The Oyo state government has taken full control of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in a bid to end the management tussle between Oyo and Osun states over the institution.
This was made known by Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) on Friday, November 20, 2020 in Abuja after a mutually agreed dissolution was formalized through the signing of a memorandum of agreement by the executive governors of Oyo and Osun States.
The signing was witnessed by the attorneys general of both states, giving legal effect to the transfer of ownership of LAUTECH to the government of Oyo State and the College of Health Sciences, Oshogbo to the government of Osun State.
Speaking on the development on Friday, the NUC boss said the decision was due to the irregular payment of salaries as well as governance and management challenges affecting the appointments of vice-chancellors and other principal officers for the institution.
Prof. Rasheed said that the NUC was ready to work with all the stakeholders to ensure full and faithful implementation of the terms of agreement between the state governments.
He also promised that the NUC would play its part to ensure LAUTECH gets back on track to discharge its tripodal mandates of teaching, research and community service.
LAUTECH was established in 1990, by the Oyo State Government with its main campus located in Ogbomoso, while its teaching hospital was located in Oshogbo.
In 1991, Osun State was carved out of Oyo State and Oshogbo became the capital of Osun.
As a result, both states became joint owners of the institution.
