THE Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) yesterday blamed Oyo and Osun governors for the ownership crisis in the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.

The union urged the Ooni of Ife, Alaafin of Oyo and other traditional rulers in the two states to join the governors in resolving the crisis.

SSANU expressed concern about the crisis, which is threatening the life and property of workers in the institution.

The union said it was unfortunate a university established years ago would degenerate into a crisis of statism.



SSANU’s National President Samson Ugwoke said in a statement that the governors and traditional rulers from the two states should intervene in the crisis and resolve it in the interest of workers and students.

In the statement by the association’s National Public Relations Officer (NPRO) Abdussobur Olayiwola Salaam in Abuja, Ugwoke said it was unfortunate the governors allowed the issue to degenerate.

He noted that they would not have allowed it to degenerate to the point where security of workers, students and the environment in which they operate was no longer guaranteed.

Ugboke added that ethnicity or statism was not expected to be an issue in a citadel of learning because the quality of a university is measured by the number of foreign and international workers and students.

The statement said: “The union had tarried a while before making any public statement or comment on the issue, in the simple confidence that the spirit of Yoruba unity and solidarity would have prevailed and sorted out the impasse.

“Unfortunately, our expectations have been dashed and we are now forced to intervene in this issue in the hope that our voice is heard and sanity is restored to the university.

“The concept of the ‘university’ is coined from the word – universal. Thus, a university, in its real and pristine sense, is a universal or international community with no national or ethnic borders. The quality of a university in this day and age is measured by the number of foreign and international staff and students it is able to attract.

“The fact that it was established and is being funded by a particular body or government (either state or federal), does not make the university a property of its financiers. It is in the concept of the “university”, that once a university is founded, it becomes a universal, global or international property. Thus, ethnicity has no place in the scheme of things in the university…

“SSANU decries this unfortunate development, which apart from jeopardising the lives of our members has put the university in a state of disrepute. We, therefore, call on governments of both states to initiate reconciliatory processes to resolve the problems.

“We urge traditional rulers and eminent royal fathers from both states to intervene in the crisis and resolve it in the interest of staff and students…”
Source :The Nation