Oyo State Governor, Engineer Oluseyi Makinde, has explained why the state took over the total ownership of Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH).
Makinde said the total ownership takeover of LAUTECH, by the Oyo State government was because the joint ownership system with the Osun State government was not yielding positive results.
The governor disclosed this while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune’s Board of Editors on the achievements of his administration in the educational sector.
It will be recalled that the National Universities Commission (NUC), had, in November, 2020 gave full ownership of LAUTECH to Oyo State Government under Governor Makinde.
Speaking on the reason for the total takeover, Makinde said, “When we came in, the joint ownership of LAUTECH by Osun and Oyo states was not working.
“Students were spending a period of eight years on a five-year programme. Thankfully, we were able to take sole ownership of LAUTECH and they have continued with more improvement and have taken their destinies into their own hands.”
Speaking further, the PDP governor said his Oyo state-led government has been able to secure the upgrading of Emmanuel Alayande College of education to a fully-fledged university of education, stabilise academic activities at the First Technical University, Ibadan,
Makinde said, “Recently, we saw the need to upgrade the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education to a University of Education and we did all the necessary things, put all the needed resources to help them function optimally. We have the approval already and we now have a University of Education.”
He continued, “When I came in, the First Technical University had issues, but when you buy a company, which is the same as taking over an administration, you take up both the liability and assets and we have been able to stabilise that.
“So, the meaning of all of that is: over the next 40 to 50 years, we have one conventional university that is sponsored by the state – LAUTECH. And you have two specialised universities.”
The governor also disclosed that no fewer than 60,000 out-of-school students in Oyo State have been returned to classes with the provision of free notebooks and textbooks by the state government.
“When we came in, I promised to get as many of our students that are out of school back into classrooms.
“And a major impediment was the payment of the N3,000 levy that was imposed. We removed it and between then and now, we have been able to get about 60,000 out-of-school children back into the classrooms. Also, in terms of quality, we made a compendium for the students, gave them notebooks, textbooks.”
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