Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has said his administration’s commitment to improving education sector has been yielding positive results.
The governor stated this on Friday while inaugurating the Governing Councils of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, and the Abiola Ajimobi Technical University, Ibadan.
The event was held at the Executive Chamber, Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Ibadan.
A statement by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olanrewaju in Ibadan, the state capital, on Saturday, quoted the governor as saying that the state owned one university and a half when he took office in 2019, but the state is now the sole owner of three universities, which are doing well in their own rights.
He said, “When we came in 2019, we had one and a half universities, because we had one full university owned by the state and LAUTECH that was jointly owned by Oyo and Osun states.
“But today, we are about inaugurating Governing Councils for two out of the three universities belonging to this state.
“When we talked about sole ownership for LAUTECH, people thought it was a joke. They said they had gone through the process before and it was reversed. They said they had even done it up to the extent of pronouncing the university owned by this state only, but that it did not work. But we were not deterred.
“We followed the process and, eventually, the NUC pronounced LAUTECH as solely owned by our state.
“There was also a kind of opacity with Abiola Ajimobi Technical University, but that has also been resolved. Today, the university has made a lot of progress. Again, we upgraded the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, to a University of Education.
“So, this shows that when we say education is one of the major pillars of our administration, we are putting in the work to improve the sector. From basic to tertiary education, we have made substantial progress in the past six years in the state.
“So, I want to say thank you to all the people who have supported me and to tell them not to relent. We still have two more years and one month to go.”
Makinde added that his government would continue to support the institutions to meet their obligations to students, staffers and the people of the state.
“The state would address the issue of subventions to the two institutions, while it would also fulfill its promise to build Primary Health Care Centres on the campuses of LAUTECH and Tech-U, before the end of the year.”
He added that the facilities would also be provided with ambulances.
The governor continued, “The inauguration is not just a ceremonial moment. The governing councils of both universities are responsible for overseeing their strategic development including the academic direction, amongst others. They have important roles to play in both universities.
“For Prof Omole and members of his council, you have done the job for four years. This is the reward for your hard work. And, for Dr Adeduntan and his team, I believe that a solid foundation has been laid and you are not going to start from scratch.
“I believe that we have appointed people who have what it takes to work with other stakeholders in the universities, so that our goal of ensuring that our state-owned universities are some of the best in the country and the continent is achieved.
“On our part as a state, we will continue to do all we can to ensure that we support our state-owned universities, the stakeholders and the students.”
The newly-inaugurated council members for LAUTECH are Professor Ayodeji Omole as Chairman, Professor R. Kalilu– Vice Chancellor; Professor A. Ogunkunle- Deputy Vice Chancellor, Strategy and Development; Professor Dauda Araromi- Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Innovation; Mr. Idowu Adeosun, Mrs. Titilayomi Ahmadu, Mr. Jelili Busari, Mr. Teslim Adediran and Mrs Yinka Balogun- Registrar.
For Tech-U are Dr. Adesola Adeduntan- Chairman, Professor Adesola Ajayi- Vice Chancellor; Professor Iyiola Tella- Deputy Vice Chancellor; Seyi Adisa, Prof Samson Ojoawo, Prof Mojeed Akinsola, Dr. Aminat Ahmed, Mrs. B. Oyinloye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education; Mrs. A. Fasina, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance; and Mrs. Olanrewaju Omolola- Acting Registrar/ Secretary.