FOLLOWING the crisis which has continued to trail the ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), the Oyo State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, directed the state government to disengage from the joint ownership of the institution.

The chairman, House Committee on Education, Honourable Oladimeji Oladapo, moved the motion under the notice of urgent matter at the House sitting on Tuesday.

To this end, the House has directed all its indigenes working in the LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State, to report today to Ogbomoso in Oyo State and get further directives from the management of the institution, as the state government moved to severe joint ownership of LAUTECH with Osun State government.

It also resolved that all academic staff members of the LAUTECH Teaching Hospital and College of Health Sciences, Osogbo, who are non-indigenes of Oyo State and are willing to take up employment with the management of LAUTECH, should report to the management at Ogbomoso, today.

The House noted that there had been waning of interest resulting in failure to honour financial responsibilities and funding of capital projects by the Osun State government since it started its multi-campus university, which was another source of distraction from commitment to LAUTECH.

While reacting, the Special Adviser to the Osun State Governor on Media, Mr Lasisi Olagunju, said “we do not believe it is true, but if it is true, it is antithetical to sound reasoning.”

Olagunju, in a statement, urged all staff and students of LAUTECH, irrespective of their states of origin, to remain calm and continue with their schedule of duties.

He also called for restraint on the part of the state government on the matter in the interest of the students, especially medical students in clinical classes, whose future was being threatened by these strange moves.

“On our part, we remain bound by the provision of the law which established LAUTECH which has not been abrogated.

“We are equally bound by the decision of the Osun State House of Assembly which has affirmed the resolve of our people to maintain and sustain LAUTECH as a heritage with Oyo State,” Lasisi said.

Source: http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/7559-disengage-from-lautech-joint-ownership-oyo-assembly-tells-alao-akala-we-are-bound-by-law-osun-govt