Oyo Government To Provide More Resources For Academic Excellence

Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, has declared that his administration will continue to provide necessary resources to ensure that the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, remains on the ascendancy of academic excellence.

The governor, who stated this while receiving the Governing Council and the Management Team of LAUTECH at the Courtesy Room of the Governor’s Office, said he was gladdened by the progress made so far by the University.

He noted that the success story of LAUTECH helped greatly in his administration’s victory with the planned upgrade of the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, to a University of Education.

Makinde appreciated the people of Ogbomoso land and the LAUTECH community for their support in the March 18 governorship and House of Assembly elections, saying his government would not let them down as it moves into the second term of four years.

“Ogbomoso and the LAUTECH community spoke loud and clear for me. Not only did you deliver in that election, you gave us the members of the House of the Assembly that will work with us. It was a complete departure from what happened four years ago, when I won just one local government out of five. This time around, we got 5/5.

“Even, we had disinformation in the period leading to the election. They said all the LAUTECH courses have been taken away from Ogbomoso to somewhere else. They went to Iseyin too and said the government had been lying and that nothing had been brought to Iseyin. Well, people didn’t listen to them and that is why I want to use this opportunity to say thank you, Ogbomosoland and LAUTECH community,” the governor said.

Governor Makinde, who noted that the state government was aware of the challenges being faced by LAUTECH, said his government would always be committed to the institution, adding that the resources already put into the University’s Campus in Iseyin and the fixing of the Ogbomoso-Fapote-Iseyin Road were proofs of that commitment.

He said: “I know some of the challenges you are faced with. In every relationship, you must have disagreement but sometimes misunderstanding may be because of not engaging enough or when a right message has not been properly passed across.

“Not only have we put resources into the Iseyin campus of the University, the link between Ogbomoso and Iseyin is almost done. It will take less than an hour to move from the main campus to the College at Iseyin. And for us, it is also integrating the economies of those major zones of Oyo State,” the governor asserted.

He saluted the management and governing council for what had been achieved in terms of quickly turning things around for LAUTECH, explaining that he easily got the support he needed for the Emmanuel Alayande College from the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) because of the harmonious working relationship between LAUTECH Management, the Governing Council and the government in the state.

“So, we want to keep that up as we also know that challenges will come. We should be able to look ourselves straight in the face and tell us what the challenges are while we attend to them in the best interest of our people,” Makinde stated.

The Chairman of the Governing Council, Prof. Omole, disclosed that the university was already living the dream of the governor by making the institution a university of first choice, adding that it was already oversubscribed.

Prof. Omole noted that the institution was poised to perform even better with the establishment of the campus in Iseyin and requested the state government to tap the myriads of professionals in its employ for consultancy works, to enable the school raise more revenue.

Olusola Akintonde