LAUTECH Students Protest Months Without Classes as Lecturers Desert Campus Amid Academic Crisis
- Students and lecturers at LAUTECH’s Iseyin Campus are facing challenges amid a major change at the campus
- Sources disclosed there are rising tensions over new arrangements at the university, which caused discussions among staff and the community
- Local leaders and students also called for attention as developments unfolded at the school campus
The Iseyin Campus of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) is currently experiencing academic instability as lecturers have left the students untaught due to what they describe as a lack of resources to fulfil their duties.
The Oyo state Government relocated the Faculty of Agriculture of the university to Iseyin some years ago, making the town the host of a satellite campus of the 35-year-old institution.
Source: Twitter
However, the lecturers of the Iseyin Campus expressed their unwillingness to continue teaching at the new campus due to an alleged infrastructural deficit on the site.
Academic instability is currently rocking the Iseyin Campus of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, particularly at its Iseyin Campus.
Legit.ng’s investigation revealed that lecturers whose departments have been moved from the main campus in Ogbomoso to the new Iseyin campus complained of a lack of facilities to work as university teachers.
Lecturers allege inadequate, non-existent facilities
The lecturers have blamed the impasse in the Iseyin Campus of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, on the varying factors, ranging from
The recommended distance from the class to the farm by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) was not followed
Farmlands have also been reclaimed by the community. As at the time of filing this report, Legit.ng gathered that out of 18 training units for students’ internship, none has yet been provided in Iseyin.
A source who confided in our reporter explained that the affected lecturers did not just abdicate their responsibility; the new environment has not been made to support their work.
“We have MOUs with The National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) and other related agencies and organisations for farming....where we have 250acres here in Ogbomoso. How do we resolve that?”
Legit.ng gathered that the LAUTECH’s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences comprises six departments - Agric Economics, Agric Extension & Rural Development, Crop and Environmental Protection, Crop Production and Soil Science, Animal Production and Health, Animal Nutrition and Biotechnology
Also, the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources has Forest Resource Management, Fishery and Aquaculture, as well as Wildlife and Ecotourism Management.
Our sources who preferred anonymity because, according to them, the government is already deploying its own means to “deal with the lecturers concerned” disclosed that all the nine (9) programmes run by the two faculties moved to Iseyin Campus have only three (3) lecture halls.
One of the sources told our reporter that “Currently, only three lecture halls are available for the two faculties that make up the college-College of Agricultural Sciences and Renewable Natural Resources”
He added that “Each program is supposed to have a designatory hall, but there are just 3 halls available. How do we manage that?
“No practical farming, rather alternative practical
“No proper land mass for agricultural activities in Iseyin.”
Source: Twitter
Students lament negligence, seemingly bleak future
Apart from the lecturers who complained of poor infrastructure, the students, who are the victims of the impasse, have also sent Save Our Souls to the government, pleading for action so as to save their future.
Chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS-JCC Oyo), who is also a student of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Comrade Tiamiyu Taiwo Ademola. said,
“The situation is so unbearable for us students. Imagine we have been here for the past three to four months. No lecture, nothing. It is not done. We have paid a lot of money; our parents have committed money to the struggle. We are coming here (the school) for our lives to be imparted."
“We are students of Agriculture. Our class is zero, and the practical is zero. Call on every concerned stakeholder, especially the government, to come to our aid because we need thorough and good practicals."
Responding to the actions of the lecturers who have been alleged to have refused to come for lectures, Comrade Ademola, who described the situation as unfortunate, described the lecturers’ actions as wicked.
“We are still on it, and we are doing our findings because, as a matter of fact, some lectures are behind this wicked attitude”
Community call for understanding, calm
The Iseyin Community, the site of the satellite campus of LAUTECH, has appealed to the lecturers to show understanding by resuming fully to Iseyin while calling on the government to address the identified challenges.
Speaking with Legit.ng, a community leader, Honourable Waheed Olaniyan, said that although lecturers have expressed reservations over the relationship of the two faculties, the government policy, as it brings development to Iseyin, should also be respected.
“When the lecturers were asked to move to Iseyin, they were hesitant as they believed the Senate of the University was not carried along in the relocation."
“But the government policy on acceding to the request of Iseyin people has been achieved.
“Other things that need to be done will follow”
With respect to staff offices and the practical farm, which the lecturers described as non-existent, Honourable Olaniyan hinted that work had started.
“Right now, the works are ongoing to provide offices and the practical farm. The reality is that they cannot complete all these projects, not to mention that it is a campus of a university.
Confirming the lecturers’ claim of the availability of three lecture theatres, Honourable Olaniyan said,
“Right now, there are two lecture theatres and our brother Alh Hammed Raji has built another. There are 22 office rooms constructed in addition to the offices that are part of the administrative building. Another over 40 office rooms are under construction.”
“These are enough for a start now. But what the lecturers are claiming that they already had practical facilities in Ogbomoso upon which they have expended millions of Naira. Whatever the government has done will be built upon, and they should not destroy the lives of the students.”
Honourable Olaniyan appealed to the lecturers to support the government’s efforts in making the place a good citadel of learning and development.
LAUTECH suspends classes after student's death
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the Management of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) suspended academic activities at its Iseyin campus for two weeks after a 200‑level student was fatally wounded by a hit‑and‑run driver in Iseyin, Oyo State
Registrar Olayinka O. Balogun said the break, effective immediately, is to allow students and staff time to grieve and recover from the tragedy, with classes set to resume on November 24.
The incident sparked protests on campus as students demanded justice, and the university urged them to remain safe, support one another, and honour their late colleague’s memory.
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
