The Nation Newspaper

Tag: LAUTECH

  • LAUTECH: Citadel under siege

    Sir:Ladoke Akintola University of Technology was established to provide a liberal higher education and encouragement to the rapid advancement of learning throughout Nigeria. For two consecutive seasons, 2003 and 2004, the university was adjudged by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) as the best state university in Nigeria. Today, the institution has done everything else but provide learning to its over 20,000 students who have been made to suffer untold academic hardship since 2016.

    The major crisis today is the institution’s funding from both owners, especially Osun State who have clearly declared that they do not have the funds to run the institution. Why then won’t Osun State agree to transfer ownership of LAUTECH to Oyo State for the purpose of peace and advancements? Osun State will even receive the reconciled balance which they can still inject in their own institution. The university has refused to pay salary arrears, running into over 13 months, to its staff. Contractors and suppliers are owed huge sums. No serious research work has taken place in the past three years. Staff pension funds are unpaid. Students have remained on the same academic level for three years running.

    Parents have completely lost hope in the institution. The owners are at loggerhead as to who has failed in its obligations to the adequate funding of the institution. The situation now is that the university has become insolvent and will be unable to pay her debts. Indeed, the frequent lecturers’ strike that has disrupted teaching and learning programmes is squarely about inability of the university to pay what is signed under the collective bargaining agreement. The owners, Oyo and Osun States are unable to meet their financial obligations, including transmitting statutory allocations to the institution. There are budgetary allocations in each state owner’s financial plan. This means there are monies budgeted for the institution but not released by the owners to the administration of the school. For example, the owner states jointly budgeted the sums of N6.6 billion and N6 billion in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

    This crisis in LAUTECH has festered for far too long. It is obvious that the owner states had ‘scissored’ a deep cut in the allocations to the institutions since 2016 and the situation has worsened till date. The harsh realities must now compel the university to explore innovative ways to raise revenues to meet her costs. In other parts of the world, universities make money through research and innovation. This hardly happens here. LAUTECH must prioritise research and commercial outputs. LAUTECH must explore ways of generating revenues to clear her debts while the governing council must come up with new models for funding the institutions to enable her thrive.

    Our first call therefore is to the owners to immediately increase its the statutory allocation to the university to levels that were achieved up to 2010. The second recommendation relates to the infrastructure costs that form part of the university cost base. A university should be responsible for identifying its infrastructure requirements and needs on an ongoing basis. The university must depend on the owners to provide grants to fund infrastructure development‚ replacement and maintenance. LAUTECH currently has an infrastructure backlog that would take more than five years to clear. To this end, we recommend the creation of an Education Endowment Fund as a standalone entity and funds would be utilized only for the purposes of funding infrastructure at the university. Finally, the owners must pay all outstanding arrears, wages, pensions and debts that where budgeted for since 2016, except the monies ‘have disappeared into the belly of a large snake’. Let us all join hands to bring LAUTECH back to its lost glory.

     

    • Prince Kabir Olaoye, princekabirolaoye@gmail.com

  • LAUTECH will shut down if owners States refuse to fund it- ASUU

    The Branch Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, Mr Biodun Olaniran has said the institution will collapse if the owner states refuses to fund it.

    Olaniran who stated this while speaking with our correspondent said the major problem LAUTECH is facing is lack of proper funding and timely release of subvention.

    “Efforts have been made by our officials to reach an agreement with the school management as to solve the looming strike over the university, but all what the university management are all saying is that the matter is getting government attention but am sure that very soon the government would do the needful.

    “We appeal to the two governments to the needful and they shouldn’t play with education.  They should take it serious so that they won’t jeopardize the future of the future leaders to be.

    “The school management should also be able to keep themselves on toes and look for a way out to the predicament of the varsity,” the ASUU Chairman said.

    Over the years, LAUTECH has been encountering reoccurring strike due to lack of proper funding by the owner states which has resulted in students dropping out of school.

  • Lautech: ASUU Ibadan, Lagos zones protest in oyo

    Academic workers union under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU )  from the Lagos and Ibadan zones on Friday staged a peaceful protest across Ibadan, the Oyo state capital city on what they described as the continuous neglect of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho.

    The protesters who gathered at the headquarters office of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Agodi Gate, carrying placards walked through Total Garden –UCH-and terminated at the Oyo State Secretariat, Agodi Ibadan where they delivered a letter of protest to the Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

    Institutions under the Lagos zone include, University of Lagos, Lagos State University, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Tai Solarin University of Education and University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, while the University of Ibadan, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osun State University, Kwara State University and University of Ilorin makes up the Ibadan zone of the Union.

