VC: LAUTECH To End Strike Soon

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, has assured stakeholders the strike by workers will end soon.

He said the governing council would find a lasting solution to challenges facing the institution.

Addressing reporters at the College of Health Sciences in Osogbo, Osun State capital, Prof. Afolabi said: “We had our inaugural meeting at the main campus in Ogbomoso on August 9, 2017, and designed a 90-day action plan, which has started in earnest.

“We are determined to bring LAUTECH to Canaan.

“We have set timelines that are achievable for the activities of council in handling the challenges and tasked ourselves to resuscitate the university and redirect its resources to fulfil the vision of its founding fathers.

“From various interactions of council with diverse stakeholders, we realised we all are on the same page, working towards the same goal.

“We all realised the council should spare no effort to get the university back on track and reopen for students to continue their studies and move on in their academic pursuit.

“The Strategic Intervention Team, on its own, has advised the new council to interact more closely with workers through their union to gain their confidence and boost their morale, which was observed to be at low ebb owing to the non-payment of their salaries for some 10 months.”

The vice chancellor said the council was neither sleeping nor insensitive to incessant strikes by workers.

He said: “Since we were inaugurated, we have called all stakeholders and with the way we are now, we are closer to the answer than when we started.

“We may not give a categorical date but we can assure you that you can start counting days and not weeks. Let everybody be hopeful.

“As regards the pattern of funding of the institution, the take of this council is that the funding model must change radically. We don’t expect the university to be going cap-in-hand to the owner-states every month if they will fund the school.

“We expect that whatsoever would be provided should be within the basket that enables planning with the resources so that we could also be creative and add value, not just be a body that is just absorbing money.”

Source: The Nations