
A statement issued on Tuesday in Ibadan by the national leader of the group, Mr Kehinde Ojoawo, said that the continued closure of the institution threatens the future of the hapless students.
Ojoawo urged the acting president to call the two governors, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and Rauf Aregbesola of Osun, to a meeting and find lasting solution to the crisis rocking the institution.
“It cannot be rightly said that both state governments are broke to the extent that they cannot fund LAUTECH, but governors of both states misplace their priorities and are self-seeking,’’ he said.
He also expressed dismay that the two governors were proposing and establishing new universities in the face of the challenges bedevilling LAUTECH.
‘’It will be recalled that the institution has been in protracted closure for the past seven months over financial crisis and this will impact negatively on the future of the students,’’ Ojoawo said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governors of the owner states recently ordered the institution to reopen after releasing N500 million.
The students had returned to school while the workers, who were not satisfied with the amount released, continued their strike. (NAN)
MAM/AOS/OJO
============
(Edited by Bayo Sekoni/Mufutau Ojo)