No subvention for LAUTECH unless lecturers withdraw from ASUU strike, Makinde vows

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Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State said he will not release the subvention of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, unless the lecturers of the university pulled out of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

Makinde spoke on Saturday in a television broadcast in Ibadan.

LAUTECH, one of the tertiary educational institutions owned by the Oyo state government, had joined the ASUU strike, which is several months’old.

However, the state government led by Makinde said it will not release the subvention for the university if the lecturers are still on strike.

Makinde said LAUTECH lecturers have no business with the ASUU strike.

He said he deliberately withheld the subvention because the lecturers joined the ongoing strike.

He urged the students to hold their lecturers responsible for their inability to be in school.

Makinde stated that he will not release the subvention if the lecturers fail to go back to school.

He said, “Let me quickly use this opportunity to address the issue of the ASUU strike in LAUTECH. If the lecturers were sensitive, they should not have joined the industrial action.

“As of today, their subvention is being withheld. If they don’t go back to school, I won’t release their subvention. So, the students must know who to hold accountable.

“When we came in, we met 13 months salary outstanding. We worked to take the institution from Osun back to Oyo state. So, we expected 100 per cent cooperation at least for the sake of the students but there are people who want to play politics among them.

“Now, I can assure them that we will pay the lecturers who return to classrooms to teach our children. Those who want to be fomenting trouble should go ahead.

“I don’t care whether it is an election year. I will only do whatever is right until the last day of my tenure”.