Unless the two-owner state governments of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, urgently address myriads of problems confronting it, the enviable records of the institution among the comity of universities in the country may start to dwindle.
The institution is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states.
LAUTECH is fast losing its seasoned academics due to
what the academics referred to as “inconducive and harsh workingm environment”, hence they seek greener pastures in other varsities within and outside the country with better packages.
Similarly, young lecturers and other non-academic staff now use the university as stepping stones to actualise their frantic search for well-funded varsities, be it public or private.
The Oyo State Government appointed Professor Sulaiman Adeniyi Gbadegesin, as Vice -Chancellor of the university.
Gbadegesin , a renowned Professor of Geography from the University of Ibadan (UI), is an indigene of Oyo town.
Investigation conducted authoritatively revealed that the rate at which the lecturers are leaving LAUTECH is so alarming that it cuts across all the departments.
For instance, it was reliably gathered that at the peak of crisis of ownership in 2010, virtually all staff at the Department of Transport Management left the University for another institution.
Others include gross under funding and shortage of office
accommodations. The available lecture halls and laboratories are so inadequate that they cannot cope with the over-bloated students’ population.
Some of the academics interviewed expressed strong indignation on the funding of the institution, which they described as “grossly inadequate”.
“The quantum of funding is not what they (owner state governments) are giving the university. LAUTECH is augmenting payment of salaries. For about 12 months running, the university has not been allocated a kobo by the two owner state governments. If not for proactiveness
and sense of commitment of our dynamic Vice-Chancellor, the institution would by now become a shadow of itself.”
“A situation whereby you want the university to generate revenue internally, you are likely to compromise standard. It is the duty of owner state governments to adequately fund the institution, in order to be able to accomplish its vision and mission.”
They hinted that the situation is so bad that the academics not only go cap in hand begging wealthy individuals and corporate organizations to put up structures, students also build halls for their own use.
On research and development, ASUU members informed that whatever breakthroughs achievable were through individual sacrifices, saying that the university has not done anything to motivate, or assist the academics.
According to them, “imagine a professor spending his personal money to build a pent house in the institution, for the experimentation of animals. Whose responsibility it is? It will also interest you to know that LAUTECH has no pension scheme, so, where lies the future of the academics after they might have meritoriously served the
institution? The conditions under which we are working here is so terrible that we make personal sacrifices to make things work. We are greatly losing competent and experienced academics in this institution due to a working environment that is not conducive at all. This is the time for the owner-state governments to, as a matter of utmost concern, address the situation before getting out of hand.”
