How LAUTECH Crisis Could be Solved-Alumni President, Appeals to ASUU to Suspend Strike

How LAUTECH Crisis Could be Solved-Alumni President, Appeals to ASUU to Suspend Strike

The President of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Alumni Association, Mr Babjide Bewaji has highlighted ways be which the impasse of the university could be resolved.

According to Bewaji, there are short-term, mid-term and long term solution to the crisis rocking the institution which has subjected the students to undue academic and moral humiliation.

Part of the solutions, according to Bewaji is the suspension of the industrial action embarked upon by Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other unions in LAUTECH.

Babajide Bewaji

Bewaji, a member of the Governing Council of the university, said the suspension of the strike for resumption of academic activities in the institution is necessary to safe the future of thousands of students of the university from unnecessary delay.

He made the call while featuring on a radio programme in Osogbo, on Friday.

ASUU had embarked on strike over non-payment of their five months salaries and 23-months subvention by the Oyo and Osun states government.

Speaking on the ownership crisis rocking the institution, Bewaji said the underline problem of the crisis is the inability of the two states to fund the university and pay its workers.

According to Bewaji, Osun state government owes 14 months while Oyo state government owes eight months subventions, saying the most important thing is how to settle backlog of salaries owned the workers.

He disclosed that LAUTECH had been paying workers salaries with Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) until the unions on decided to say no to payment of salaries with IGR on the ground that IGR is supposed to be for research and other developmental schemes.

Bewaji maintained that there is nothing wrong in using IGR to pay workers salaries, to avoid the disruption of lectures and other academic activities for the sake of the students.

“The future of the students is important to us and we want the striking unions to reason along that line too. Considering the reality of the economy, there is nothing wrong in using IGR to pay salaries. Osun and Oyo states government are financially incapacitated”, he added.

The Alumni president opposed the call for Osun state government to hands off the university and allows its Oyo state to takeover it, describing such call as ill-informed, selfish and unpopular.

He disclosed that there was a Memo issued by Oyo state government on September 20, 2016 with a heading “stoppage of subvention to all the state owned institutions”, and another letter to the Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Provosts, telling them that it could not be paying their subventions.

Bewaji maintained that a government that could not pay the salaries of doctors in teaching hospital in Ogbomoso and the subventions could not solely run the university.

“We have to come to the reality of the situation. The students are suffering and they are at the receiving end. We must find timely and lasting solutions to the problem. There are short time, medium and long time solutions to the problem.

“The first thing and the short time solution is to appeal to ASUU and other union to accept what we have know. The two states government are not forthcoming, though Osun state Governor; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has promised to start giving us whatever they are giving to other MDAs from October.

“We have also followed the promise to the Chairman of Allocation Committee, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu and LAUTECH has been listed to be receiving subvention from October. It will interest you that UNIOSUN has not also been paid, and we were able to secure UNIOSUN into that arrangement, alongside LAUTECH.

“What we are planning was that immediately we receive that payment, we will start paying salary. The medium term solution is to have a larger LAUTECH. We have presented our proposal to the two governors and they are working on it.

“We want to create window in all the state institutions in Oyo and Osun to be getting the certificate of LAUTECH. We do not intend to increase tuition fee, we want to broaden our scope of generating revenue so that the university will be able to stand without relying on the two states government.

“As governing council, we sat down and looked at different options that we will adopt to ensure that LAUTECH continue to exist. Another thing I want ASUU and other striking union in LAUTECH to know is that the IGR we are talking about is government money. If government decides tomorrow that pay everything into government account, there is nothing we can do about it.

“I am appealing to the striking unions to make the sacrifice; they should call of the strike.

“For a very long time, Osun and Oyo State government have been paying the salary regularly, but for sometimes now, they have not been able to do so again. We are not happy about this; we have met the governments on it. The states governments have shown they would not be able to fund the universities single-handedly in all ramitification. If we say we want to be at home, we will be at home forever.”