The lawmaker representing Ogbomoso North State Constituency in the Oyo State House of Assembly, Honourable Olawumi Bimbo Oladeji has advocated retention of ‘Ogbomoso’ in the LAUTECH Amendment Bill before the House.
While speaking on the bill at the plenary, she said the name of the host town – Ogbomoso – should be retained in the new name of the institution despite making the school a multi-campus one.
Honourable Olawumi, who stated this during the plenary on Tuesday, said the name of the founding host community should not be discarded even at the site of new campuses to be added when the bill is passed.
She argued that the new name should be written as ‘Ladoke Akintola University (LAU), Ogbomoso’ rather than ‘Ladoke Akintola University (LAU)’ that the executive recommended.
She cited examples of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
The bill, which is seeking to change the current status of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH Ogbomoso from a technical institution to a conventional university, scaled second reading in the Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday.
This was sequel to the reading of a letter from Governor Seyi Makinde by the Speaker, Hon Adebo Ogundoyin requesting for the changing of the status of the university.
The bill tagged Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH Ogbomoso (Amendment) Law, 2022 will enable the institution to offer courses in humanities and other fields of study as approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC) while it will also encourage and promote scholarship and conduct research in various fields of learning.
It further seeks to change and amend the name of the university to Ladoke Akintola University, (LAU)
The amendment will equally allow the University to make provision for the establishment of a suitable pension scheme for all its staff.
The Speaker said the bill was another effort by the present administration to reposition university education in Oyo State.
Honourable Adebo Ogundoyin stated that Governor Seyi Makinde had continued to demonstrate his love and passion for all round quality education in the state adding that making LAUTECH a regular university will give more Oyo students and those of their colleagues outside the state the opportunity of pursuing any educational career of their choice in the institution.
“The bill has scaled second reading. We are working on it to ensure that our students and others like them have the opportunity of studying any course they like. This time around, they will not be restricted to technical education or courses alone. This shows how futuristic and forward looking our Governor is.” Oyo Speaker said.
Other lawmakers including Honourable Sanjo Adedoyin (Ogbomoso South), Honourable Isiaka Kazeem (Oyo East/West), Honourable Bamidele Adeola (Iseyin) and Honourable Simeon Oyeleke (Ogo-Oluwa/Surulere) in their contributions to the bill commended Governor Seyi Makinde for the successes recorded in LAUTECH, Ogbomoso.
According to them, it was this administration that secured full ownership of the University from Osun state and now it is also seeking to make it a conventional institution.