By Yusuf Oketola
STUDENTS and staff of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), who are in the College of Health Sciences, Osogbo, State of Osun have been asked to return to the main campus in Ogbomoso.
The staff and students were asked to report to LAUTECH, Ogbomoso on Monday, as contained in an Internal Memo dated December 2, 2020 and signed by one A.J. Ogunkunle.
The College of Health Sciences is made up of various departments, staff and students in the field of Medicine and Surgery, Medical Laboratory Technology and Nursing Sciences.
But the directive did not go down well with some of the staff and students, as they complained about the suddenness of the action ordered by the management and its consequent attendant inconveniences.
The directive is part of the aftermath effects of the dissolution of joint ownership of the university by the two owner states of Osun and Oyo.
Oyo State has successfully taken sole ownership of LAUTECH, which necessitated some restructuring.
Reacting to the directive of the university’s management, some of the students who spoke with OSUN DEFENDER under condition of anonymity said the restructuring of academic and non-academic programmes of the institution should be a gradual process.
The students said the relocation directive was too early, rash and inconsiderate, calling on the management to give them some time before reporting to Ogbomoso.
According to the students, the management should have allowed them to conclude their academic programmes in Osogbo before transferring them to Ogbomoso.
One of the students who gave her name as Tosin Ajakaye, a Nursing student said: “We had thought that the management would allow us to complete our academic activities here in Osogbo after the dissolution of the joint ownership.
“But the management has suddenly asked us to move to Ogbomoso, where we didn’t have any accommodation. How does the management want us to cope? The management should have considered the inconveniences this relocation would inflict on us.
“We understand that things have changed, but the management should consider us. The economy is hard and everybody is struggling to eat and survive. The management should please be kind to us.”
Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER in several interviews, some staff members of the institution complained bitterly against the inconvenience unleashed on them through the sudden relocation directives, cautioning management to make the take-over processes a gradual affair.
However, the government of the state of Osun has assured indigenes of the state who are working in LAUTECH of job security and good welfare package.
The government, in a public service announcement, said it had no reason to doubt the fact that Oyo State Government would continue to honour the Memorandum of Understanding entered on the dissolution of the LAUTECH joint ownership.
