The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic party in Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, has said that the perennial crisis rocking the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) will come to an end with him as the governor of the state.
Omisore, reacting to the latest protest staged by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), in Osogbo, the state capital, on Friday, over the LAUTECH crisis, said he sympathised with both the staff and students of the institution, while appealing to them to “exercise patient” that “the problems will soon be over.”
Members of ASUU from different zones of the country, had, on Friday, in Osogbo protested against what they called poor funding and abysmal welfare of staff of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH).
But Omisore condemning the owner governments’ attitude to the situation said, the crisis had been allowed to drag for long because according to him, “the LAUTECH case is an evidence of the clueless nature of the All Progressives Congress (APC),” who, he said had produced two governors “who cannot rub minds together to solve a problem as members of the same party.”
He said what is happening in LAUTECH was enough for people to have a rethink on the political leadership in Osun State, most especially, as he contended that “protests against maladministration in all spheres of life have been a way of life since the APC government assumed office in the state.”
“If you look through the state, workers are not paid, parents cannot pay their children school fees, and consequently, they are out of schools, parents cannot pay rents, there are no drugs in hospitals, and Osun hospitals have been reduced to mere consulting centres, and people daily protest again all these anomalies in the state. People are already used to protests. In short, Osun is a protesting state.
“But all these problems will soon be solved. People already know my pedigree, they know I’m part of them, I’ve been a student, even to PhD level, so, I’ve always related with them in the academia, even the civil servants know my worth as a friend of workers in the state. We have done it before and can still do more.
Members of LAUTECH community know me. I’ve delivered lectures in different institutions, and I have students I lecture, I relate with lecturers in staff clubs, and in LAUTECH, they know I’m always for them. I know the problems and how to solve it, since I relate well with members of the academic community. So, it is just a matter of time, the problems will soon be over with me as the state governor, by God’s grace,” Omisore said.
He said he had robust plans to develop education generally in the state, and LAUTECH occupies a place of interest to him, considering the fact that he being a certified engineer will ensure that the institution occupies a place of relevance to influence technological breakthrough in Nigeria.
