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Tag: LAUTECH

  • LAUTECH appoints new VC, two others

    The Governing Council of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, has announced the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor and two other principal officers.

    A statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Lekan Fadeyi, named Prof. Michael Ologunde, a renowned professor of food science, as the new vice chancellor.

    The council also appointed Dr Kayode Ogunleye as Registrar and Mr Abayomi Okediji as Bursar.

    The newly appointed vice chancellor will take over the running of the institution from the incumbent, Prof. Adeniyi Gbadegesin, whose five-year tenure will end on Feb. 14, 2019.

    Read Also:Don proffers solution to LAUTECH crisis

     

    The council said that Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and his Osun State counterpart, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, had approved the appointments as recommended by the Prof. Dapo Afolabi-led governing council.

    It hinted that the position of the University Librarian would be filled soon.

    “The council at its 135th special meeting held last week had directed that the vacancy in the position be re-advertised while the process of appointing a new University Librarian be concluded on or before Jan. 25, 2019,” it said.

    The statement explained that the appointments would take effect from Feb. 14, 2019.

  • Women win N1m in LAUTECH innovation contest

    A group of three women – all final year Computer Science and Engineering students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, has won the maiden edition of the LAUTECH Innovation Challenge (LIC) held on the main campus of the school.

    The students, who made up Team Impact, won N1 million seed investment fund, after they emerged the best team in the competition.

    The team, led by Abiodun Okunade, competed with 29 others to win the coveted investment fund prize.

    Other members of the Impact Team are Yetunde Akinbola and Comfort Tayo.

    The Team Impact is to reduce the learning difficulties faced by children with Down Syndrome. Before winning LIC, the team had made 50 animations for a child with Down Syndrome and discovered the innovation could be extended to others.

    Abiodun said: “Presently, the prevalence of Down’s Syndrome in Nigeria is one per 865 live births. The genetic disorder keeps the cognitive skills of the victim at the barest minimum possible. We designed an innovative solution to help the children living with the medical condition. The innovation won the first prize at LIC and this shows we are on the right track in our effort to help victims of Down Syndrome cope with learning.”

    The first runner-up in the competition was Team SmartFi. People’s Choice Award was presented to Team Highlanders.

    Dignitaries who served as judges included Special Adviser to Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Education, Dr Bisi Akin-Alabi, a businessman, Chief Abdulrasheed Ayinla, Mr Icon Akorede of Light House Group, Dr A.S. Oyadeyi of Physiology Department and Chief Executive Officer of SQI, Mr Adeyemi Aderinto, among others.

    LAUTECH Innovation Challenge is a competition that seeks to initiate best possible social entrepreneurial ideas by students to solve real problems.

  • Oyinlola ceded LAUTECH to Oyo, says Alao-Akala

    A former Oyo State Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala yesterday released the documents formally transferring the ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, to the state government.

    This followed claims and counterclaims trailing the revelations that the joint ownership of the institution had been severed between Oyo and Osun states.

    In a radio programme at the weekend in Ibadan, the state capital, Alao-Akala reiterated that himself and former Osun State Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola finalised an arrangement to share the assets and liabilities of the institution in 2010.

    The former governor said Oyinlola signed the legal document to formalise the arrangement.

    The eight-page document, a copy of which was made available to The Nation, is titled: Legal Framework for the Sharing of the Assets and Liabilities of LAUTECH Between the owner states of Osun and Oyo.

    It was prepared by F. M. Kwede, Esq. of F. M. Kwede and Co., Barrister and Solicitors, with office address at Suite 212, Anbees Plaza, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.

    The document was jointly signed by the former governors and their attorneys general on October 23, 2010.

    While Alao-Akala and Oyinlola signed with red ink, the states’ attorneys general signed with green ink.

    According to the former governor, the document spells out the new ownership status of the institution, while the National Universities Commission (NUC) set up a seven-man committee to administer the process.

