Strike: Makinde chides LAUTECH lecturers, vows not to release subvention

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has said the members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) should not have joined the ongoing industrial action by the union if the lecturers were sensitive.

Makinde vowed not to release the lecturers’ subvention if they failed to resume academic activities.

The governor said these on Saturday at a live interview programme, ‘Meet the Governor’, hosted by the state-owned Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State and joined live by radio stations across the state.

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.

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“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,” Makinde was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, on Sunday.

The Star