Makinde Increase Education Budget To 20 Per cent In 2020,Inaugurates Committee On LAUTECH Ownership |OGBOMOSO INFO|

Oyo State Governor, Engineer Seyi Makinde has announced the increment of the state’s education budget to 20 per cent in 2020.

The Governor, who announced the decision while speaking at a consultative meeting with stakeholders at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, said that in 2020, Oyo State would devote 20 per cent of its budget to education.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, confirmed that the Governor told the gathering at LAUTECH that the state was jerking up its budget allocation to education to 20 per cent.

Besides, the Governor also announced the approval of N500 million subvention to LAUTECH to address the demands of its workforce.

 He stated that the only condition his government would give the university was that stakeholders in the school must submit a written agreement to his office on how the funds would be disbursed.

Governor Makinde is one of the two Visitors to the institution jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states.

According to the Governor, the visit to the University, which has been enmeshed in labour crisis over its joint ownership, was with a view to seeing things first-hand and ascertaining the situation in the institution ahead of the inauguration of the Oyo State’s committee on the ownership crisis.

Governor Makinde maintained that he would inaugurate the Oyo State’s committee, which will work with its Osun State counterpart on how to resolve the University’s crisis today [Wednesday], noting that in line with his promise during the electioneering period, his government would find a lasting solution to the LAUTECH crisis.

Governor Makinde, who stated that he remained committed to his promise that the University would be adequately funded and that its academic calendar would become regular and definite, said there had been challenges to the realization of the promise because the institution was jointly owned.

The Governor, however, maintained that though the issue of joint ownership has muddled things up, the aspiration of his government remained that LAUTECH would be counted among the best in the world, urging people not exercise fears over their jobs or what would become of them, as he assured that Oyo and Osun states would resolve the matter as brothers.

At the interactive meeting attended by students, workers, University management and indigenes of Ogbomoso, among others, representatives of NASU, SSANU and Federating Units of Ogbomoso Indigenes placed their demands before the Governor, with most of the speakers including the president of the Ogbomoso indigenes, Alhaji Saka Bello Aremu and Comrade Makinde Oyewande, making strong cases for the sole ownership of the institution by Oyo State.

In his response, Governor Makinde said: “I will always listen to you as I have just done. The reason government exists is to enable the people to benefit from the dividends of democracy. On the issue of joint ownership of LAUTECH, there is no family in Oyo State that does not have a linkage with Osun State. We were all of Oyo State before. I have appealed to the management of this institution that we should not go towards xenophobic issues. We are brothers and sisters with those in Osun.

"My wish for LAUTECH is to compete with the best of institutions in the world. To do that, wherever we can get the best hand, either Osun, Oyo, Ekiti, we don't mind. Even, experts will still come into a lecture in this school. So, please let us push aside the issue of Osun and Oyo. Everybody that is working here, irrespective of where you came from, it is the duty of the government to ensure you have job security and get your salary as at when due. On the 25th of every month, which is the GSM Date in Oyo State, they receive their salaries. And very soon, it will be the same for LAUTECH.