Rotimi Agboluaje, Ibadan
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State has said that the owners states must pay the staff of the university because they were part of workers whose names were captured in the data sent to Abuja for the collection of bailout funds.
Fielding questions at a breakfast media chat organized by the South West Group of Online Publishers on Tuesday in Ibadan, the state capital, the ASUU Chairperson of the university, Dr. Biodun Olaniran, said that the owner state governments have the money to pay the staff and urged the Chancellor, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, to step in.
He said: “LAUTECH was captured as part of workers to Abuja to collect the refunds. At what time was LAUTECH removed as a beneficiary? We don’t believe there is not money. They collected bailout one and two and Paris Club refunds.
“LAUTECH must not be allowed to die. The Federal Government has released some money, which is not expected. There is a way you can spread the indebtedness”.
He begged well-meaning Nigerians to make the owner state governments see the need to save the specialized university and called on Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu to wade in, saying:” We are not comfortable with his silence on the crisis. He should wade in so that we can have an end to the crisis”.
The ASUU scribe chided the governments for their insincerity about the crisis, saying it is surprising that conflicting information on the issue came government officials.
According to him: “There are not to be trusted with their words. There are many events that would not make people to trust what they said”.
He called on the states to tell the public what they want to do with the school, pointing out:” The Wole Olanipekun report said they could not lay claim to the university without financial commitment. They should implement the recommendations of the committee”.
He put the genesis of the crisis at the doorstep of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State.
He said:”It started in December 2013 when the governor failed to release N292 million. Since then management has been trying to share the internally generated revenue but it is not sustainable. We cannot use internally generated revenue to pay salaries. It is the sole responsibility of the owner states to do so.
“It is not acceptable. By the time we are doing that it means we are running a private university. Universities are not meant to pay salaries alone. Even rivate universities receive subvention”.
He kicked against tuition fees hike and declared that ASUU was in support of forensic audit 100, insisting that that must be done within the confines of the law.