    The document reads: “At the instance of the government of Oyo State, both parties, joint owners and proprietors of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), its subsidiaries and associated institutions (“the university”) have decided to terminate their joint ownership and management of the university, and share its assets and liabilities.

    “Whereas the parties, by an agreement dated September 2, 2010, mandated the National Universities Commission (NUC) to constitute a LAUTECH Transition Committee (the committee) to, inter alia, share the assets and liabilities of the university.

    “Whereas, pursuant to this mandate, the NUC constituted a seven-person committee consisting of the under-listed, without objection from any of the parties, inaugurated the committee on September 14, 2010; consequent upon which the committee formally assumed duty on September 20, 2010.”

    Members of the seven-man committee were: Prof C. F. Mafiana (Director, NUC), as the committee chairman, Profr Dakas C. J. Dakas (former Attorney-General), Mr Ahmad Muhammadu (quantity surveyor), Mr Paul Osaji (estate valuer), Dr Chris A. Tamuno (former Registrar), Mrs Ubong Etuk (chartered accountant) and Dr N. B. Saliu (Deputy Director, NUC).

    The committee’s mandate included sharing the assets and liabilities of the university between the parties.

    About 13 items were listed as assets and 10 listed as liabilities of LAUTECH at the time.

    Some other items were listed as the workers, students, verification, among others, after the two attorneys general, Niyi Owolade and Aare Abdulsalam Ladi Abdulllah, for Osun and Oyo states, signed the documents on October 23, 2010, after the governors.

    But the agreement stipulated that the interests of the workers and students, “irrespective of state of origin, shall be protected”.

    It added: “Without prejudice to the powers of the courts, the decision of the committee in respect of the assets and liabilities sharing exercise shall, without further assurance, be final and binding on both parties.”

     

     

     

     

  • LAUTECH slashes tuition fees, announces resumption

    The Governing Council of the Ladoke  Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, headed by Professor Dapo Afolabi, has directed that the proposed tuition fees in the institution be brought down to N140, 000 for indigenes of Oyo and Osun States while non indigenes be allowed  to pay N170,000, as against the N200,000 for indigenes of owner states and N250,000, for non indigenes. It also announced resumption for October 29, 2018.

    The management pleaded with “well wishers to come to the realisation that the cost of running qualitative and functional first grade technical institutions like ours are becoming unbearably impossible if N65,000 and 72,000 for indigenes of owner-states and non-indigenes are maintained.” It added that internally generated revenue from students’ fees would only remain supplementary as arrangements have been concluded to enlist parents and students into management of university fund in a manner that entrenches transparency and accountability.

     

  • Osun releases N 500 million to LAUTECH

    To further demonstrate its commitment to the continued existence of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, the Osun State government has fulfilled its promise to release the sum of five hundred million naira (N500,000,000:00) to the university.

    The said sum promised last week by the governor, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, hit the institution’s account on Friday.

    Aregbesola, had while receiving members of the governing council and Vice-Chancellor of LAUTECH, Professor Adeniyi Gbadegesin, last Saturday, explained that State Osun was committed to the welfare of staff and students of the institution.

    He told the visitors that on no occasion had Osun wanted to shy away from its responsibility to LAUTECH.

    Adding that his government was proud of the various giant strides of the university, the governor appealed to staff and students to continue with the good works aimed at sustaining its present position in the committee of tertiary institutions, focusing on the fact that all will be well soon.

    Responding, Gbadegesin said he was glad that the State of Osun has again shown its commitment as a part owner to LAUTECH.

    He thanked the governor and people of the State of Osun, appealing that they further demonstrate love to the university and its workers, through adequate funding.

     

  • Group picks nomination form for ex-Oyo Governor, Akala

    … says we are ready for direct or indirect primary

    Former Oyo State Governor, Otunba Alao Akala has joined the race for the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he was not afraid of whatever form of primaries that will be adopted in the state as his credentials speaks for him.

