LAUTECH: Ooni meets with Alao-Akala, Oyinlola

AS a means of resolving the crisis generated over the ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, on Sunday, convened a meeting between the Oyo State governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala and his Osun State counterpart, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

The two governors had met in Ibadan, on Friday, to discuss ways of resolving the crisis generated by the demand of Governor Alao-Akala that the institution should cease from being jointly run by the two states.

At the end of the closed-door meeting, which was held at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Professor Oladapo Afolabi, said it was resolved that the existing committee set up by the two states should come up with a final resolution on the issue within the next six months.

Speaking with newsmen at the end of the meeting, he said the committee had also been mandated to be expanded to include observers from the National Universities Commission (NUC) and two former vice chancellors of the institution, Professors Olusegun Oke and Akin Salawu.

Professor Afolabi said the committee would come up with a final decision on the joint ownership by February 2011, adding that it would also name an acting vice chancellor for the university within 14 days.
He expressed his appreciation to the intervention of the monarch in the crisis and expressed the hope that the committee would come up with a resolution that would be mutually acceptable to all the parties in the crisis.

The two governors were also said to have expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting with the Ooni of Ife.