A former Oyo State governor Rashidi Ladoja on Wednesday donated N5.8m to the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso.
The former governor donated the money through an initiative by former students of LAUTECH.
The initiative, tagged #fundLAUTECH, aims at raising N1bn to assist the university surmount its financial challenges.
While receiving the alumni members in Ibadan, the governor made an instant donation of N2m and promised to also donate six months of his pension to the effort.
In all, Ladoja would be donating a sum of N5,840,000. His pension, according to a source, is N644, 589.15 per month.
Apart from the donation, eight lawmakers in the Oyo State House of Assembly, who are members of the Accord Party, also pledged a donation of N1, 000, 000 to the school.
Ladoja said, “I know the value of education. If you educate your child, you are ensuring a good future for yourself. It is not only that you are serving LAUTECH, you are serving humanity. What is going to be the fate of those students who have been in the same class for close to three years?
“Whatever happens to LAUTECH happens to all of us. As governor, my records are there in LAUTECH. I wanted to make the school number one in Nigeria but it was ranked fifth among all universities in the country. That is commendable.”
Meanwhile, the Oyo State Youth Stakeholder’s Forum has called on Osun and Oyo states – owners of the school – to dissolve the Governing Council of the institution and disengage the Vice-Chancellor.
In a statement signed by its president, Mayowa Adigun, and its Mobilisation Officer, Kunle Olaoye, on Wednesday, the group said the call became imperative with the unending crisis in the institution and the unconvincing attitude of the LAUTECH Governing Council towards resolving the crisis.