    Loyalists of the former governor who stormed the APC national secretariat in their number to purchase his nomination form however said they would prefer the direct option since it allow the ordinary people participate in the selection of the candidate.

    Speaking on behalf of the Akala Support Group, their Leader. Chief Wale Otu said although it was fully prepared for either direct or indirect primaries, its main preference is for the use of direct primary because it involves the people.

    Chief Ohu said; “Whichever the party settles for is okay by us, but we know that direct primaries is the best for the party because whatever it takes, it gives an average party member the opportunity to have a say in who flies the tickets of the party at every level.

    “It is commonsense that in a democratic system like this, you should have direct primaries because it gives opportunity to almost everybody. I think it is the best option that one can think of. But be that as it may, what ever we agree in Oyo state, that is what we shall do”.

    On the chances of there principal at making it back to government, the group said Akala’s antecedents speak for him, saying “What he did when he was in office for four years are monumental. If you go to Oyo state today and look at the road network in the hinterlands because the state is agro-based, you would marvel.

    “He built a Teaching Hospital at LAUTECH that is of international standard. He established a College of Agriculture which our youths are now taking advantage of. He ran a humane government. His government had a human face and he was approachable by the people”.

    Read Also: Abuja tremor: No cause for alarm – DG NGSA

    They described Akala as a humane politician who would approach governance in Oyo state with a ‘human face’, adding that “the Akala Support Group is an embodiment of supporters and political associates of Otunba Alao Akala. Sometimes ago, we came together under an umbrella body to make a clarion call on him to run for governor for 2019.

    “This body comprises of artisans, market women, professionals and politicians who appreciated all the things he did in his first tenure and for his human face to governance. They went further to contribute money to purchase nomination and expression of interest forms for him because they were the people who convinced him to run and they mandated us to come and pick the form on behalf of the group”, they said.

    Chief Ohu was accompanied on the visit by Dr Fola Akinosun, Hon. Tajudeen Kareem, Barr. Yinka Lanipekun, Engr. Remi Adepoju and Alh. Yinusa Dakeja among others.

  • ‘Let Oyo take over LAUTECH’

    The Dean, School of Science and Technology, Babcock University, Prof Dele Fapohunda, has called on the Oyo State government to take over ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).

    He wrote in an essay that the institution belonged more to the Oyo than Osun State.

    While its takeover by the Federal Government would have been desirous, Fapohunda pointed out that it would be unlikely as no state in Nigeria has two Federal universities (Oyo has the University of Ibadan; and Osun, Obafemi Awolowo University).

    He said though the school had some ties with Osun, Oyo had invested more in the institution.

    Fapohunda explained that  the only physical presence of  ownership of the school by Osun state  is the Teaching hospital at Osogbo which can be relocated, noting that an edifice was put up for the same purpose by the then Governor, Christopher Alao-Akala.

    “By name and location, LAUTECH effectively belongs to Oyo State. Chief Ladoke Akintola and Ogbomoso town are both from Oyo State and by the quantum of investment into the main campus, the state government should guide her investment jealously.   For ease of administration, Oyo state should take over LAUTECH as the sole proprietor with immediate effect. It   can conveniently be in same league as Bayelsa, Ondo, Ogun and Rivers among others who are managing two Universities in spite of dwindling resources”. He explained.

    He said the joint-owner status was affecting the level of commitment of both states to the university and urged both states to agree to cede ownership to one and share assets accordingly.  He gave examples of states that did so in the past.

    “At present, and in spite of all pretenses, the two states see LAUTECH as an irritant and a distraction,” said Fapohunda.

    He argued that the contention between both parties does not require judicial intervention but political therefore, political heads of the school should be consulted and other academic stakeholder to resolve the issue.

    “All outstanding issues should be settled out of court. It is doubtful if other similar states went to court before settling the ownership of common institutions.  Let Oyo be the sole owner of LAUTECH. So it was and so shall it be. This is however, without prejudice to legal resolutions.

