Osun Assembly slams LAUTECH mgt over lack of equity and fairness

Osun State House of Assembly has frown at the management of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho for not being equitable in the management of the institution.

It also directed the Management and the Governing Council to revert its decision “on the injustice” meted out to the Bursar of the institution, Mr Olagunju Adeniyi over his appointment.

Members of the Assembly who expressed their displeasure at a meeting with the management of the institution at the Assembly Complex in Osogbo on Wednesday, said the state was not being given the fair share of the benefits from the University.

The University is jointly owned and being co-funded by the Osun and Oyo states.

A statement by the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy said, the Speaker, Honourable Najeem Salaam, who led the discussions, said, in the area of construction of facilities, appointment of staff, welfare among others, Osun has always been cheated by the management, saying, majority of the benefit are skewed in favour of Oyo state.

According to him, most of the intervention funds, including TETFUND have been used majorly in Oyo, while the College of Medicine located in Osun was left undeveloped.

He said that since the institution is jointly owned and co-funded, there must be equity in the sharing of its benefits, saying, the Assembly would not allow the injustice to continue.

Noting that the governments of the two states have no issue with the sharing of the benefits, he observed that the civil servants in the institution have been using their discretion to cause disharmony between the two states.

He said the state Assembly would go to any length to get what is due to the state without going beyond its boundary or clash with its sister state Oyo.

On the appointment of Bursar, the speaker directed the LAUTECH management to review his case and ensure that justice is done.

The bursar, registrar and librarian of the institution have been holding the position on acting capacity since 2013 and were recently confirmed as substantive office holders with five years tenure.

When the letters were issued to the registrar and the librarian as substantive office holders to spend five year tenure starting from 2016, the bursar was isolated and reportedly had his letter back dated to 2013 to spend only more two years, a situation that attracted the rages of the Assembly.

The speaker then directed that the bursar should either be issued his own letter of five year tenure, or the appointments of other officers are back dated to 2013 to ensure justice in the matter.

He subsequently commended the management of the institution for using ingenuity to generate revenue and sustain the payment of salary of its staff when the owner states were having difficulties in paying the subvention to the institution.

Speaking, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Abiodun Adebayo who represented the Vice Chancellor said some of the decisions that have attracted the rages of the Assembly were actually taken by the Governing Council.

He said he would take the concern of the house to the management for review and necessary actions.