The governor of
Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, has blamed his Oyo State counterpart,
Adebayo Alao-Akala for the ownership crisis facing the Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology ( LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, saying despite Mr
Alao-Akala’s unilateral announcement that the institution is solely
owned by Oyo State, it remains the joint property of both states.
Mr. Aregbesola’s
criticism follows the refusal of the Oyo State governor to back down on
the increment of fees at the institution.
Addressing a press
conference in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, yesterday, Mr Aregbesola
also faulted moves by Mr Akala to relocate the university’s College of
Health Sciences from Osogbo to Ogbomosho, the Oyo governor’s home town.
Mr Aregbesola said
the law that established the university was specific about the location
of the College of Health Sciences and the Teaching Hospital arms of the
university.
The institution was
established in 1990 by the old Oyo State and since Osun State was
created out of the old Oyo State in 1991, the two states have jointly
funded the institution. But the Oyo State governor has made efforts to
claim sole ownership of the university.
In January, the
management of the school announced a 100 per cent increase in the
school fees paid by both indigenes and non-indigenes, which ignited a
sharp disagreement between the students and the university management.
With the new fees,
fresh undergraduate students who were indigenes of Oyo State were to
pay N100,000 as against N40,000 being paid previously, while
non-indigenes had their fee jacked up from N50,000 to N110,000 per
session.
But the Osun State
governor, who announced a reduction in the tuition fees paid by
students of the university, said the recent hike in tuition fees to be
paid at the school recently announced by Mr Alao-Akala was illegal and
of no effect. He thereafter called on the management of the institution
to reverse the university’s tuition fees to the old rate.
Mr Aregbesola, in
his speech titled “This Executive Lawlessness must Stop”, said Mr
Alao-Akala has conducted himself in illegal ways through the
appointment of a new Vice Chancellor and Registrar for the university
without seeking the approval of the Osun State governor, who is
co-visitor to the university.
“We dissociate
totally from all unilateral decisions taken by Alao-Akala, as no single
state can unilaterally increase school fees in LAUTECH. It is the joint
property of the two states as set up in the laws that established the
institution. The actions of Akala are outrageous, insensitive and
illegal and we shall not relent until justice is done,” he said.
Mr. Aregbesola said
he was disturbed by the abuse of the law by the Oyo State governor,
noting that the ownership of the university remains 50/50 between Oyo
and Osun states until the Supreme court and the National Universities
Commission (NUC) decides otherwise.
Resolve the impasse
He said the Osun
State government had fulfilled all its financial obligations to the
university, as it had paid its counterpart fund from July 2010 to
December 2010.
“It is the turn of Oyo State government to fulfil its own part, running from January 2011 to June 2011,” he said.
He also told the
gathering that the decision of Mr Alao-Akala on the university did not
gain the backing of the people of Oyo State and called on the people to
vote him out of office in the April election.
He said a number of
Yoruba leaders, including traditional rulers, have made effort to get
Mr Alao- Akala to reconsider his stance on the institution to no avail.
“Akala has been
instigating the people of Ogbomosho, his home town against the people
of Osun State. He should know that we are one and indivisible Yoruba,
bounded together by the same norms and culture from Kogi to Lagos
states,” Mr Aregbesola said.
His speech was welcomed by enthusiastic students of the university who were also at the press conference.