    “Ownership of a University is not a judicial matter, it is political. Therefore the two governors can be invited by their political principal,  Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and any other stakeholder like the National Universities Commission (NUC), settle any other outstanding issue pick up their lives from there,” he said.

     

  • North-West ASUU tasks LAUTECH on varsity subvention, salary payments

    The North West zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU), on Saturday in Katsina called on owner states of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, Oyo state to allocate increased subventions to the university as well as pay salaries of its workforce for the past 10 months.

    The union also condemned the 300 per cent hike in school fees for students of the institution which is jointly owned by the Oyo and Osun state governments.

    The zonal coordinator, Sokoto zone of ASSU, Jamilu Shehu stated this on Saturday at a joint press briefing attended by the leaders of the various tertiary institutions in the zone

    The  universities in the zone, include Usman Danfodio University Sokoto (UDUS), Kebbi state university of Science and Technology (KSUSTA), Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University (UMYUK), Sokoto state University (SSU), and Federal University, Dutsinma (FUDMA).

    Shehu said that the institution now depended heavily on internally generated revenue, with the infrastructure of the university presently in a sorry state.

    He further lamented that the institution increased school fees from N100, 000 to N300, 000 to the disadvantage of the students, and that reason was due to the underfunding of the institution by its owners.

    Read Also: ASUU rejects LAUTECH N300,000 fee hike

    He, therefore, called on the two states to resuscitate the institution to keep same from collapsing.

    According to him, “Since 2013, the university has been greatly underfunded arising from non-release of subventions by the two states.

    He said  “Consequently, staff of the university are owed 10 months’ salary arrears and are currently being paid net salary. The promotion arrears for the years 2013-2017 are yet to be paid.

    “The infrastructure of the university is also in a sorry state, unbefitting of an ivory tower. The quagmire forced the Governing Council of the university to resort to the only available option of relying on IGR.

    “This meant a hike in the tuition fees which is not in the interest of students, parents and indeed, educational development of the two states.”

    He recalled that the situation had led to a 10-month strike by academic staff of the institution, but that nothing has improved since the industrial action was called off.

    He added that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the union and state governments to address the situation, but that nothing has been done till date.

    As way of getting out of the situation, ASSU Sokoto zone raised several demands that include ceding the institution to one of the states for proper funding, and for the two states to commence implementing the signed agreement.

    ASUU also called on stakeholders, including religious and traditional institutions, and the federal government to intervene on the issue.

     

     

  • LAUTECH crisis: ASUU resists ‘commercialization’ of education

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU ), Calabar Zone, has described the abdication of the responsibility of funding the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho by the co-owners, Oyo and Osun States, as an introduction to the commercialization of education, which should be resisted.

    Addressing reporters in Calabar, Cross River State, on Tuesday, the Zonal Coordinator, Dr Aniekan Brown, said the ramifications of commercializing education “are very negative both in the short and long terms.”

    Reading from a statement signed by himself and chairpersons of ASUU of the universities within the zone, he said, “It is regrettable that that institution has become an uncanny and typical metaphor of the neglect of public education in our country Nigeria.

    “The brazen abdication of the responsibility of funding of LAUTECH by the co-owners, Oyo and Osun States, is a shocking new low even in an environment where the neglect of public institutions is fast becoming a norm.

    “In some time past, even within our clime, the situation of LAUTECH would have been considered an aberration and a shameful moral condition, if not a taboo of some sorts. But to dramatize the serious moral crisis that we face, the governments of Oyo and Osun States carry on as if nothing has happened even in the face of a jointly owned university becoming comatose due to lack of funding.

    “Right now, the workers are owed arrears of salaries upward of one year and very little is being done to address the situation. The workers are practically writhing in pains and penury, suffering all kinds of deprivations.

    “The lowness of their morale cannot be overstated. For the students, the situation is no better, as the needed environment for meaningful teaching and learning has been willfully destroyed.

