Why Osun Should Hand Off Lautech – Founding Father

Sequel to the crisis rocking Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), one of the founding fathers of Osun State said he headed the committee that recommended that Osun State should hand off the institution and allow Oyo to be the sole owner.

The Pioneer Registrar and Chief Executive of National Bussiness Technical Examination Board, (NABTEB), Professor Olu Aina disclosed this while fielding questions from journalists in Osogbo, Osun State as part of preparation for his 80th birthday celebrations.

According to the academic guru, he was the chairman of the committee set up to find solutions to the problems of the institution when it was engulfed in crisis that persisted even till today.

According to him, the committee arrived at the solution having realized that apart from the fact that LAUTECH was located on Oyo State land, Osun was already working on its own university as at then.

He attributed the persistent problem facing the institution to political miscalculation of the leadership of the two states who rather than concentrate on the development were struggling for power and fame.

His words: “I was one of the people that worked for the establishment of LAUTECH, as a matter of fact, I was at ABU, Zaria and I had to frequent Ibadan to work for the creation of the institution”.

“LAUTECH started extremely well, so well that it became the highest ranking state University in the country, At some point, they lost this honour, again as a result of political miscalculation by the leadership of Oyo and Osun and instead of concentrating on development, they were struggling for power, for fame”.

“I had returned back home when all that was happening, and I was called upon to serve in finding solutions to the problems, The Oyinlola administration set up a committee which I chaired”.

“The committee which I headed in finding solutions to the problems of LAUTECH recommended very strongly that because LAUTECH was on Oyo state land, because Osun was starting its own university, and also because it will be more efficient to reduce exposure and expenditure, the committee recommended that Osun should give up its ownership of the institution and let Oyo have it”.

“I don’t know what happened to the recommendation, it was jettisoned, I don’t know who was displeased with it. We saw that that was the best solution and before you know it, we started hearing that that was not the vision of the founding fathers of Osun”

“I was one of the founding fathers of Osun and there was no time we said Osun should hang on with it and even at that time up till today, I strongly believe that that is the best solution and it is not yet too late” He concluded.