Makinde and LAUTECH fee regime
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Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso was founded in 1990 by Sasaenian Adedeji Oresanya’s regime. It was during the old Oyo state era comprising today’s Oyo and Osun states. It should be recollected that among the LOOBO states as Lagos, Oyo , Ogun, Ondo and old Bendel states were tagged in the second republic, only Oyo did not establish a state university, maybe because the state had two universities at the time. There is no doubt that the school was established to cater for the admission needs of the admission seekers in the old Oyo state, whose number had increased due to the impact of the free education introduced by the Unity Party of Nigeria until 1983.
In actual fact, the institution has lived up to its bidding and has been a sanctuary for Oyo and Osun candidates among other states in the country. Since inception, the fee regime of the university has been affordable. For instance, Alhaji Lamidi Adesina administration in the state left the fee regime at N6, 500 per session. That was about twenty one years ago. Little increment was done by Alao-Akala between 2007 and 2011. The fee started to witness incessant increments during the ownership tussle between Oyo and Osun states when payment of subvention by either of the two states became irregular. The funding of the institution suffered then. The school witnessed incessant workers strike which grounded and disrupted academic calendar of the school and elongated the years of studies of the students.
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Engineer Seyi Makinde during his campaign for the 2019 gubernatorial election promised to look into the joint ownership of the institution which had become a curse rather than a blessing for the school and secondly, to look into the exorbitant fee being paid by the students in view of economic downturn in the country then which is a child play to what we witness in our country today. In walking his talk, Engineer Seyi Makinde won the “battle” for sole ownership for Oyo and actually reduced the fee payable by the students. These two feats wormed him into the consciousness of the people and was a contributory factor to his success in the 2023 gubernatorial election in Oyo state. Though his decision to dismember the school by making it multi campus institution did not go down well with Ogbomoso people especially knowing full well the impact of the school on the well being of Ogbomoso geo-political zone. My problem with Engineer Seyi Makinde administration is her approval of unaffordable tuition fee for the school today after beating down the fee before winning election.
This year 2024 alone, the fee has been increased twice and the target are the new intake whose parents would do all to make sure their wards did not lose admission. Unfortunately for the students’ well being, student’s unionism has been banned in the school. This is an area Engineer Seyi Makinde has to look into. Student’s unionism has to be returned to the institution. By denying the students their rights to organize themselves and seek positions democratically to govern themselves and seek for the welfare of the students, the nation is the loser.
There is no gainsaying the fact that running of a university requires heavy funding which cannot be solely bear by government but certain factors have to be considered before any increment is made. For example, economy of the country has to be put into consideration especially the purchasing power of the people. Today, the economy of the country is not in good shape due to progressive policies being introduced by the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration. Economic downturn is real. Purchasing power of the citizens has been adversely affected. Then how do the LAUTECH governing council expects parents to afford a fee ranging between N400, 000 and N1 million per session per student depending on their courses of study? The second factor to be considered is number of qualified admission seekers who would be denied admission due to financial constraints. Education, they say, is the bedrock of development.
In saner climes, education is free to the university level, even in some African countries. Definitely, the results are felt in their development indices. While I am not saying that education should be free in Nigeria, government, especially in the south west should please make it affordable for the children of the hoi polloi in the society. As a matter of fact, those in position of authority today including LAUTECH and her governing council under the scrutiny enjoyed the free education of the Awolowo led parties if not in the first republic, definitely in the second republic. Even during the military regimes, many of today’s leaders paid peanuts as fee or never paid at all. Shall we now conclude that they have short memory or are being wicked or unconcerned about the plight of the downtrodden in the geo political zone where Awolowo vowed that his driver’s children would never be drivers of his own children? Free education was birthed by Awolowo in order to leap front Yorubaland drive for education and this made the region years ahead of other regions in terms of educational advancement of her citizens. With thoughtless increments in fee regime in our schools, has Awolowo vision and attainments in terms of the educational advancement of the south west not destroyed?
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As an instance, when last did a student from the south west led in university entering examination UTME, or WASSCE or NECO? Even each time south west led in the examinations, it is usually Igbo or Edo students residing in the region. Northern Nigeria is regarded as the home of out- of-school children, this is a deception. Out-of-school children phenomenon is a challenge in the south west and the earlier the issue is addressed the better. Many parents cannot afford to send their children to school due to economic downturn, many pupils lack interest in education due to non-available jobs for graduates after graduation. Many potential university students instead of going to school engage in Yahoo Yahoo or by extension, Yahoo plus to get rich quick. Many others have become nuisance to the society like the “one million boys” in Ibadan and their variants at different junctions in our towns hailing big men and thick madams for a living. Many have become armed robbers, kidnappers among others.
As I mentioned earlier, running a university requires enormous resources, no doubt about this, however, governing councils of each institution should look for other ways apart from government subventions and not put unbearable burden on parents as being done in LAUTECH at the moment. Economic situation in the country is not conducive for such bogus fee. I implore Engineer Seyi Makinde to further look into this issue for the sake posterity. What many people are saying is that he cajoled the people when he was seeking their mandate and turns his back when it matters most.