    “This is all because the university has become entirely dependent on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for survival, the impact of which is on the students and their parents who have been compelled to pay outrageously high and unaffordable fees, even in the face of the present precarious economic situation. This is unacceptable and should be dutifully rejected.

    Read Also: ASUU  threatens strike over 10-months salary debt at LAUTECH

    “It is unimaginable that a university could be allowed to suffer this fate, while its visitors are busy establishing new ones. This painful irony is a challenge to our nation. It is also sad that university teachers could be allowed to face this pestilence and humiliation at the instance of the Governors of Oyo and Osun States.

    “ASUU Calabar Zone condemns in totality the brazen irresponsibility going on in LAUTECH, a university that is now a moral scar on the conscience of our nation. There is no more terrible a way of darkening the future than killing education as is the case in LAUTECH.

    “We therefore draw the attention of well-meaning Nigerians to the show of shame in LAUTECH and urge all to call the governments of Oyo and Osun States to order. The Visitors to the university must live up to their responsibility of funding. They must recognize that education is a public good; and they must go beyond the issues of ownership and discharge their responsibilities to Nigeria and Nigerians.

    “Allowing the staff to go without being paid salaries for about a year, refusing to carry out any physical development in the institution and directing officers of the university to all proceed on leave while the present ones are all in acting capacity is a mockery of the university system taken too far, which should not be tolerated.

    “By refusing to subvent the university, thus making the institution wholly reliant on IGR, is an introduction of commercialization of education, the ramifications of which are very negative both in the short and long terms. ASUU Calabar Zone calls on progressive forces across the country to reject in strong terms what is happening in LAUTECH. The future we desire as a nation “lies in the sacrifices we have the courage to make today. Confronting what challenges that future is a responsibility that we cannot afford to shirk from. We have a duty as Nigerians to come to the rescue by not allowing Oyo and Osun States to kill LAUTECH.

    Present at the briefing were chairperson of the University of Calabar, Dr Tony Eyang; University of Uyo, Dr Daniel Udo; Akwa Ibom State University, Dr Imeh Okop, Abia State University, Dr Ochi Ejimofor; Federal University Ndufu Alike Ikwo, Dr Ogugua Egwu: and Ebonyi State University, Dr Ikechukwu Igwenyi.

  • ‘Osun, Oyo should take responsibility for LAUTECH’

    PORT HARCOURT zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared that Osun and Oyo states must take full responsibility of funding Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

    The zone, through its Coordinator, Uzo Onyebinama, who was with chairman of the union in University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Dr. Austen Sado, and others, spoke yesterday at a news conference in UNIPORT.

    It said: “LAUTECH, jointly owned by Oyo and Osun States, which was established in 1990, was a prime state university. Today, LAUTECH is a caricature of what a university should be. Bedevilled by underfunding by the owner states, LAUTECH has become a crisis-ridden university. How does a university with a vision to become a centre of academic excellence realise the vision?

    “Staff of LAUTECH are owed 10 months, promotion arrears from 2013 to 2017, and earned academic allowances from 2009 to 2017. The state of affairs in LAUTECH is totally unacceptable to our union. It is inhuman. Osun and Oyo states have exhibited unparalleled insensitivity in their handling of LAUTECH.

    “A labourer deserves his wages. It is not a privilege, it is a right. The inability of Osun and Oyo states to fund LAUTECH and pay emoluments of staff is indicative of gross incompetence.

    “The attempt by the two states to shift the burden of funding LAUTECH to students, through an outrageous regime of tuition fees and other charges should be seen  as an attempt to deny the poor access to university education. It will be resisted. Education is a social service and ought to be treated as such.”

    ASUU also said everyone should work to compel Osun and Oyo states to do what is needful and take responsibility for funding LAUTECH, stressing that the future of the children of the poor is at stake and declared that the time for action is now.