MoU On LAUTECH Joint Ownership Dissolution Concealed

 

Osun Indigene Staff Members Raise Concern Over Mgt. Attitude 

By Ismaeel Uthman

THE contents of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the governments of Osun and Oyo states on the dissolution of joint ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso is still not known to the public.

Details of the MoU, as at the time of filing this report, were not made known to the public, a month after the dissolution of the joint ownership. 

Findings by OSUN DEFENDER revealed that the management of the university, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Non Academic Staff Union of Universities, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, the LAUTECH Alumni Association, workers and other stakeholders in the tertiary institution did not know the contents of the MoU.

The secrecy on the MoU has brought about suspicion on the fairness of the dissolution process and gains likely to accrue to the State of Osun in quitting the 29-year-old joint ownership. 

In a letter written to the Vice-Chancellor of the university on November 27, 2020, Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Olasunkanmi Olaleye, it was stated that all landed properties and movable assets in the College of Health Sciences in Osogbo, Mercy Land and Ilie shall vest exclusively in the State of Osun. 

Olaleye also informed the VC that all Osun and Oyo indigenes working in LAUTECH shall retain all their rights and obligations as stipulated in their letters of engagement and the current students of the university from the two states shall also retain their rights as students of owner-states till the completion of their programmes when the rights shall expire. 

Also, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital in Osogbo was ceded to Osun. The hospital has been subsequently named Osun State University Teaching Hospital. 

The Public Relations Officer of the University, Mr. Lekan Fadeyi, when contacted on phone on Wednesday said the school does not have the MoU. 

Fadeyi said: “The school would not have the MoU. The two governors (of Osun and Oyo states) would have. The committee was not set up by the school; it was set up by the governors. So they would not report to the school, but to the two governors who inaugurated the committee.”

But workers of the university and other interested members of the public have been asking questions on the details of the MoU. 

The workers, particularly those of Osun extraction, began to ask questions on the MoU when students and staff of the university at the College of Health Sciences, Osogbo were asked to move to the Main Campus, Ogbomoso last week Monday as contained in the Decision Extract of a special meeting held by the management on December 2. 

The university had also in a memo issued by the Deputy Registrar/ College Secretary, Mrs. A.A Oguntunde, on Tuesday, directed the staff members of the college who are mostly from Osun to confirm their intent to continue their services with LAUTECH in writing. 

 According to the workers, the government should make the MoU available to them since the joint ownership dissolution affects them directly. 

They stated that in spite of the agreement between the two states, their jobs seem no longer secure in the university, going by their past experience.

They urged the State Government of Osun to make necessary arrangements to absolve all Osun indigenes working in LAUTECH who are willing to return home. 

OSUN DEFENDER gathered that all the records of students and staff at the College of Health Sciences in Osogbo were moved to Ogbomoso on Tuesday. 

It was also gathered the College staff members were hanging around at the College Annex and other buildings in Ogbomoso  as they were not provided any office.

The workers were also asked to be signing register daily on campus, which was not in place before the dissolution of the joint ownership. 

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER, the Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Univrsities, LAUTECH branch, Alhaji Alesinloye Muraina confirmed that the MoU on the joint ownership dissolution was not made available to the workers. 

According to Muraina, the LAUTECH workers in Osogbo who were moved to Ogbomoso were subjected to undignified treatment, saying that they were made to loiter around in different places on campus. 

 He said: “I don’t like the way they are treating my people. They were not given offices to sit, yet they ask them to be signing (attendance registers) every day. They were made to hang around in deferent offices where there is no furniture. 

“The Government of Osun should do something quickly for those who are willing to return home. Not everybody is interested in returning home.”

Speaking with OSUN DEFENDER the Chairman of the Osun Committee on the joint ownership dissolution, Prof. Olu Aina assured the workers that their jobs and welfare are well protected in the MoU.

Aina, who urged the workers to have faith in Governor Oyetola, said neither the management, nor Oyo State Government would frustrate them, saying that the transfer of the staff of the College of Health Sciences in Osogbo is part of normal process after the dissolution.

He stated that all the fears of the workers and students have been addressed in the MoU, even as he submitted that he could not explain why the document was not made available to the public by the two governments.