* Varsity awaits new VC, truce committee’s report

By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan

Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) community is eagerly awaiting the appointment of a new vice chancellor following the resolution of the tussle between the joint owners – Oyo and Osun State governments.

The tussle that lasted several months had put the future of about 25,000 students of the university of jeopardy as the National Universities Commission, NUC, threatened mid-July to withdraw the institution’s licence if the problem was not resolved in two weeks. The appointment of the vice chancellor by a committee is part of the crisis resolution terms of a parley initiated by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade. The committee is also to submit a report on peaceful resolution of the crisis.

When the process that  led to the  establishment of the LAUTECH was started  in 1987 by the then military governor, Colonel Adetunji Olurin, as he then was,  it was done so that the old Oyo State could be proud owner of a university of its own.

And  since Osun was carved out of the state in 1991, the two states had  related  like Siamese twins until the tussle  over the ownership of the institution erupted. It started  when Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State  suggested that the joint ownership should be severed. His request met a stiff resistance from his Osun State counterpart, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who argued that his  state would not let go of a property that was to serve as a unifying force between the two states.

While Osun  stuck to its gun that it would not allow what it considered as a slap on its face, Oyo said the controversy  remained unduly prolonged because of the failure of Osun  to allow empirical facts to determine and influence its actions and decisions on the dispute….

Continued