    The protesters were led by both the Ibadan and Lagos zonal leader of the union. Inscriptions on some of the placards read, “Aregbe, Ajimobi, do not kill the best state University in Nigeria”, “What is Omoluabi in not funding education”, “Education is the heritage of Yoruba’s, do not kill Lautech”, ASUU Lagos Zone demands adequate funding for Lautech, Ogbomosho, and fund education in Nigeria”, “ASUU Lautech, Ogbomosho says Lautech must not be liquidated. Governors Ajimobi/Aregbesola, release funds to Lautech as advocated by Wole Olanipekun visitation panel” and “You are all products of free public education, do not destroy it.”

    Other placards read, “Do not sacrifice Lautech for mushrooming Tech U”, “Oyo/Osun People, shine your eyes, Lautech must not die”, “KPMG did not recommend increase in tuition, stop taking education away from the reach of the masses”, “Aare Atunluse and Ogbeni, do not destroy public education”, “Do not sell Lautech. Lautech is not a commodity.”, “Support Lautech Governing Council by making funds available” and “Do not put the lives of 30,000 students of Lautech in jeopardy. Aregbesola, Ajimobi act fast”.

    Speaking on the rationale behind the protest, ASUU UI Chairman, Dr. Deji Omole said the protest is in support of the struggle embarked upon by the academic staff unions of Lautech, Ogbomosho to get the university properly funded, saying “we realized that since the beginning of the administration of Aregbesola and Ajimobi, they have simply refused to fund the university. The university that used to be one of the best state universities in Nigeria is now groaning in pains of underfunding. And we view this as gross irresponsibility on the part of the owner states. We are here to register our protest to the way the university has been treated by Ajimobi and Aregbesola.”

    Similarly, the Ibadan Zonal Coordinator, Dr Ade Adejumo said the government insistence that the institution can survive on internally generated funds is the peak of irresponsibility noting that Lautech as a public institution must be funded by public funds which are in the coffer of the government.

    Receiving the protesters on behalf of the Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Dr Gbade Ojo assured the protesters of the commitment of the owner state governors.

    Noting that, his service as the Chairman of the government committee set up to generate a white paper on the report of the Wole Olanipekun visitation panel on the institution, Ojo assuage the minds of the protesters that many discoveries and revelation on the institution shows gross mismanagement of funds, appealing to the protesters to poke their nose into the affairs and running of the institution by the management and the governing council.

    Assuring the university lecturers that the letter will be transmitted to the governor, the CoS disclosed that “in the last few weeks, the government has increased the subventions given to the institutions in Oyo state with some tertiary institutions in Oyo state getting as much as 80 percent of the subventions”, saying it is an indication of the government commitment to improving education in the state.

  • LAUTECH begins two-week warning strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), started yesterday a two-week warning strike against alleged poor funding.

    LAUTECH is jointly owned by Osun and Oyo states.

    In a statement after its congress by the Chairman, Biodun Olaniran and Secretary Toyin Abegunrin, ASUU said its LAUTECH chapter got approval to start the warning strike from its national body.

    It noted that despite the Memorandum of Action (MoA) between the union and the Governing Council after its eight-month strike last year, governments of both states reneged on their promise to properly fund the university.

    According to the statement, the two states only paid one of the 11-month arrears owed workers.

    The statement reads: “On February 13, the ASUU in LAUTECH branch in Ogbomoso signed an MoA with the Governing Council of the university.

    “The signing of MoA led to the suspension of the eight-month-old strike on February 17. One of the fundamental clauses of the agreement is the promise of the Governing Council that ‘it will ensure that the governments (of Oyo and Osun states) will be made to be responsive to their legitimate responsibilities (funding inclusive) to the university’.

    “The Governing Council also promised to work out the modality of paying salary arrears, promotion arrears, earned academic allowances (EAA) as well as paying monthly salary as and when due. Of 11-month salary arrears owed, only one month has been paid.

    “The payment of monthly salary has become dwindling since May and nothing has been paid on promotion arrears and EAA. The union observed these reneges of the MoA on the part of the Governing Council and the university administration and several correspondences were made to the duo of the university administration and Governing Council to call their attention to the implications of reneging on the MoA.

