FORMER governor of Oyo state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja on Wednesday donated a sum of N5, 840, 000 to #FundLAUTECH, an initiative set up by the Alumni.
The initiative, which was conceived and conceptualized by Alumni of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso is aimed at rescuing the institution from imminent collapse through soliciting for fund.
The Accord Party (AP) leader donated N2, 000, 000 and his next 6 months pension salaries to the cause. Sources who spoke to Mega Icon Magazine disclosed that his pension, is N644, 589.15 per month.
Ladoja, who is the Osi Olubadan of Ibadanland, made the donation while receiving the team in his Bodija home in Ibadan.
In a related development, the 8 Accord lawmakers in the Oyo State House of Assembly also pledged a donation of N1, 000, 000.
Speaking at the reception, Ladoja, who said he did not have the privilege of going to LAUTECH, but studied in Belgium, noted: “I know the value of education. If you educate your child, you are ensuring a good future for yourself.
“It is not only that you are serving LAUTECH, you are serving humanity. What is going to be the fate of those students who have been in the same class for close to three years. Whatever happens to LAUTECH happens to all of us. My records are there in LAUTECH, as governor. I wanted to make the school number one but we made 5th position.
“That is commendable. Why thinking of the immediate, we must plan for the future. Is it safe to give it to government? Is it safe to trust government with LAUTECH. It is not good for us to think of ways of making it a private university with affordable fees. What is wrong in having a joint ownership?”, he questioned.
Earlier in his address, the leader of delegation of the University’s Alumni Association, Mr. Bayo Adeyinka narrated how many current and former students of the institution lost foreign admissions because they were unable to process their transcripts, adding that “about 37 consultants have left the university.”
He added that “Ogbomoso is now a ghost town because the economy of the state is attached to the university. If any of the students who have been at home for 3 years take to arms, who are we going to blame? Anybody can be the victim.
“We are not saying the state should not audit the institution, let the school be opened. You cannot even audit when they are not in school.
“What we are doing is like a palliative. We are working with ASUU. When we finish raising the fund, we will give the staffs and they will resume while the government continues auditing, within 3 weeks.
He continued, ” our long term objective is that by the time this is resolved, we want to use the fund to open an ICT hub so that everybody can develop technological thing in LAUTECH. Our short term is on what we can do to resolve this issue. Things have become worse that when they resume, some courses will have to be reaccredited.
It would be recalled that the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who promised to chair the initiative’s Board of Trustees, donated N500, 000 to the cause last week.
