Stop Playing Deceptive Politics with LAUTECH, ASUU Tells Makinde, Oyetola

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso chapter, yesterday warned the governments of Oyo and Osun States not to play politics with the lives and welfare of staff and students of the university.

The union said in a release signed by its chairman and secretary, Dr. Biodun Olaniran and Dr. Toyin Abegunrin respectively, that the welfare of its members remained paramount in its demands and vowed to do everything at its disposal to protect its members from being exposed to economic hardship.

It affirmed that the payment of salaries and accumulated arrears of allowances to its members remained paramount and would not be traded for politics between the two state governments that owned the university.

ASUU had last week threatened to disrupt academic activities if Osun State Government, which it said was scheduled to pay salaries between July and December, failed to pay the outstanding August and September salaries.

But the Osun State Government through its Secretary to the State Government, Prince Wole Oyebamiji, explained that ASUU was misguided by the accusation against the state, stating that Oyo State reneged on the agreement of paying salaries while it had kept faith with paying salaries of LAUTECH Teaching Hospital workers in Osogbo.

However, ASUU described the position of the Osun State Government as outright lies, deceptive assemblage of figures with a propagandist mindset.

According to the union: “Now to the facts of the matter, Osun State should be ready to explain to the public, if there was an arrangement between the two states (Oyo and Osun) to pay LAUTECH salaries on six monthly basis? How faithfully has Osun State government been discharging its own share of this responsibility since 2013? Osun State should also toe the path of honour by telling the public, how many teaching hospitals service LAUTECH’s medical programme?

“Who has been funding the LAUTECH Teaching hospital in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, if the Osun State Government has been funding the LAUTECH’s teaching hospital in Osogbo, Osun State? If Oyo State has not neglected the release of salary subvention to LAUTECH workers, just because the state funds the teaching hospital on Ogbomoso, Oyo state, why is Osun State hiding under the excuse that it has been paying salaries in the teaching hospital in Osogbo alone? The two teaching hospitals have their separate governing boards, their memberships are separately drawn from individuals within their states, and the financial obligations are borne separately by individual states.