    “It is worthy of note that most of the time, the Governing Council does not reply to our correspondence to it, and whenever it does, the message has been ‘bear with us until the university’s finance improves’. The latest of such correspondence to the Governing Council was on July 5. No reply was made on this correspondence.

    “Reviewing the MoA, the union observed that the situation in LAUTECH is not improving because the Visitors to the university are not responsive to their financial responsibilities to the university. The situation becomes unbearable to members of ASUU in LAUTECH, who are being owed 10 months’ salary, among others.

    “The branch sought and obtained permission to embark on a two-week warning strike from the National Executive Council of ASUU.

    “The ASUU LAUTECH branch is on a two-week warning strike due to poor funding of the university by the owner state governments. Let the owner state governments remember the masses and give them their social rights.”

  • LAUTECH heading towards collapse, says ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso has said the institution will soon shut its gates if nothing is done to rescue it.

    The union decried the decay of infrastructure in the institution.

    It expressed concern about “underfunding” of the institution by its co-owners of Osun and Oyo State governments.

    In a joint statement yesterday by its Chairman, Biodun Olaniran and Secretary, Toyin Abegunrin, the union said both state governments should be blame for whatever happens to the institution.

    The statement reads: “Recall that ASUU at LAUTECH, in a statement on July 26, warned about the impeding crises in the university due to government’s refusal to fund the university as part of their cardinal responsibilities to the Nigerian masses.

    “This has led to the accumulation of unpaid salaries. Prompt payment of salaries, which is a major motivating ingredient of productivity, has become a mirage in our erstwhile glorious and exemplary state university which, in the past, was the glory of Oyo and Osun states.

    “Presently, suffering and uncertainty of survival means have become the abiding companions of the workers. After the alarm the union raised in the statement, one expected that a sensitive government would respond positively towards averting the looming crises.

    “However, to our dismay, nothing was said or done on the statement. It is unfortunate that about eight months after the suspension of strike in the university, all the promises of the University Governing Council (GC), which led to the suspension, have not been fulfilled. It is saddening to report that up till now, the workers are being owed 10 months’ salary, promotion arrears, among other allowances. Salaries are being paid through Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), mainly from school fees.

    “It should be recalled that the union also called on the public to reach out to the Visitors to do the needful. Up till now, no response of any sort has been received.

    “Flowing from the litany of misfortunes foisted on the university by the government, as enumerated above, our union is left with no other option than to call out our members once again to return to the trenches in search of a lasting solution to the crises…”

  • LAUTECH students protest expulsion of colleagues

    Scores of students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, yesterday shut down the institution during their protest against the expulsion and suspension of 12 of their colleagues.

    The protesters were allegedly supported by members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

    They blocked the university’s main gate at 6.30 a.m, preventing workers and other students from entering the campus.

    The protest came at a day examinations were scheduled to start.

    According to newspeakonline.com, Abdulafeez Adeoti, son of the immediate past Secretary to Osun State Government (SSG), Moshood Adeoti, was among the students expelled for alleged post-students’ union election violence on June 13.

    The school authorities, after considering the report of a panel of enquiry into the violence, expelled four students and placed eight on suspension.

    The protesters called for immediate reinstatement of the suspended and expelled students, some of who are in their final year.

    The Students’ Union President Oluwaseun Laurel had a hard time urging the demonstrators to calm down.

    Quoting some sources, Newspeakonline said most students did not support of the protest as they claimed that they were not informed.

    The university’s spokesman could not be reached last night for comment.

  • LAUTECH expels students over union election violence

    The management of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology ( LAUTECH  ), on Wednesday, expelled four students and suspended eight others who allegedly sparked “crisis” after the Students’ Union election on June 13.

    The University Registrar J.A. Agboola said in a statement that the management approved the sanction after it “considered at length the report and recommendation of the panel set up to investigate the student crisis.”

    Eight out of the twelve sanctioned students, including the son of ex-Osun SSG Moshood Adeoti, were currently in their final year.

    In an earlier statement on June 16 after the Students’ Union election, the University, in an attempt to debunk a report by online blog Naijaloaded, had denied there being any “chaotic situation,” stating that there was “No fire in LAUTECH over Students’ election.”

    The University Public Relations Officer, Lekan Fadeyi had, however, further stated that a few students belonging to “unrecognized” political groups “wanted to start trouble” after the election which “was held peacefully.”

