NUC approves transfer of LAUTECH to Oyo State
By Doosuur Iwambe
The National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved the transfer of ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho and the College Of Health Sciences located in Oshogbo to the government of Osun State.
Addressing a news conference in Abuja on Friday, the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed said that the decision was taken after extensive deliberation, negotiations and consultations with the governors and stakeholders from both states.
According to Prof. Rasheed, a tripartite committee comprising representatives of Osun and Oyo States chaired by the NUC deputy secretary was constituted to interface with stakeholders with the aim of finding an amicable solution to the crisis.
He said the committee in a bid to achieve an equitable and mutually agreeable dissolution of the joint ownership of LAUTECH by Osun and Oyo States will be in the overall interest of the university, adding that a legal framework was thereafter adopted by the two states.
‘’The tripartite committee commenced its assignment on March 15. It paid courtesy visits and held extensive meetings and interactions with the governors of Osun and Oyo States and other stakeholders, including the management and staff of the institutions as well as unions.
“The committee also received written memorandum/position papers from the university management, staff unions and the governments of Osun and Oyo States.
It is gratifying to note that after extensive deliberations, negotiations and consultations, both owner states mutually agreed terms and the joint ownership of LAUTECH was formally dissolved.
‘’The mutually agreed dissolution was formalized through the signing of a memorandum of agreement by the governors of Oyo and Osun States, witnessed by the attorneys general of both states, giving a legal effect to the transfer of ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) to the government of Oyo State and the College of Health Sciences, Oshogbo to the government of Osun State.
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‘’NUC wishes to commend and express its profound gratitude to the Governor of Osun State, Adegboyega Oyetola and Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for their exemplary statesmanship, leadership and the tremendous sacrifice by putting the interest of LAUTECH and its over 30, 000 students above political and other considerations,’’ he said.
It would be recalled that the Oyo State government had for over two decades been making efforts to force Osun State out of the joint ownership of LAUTECH and take sole possession of the institution.
LAUTECH was established on April 23, 1990 as the Oyo State University of Technology, but the subsequent creation of Osun State in August 1991 led to the change of the institution’s name to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, with the two states claiming joint ownership.
