The Youth arm of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State on Friday told the Local Governments Chairmen in the State to ignore the latest memo from the office of the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Mr Olasunkanmi Olaleye, requesting them to fund a tertiary institution in the State.
The said institution, according to the group is the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.
LAUTECH was jointly owned by both Oyo and Osun States until the State Government under Mr. Seyi Makinde fought for its sole ownership with a promise to pay Osun State a sum of eight billion naira over three years in the assets sharing agreement entered into in January, 2021.
Early this year, the State Government took a Faculty from LAUTECH; Faculty of Agriculture to Iseyin, in an effort to set up a Satellite Campus for the institution in Oke-Ogun area of the State.
But the APC youth group in a press statement by its Comrade Adebayo Folorunso asked when it becomes the duty of the local governments to fund tertiary education, just as it appealed to the Chairmen to do away with the said memo.
The opposition asked when the functions of local governments now involve funding tertiary education when the primary schools in their domains have become so dilapidated and unfriendly to pupils and teachers.
“The memo asking local government Chairmen to approve funding as supports to LAUTECH is an attempt to siphon Council funds at the expense of grassroots development.
“We see this development as rather unfortunate, misguided and unlawful act which would further impoverish our people at the grassroots and make worse their bad situation.
“We are calling on well meaning citizens of the State and agents of the Federal Government to call the State Government to order to stop travelling in unpopular direction.
“If the Chairmen give approval and append their signatures to this request to fund LAUTECH, it is nothing but pure misappropriation of public funds and all the people involved would be brought to justice in due course.
“Many of our primary school classrooms that are within the purview of local governments are yearning for attention and we wonder why the State Government is always using the allocation meant for the 33 local governments to fund the State government-owned projects.
“Our people can now understand why their roads are not motorable and why the poverty is widespread with attendant insecurity among the locals,” he stressed.