    He alleged that one of the students who previously served as the Speaker of the Students’ Representative Council “led thugs carrying guns and machetes” to invade the office of the Acting Dean of Students’ Affairs Dr Sunday Adewale, and that he also ambushed the Dean’s residence the previous night “threatening to kill him.”

    Read Also: LAUTECH  threatens to resume strike

    Four days later, on June 21, the University declared all unregistered groups illegal, a move which was believed to be directed at the political groups in the institution.

    The expulsion was, however, greeted with mixed opinions by the students as the news is coming amid rumors to increase the school fees to as high as N300,000 from the current N150,000, which was also a recent increment from N72,500.

    “They have unjustly rusticated numbers of students’ leaders on the basis of demonstration without vandalization after the last students’ union election,” said Oke Oluwaseun Isaac a former students’ union leader of the university.

    Oyedeji Ahmed, an activist and recent graduate of LAUTECH said, “I am not opposed to sanitizing the institution, neither am I in support of students’ act of lawlessness or indiscipline but a decision at this crucial time is unhealthy.”

  • LAUTECH threatens to resume strike

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomosho yesterday threatened to begin an indefinite strike if the owner-states of Oyo and Osun refuse to fulfil their agreement with the union.

    A joint statement by its Chairman, Biodun Olaniran, and Secretary, Toyin Abegunrin, expressed surprise that the two governments refused to fund the university, even after it audited its personnel and accounts.

    LAUTECH recently resumed from its eight month-old strike after the two states agreed to pay outstanding debt to the institution.

    ASUU said the institution lacked adequate funding, while its workers were owed 10 months’ salary and promotion arrears, among others.

    The union noted that besides non-payment of salary and other entitlements, there has been no infrastructural development on campus since the inception of the administration in Oyo and Osun states.

  • NiMet donates weather tools to LAUTECH

    The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has promised to ensure that weather stations in most Nigeria’s higher institutions are upgraded to meet World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) standard within a short period.

    The agency’s Director-General, who doubles as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative with the WMO, Prof Sani Abubakar Mashi, spoke yesterday during the donation of a weather station to the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

    He said findings revealed that weather stations at tertiary institutions needed urgent intervention to get to acceptable level.

    The agency chief said LAUTECH was chosen as a beneficiary of the gesture.

    Mashi added: “NiMet, as the nodal meteorological agency in the country, is bothered and has decided to intervene in getting such stations upgraded.”

    The NiMet chief, who was represented by a technical expert, said the agency had briefed the National Universities Commission (NUC) and secured its consent for the intervention in LAUTECH.

    He said: “We have made all necessary logistical arrangements to commence the installations, testing and training with immediate effect.”

    Mashi hoped LAUTECH would deploy the technology to form a solid foundation for robust weather/climate monitoring network and development of critical infrastructure.

    Thanking NiMet for the gift, LAUTECH Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adeniyi Gbadegesin, assured the agency that the institution would use the equipment well.

    Gbadegesin, a former President of the Association of Nigerian Geographers, said LAUTECH, being a university of technology, placed premium on adequate information of weather to everybody.

     

  • LAUTECH students for Hult Prize summer in London

    Hult Prize International Business School has invited three students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso to its Ashridge Estate Campus in Berkhamsted, United Kingdom.

    They will attend the school’s summer programme holding between July 22 and September1, 2018.

    The students came tops in the  finals of the competition.

    A letter by the organisation’s Head of Students Services, Giuseppe Saviano, said the students, Ogunfuwa Samson Olaoluwa, Adejinmi Barnabas Oluwagbenga and Akande Tolulope Similoluwa, were selected out of 100,000 applicants from 117 countries to participate in the Hult Prize Boot-Camp summer educational programme.

    He explained that the programme, now in its ninth year, has partnered  the United Nations to train young student leaders around the world on how to use business as a leading force for sustainability in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.

    Briefing the Vice-Chancellor of LAUTECH, Professor Adeniyi Gbadegesin, the students leader, Ogunfuwa Samson Olaoluwa, said his team worked on a solar food box, a project meant to enable farmers grow crops without using the soil and dependent on early day light and water nutrient.

    He added that the focus of the project included affording the farmers the opportunity of three times yield, with less labour time and quality products.

    An elated Gbadegesin who later personally assisted one of the team members with fund to procure an international passport to ensure that he joined others to participate at the Boot-Camp, praised the students for doing the Institution proud.

    He said Management was willing to assist the team with whatever logistic that would be required to win the $1 million prize at the global level.