Medical students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology have resorted to odd jobs like catering and barbing, following lack of lectures for 14 months.

Some of the students, who visited PUNCH Office in Osogbo on Thursday, cried as they recounted how the ownership crisis between Oyo and Osun states had put their medical education on hold.

The 400, 500 and 600-level students, said they last received lectures in June 2010 when the Oyo State Government, under Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, ordered the medical students to report to a yet-to-be-accredited teaching hospital in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

Ogbomoso is the hometown of Alao-Akala, who lost his re-election bid last April.

Violence erupted in Ogbomoso campus of the university on Wednesday when some Oyo State indigenes working in LAUTECH decided to lock the gates of the institution against Osun State workers and students.

A statement by the medical students, who did not want his name in print for fear of being victimised by the school authorities said, “We have spent 14 months without lectures and this has prompted some of us to venture into catering, fashion designing, buying and selling and hairdressing.

“We engaged in these ventures hoping that in a matter of weeks, the crisis would be resolved and we would continue with our ambitions of becoming medical doctors. Little did we realise that there was no light at the end of our tunnel.”

Urging the owner states – Oyo and Osun – to ensure that they continued their studies at the College of Medicine, Osogbo, the students said the resources spent on them by their parents and guardians in the last 14 months were wasted.

The students added that the Faculty of Medicine built by the Alao-Akala administration in Ogbomoso lacked facilities to support medical training.

http://www.punchontheweb.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art201108191153939

God Help Nigeria Uni., backward is what we are going all the time

I hope the "ODD JOBS" don't include abortion.

may God help lautech tru dis ownership problem, we students will keep waxing stronger no matter d odds!, Amen

smh, dis is d handwork of eiye Akala, BUT GOD HELP US, we will fly high

The day I saw doctors queuing up for a meagre job at a small private hospital was the day I wept

Why dont they do some kind of internship in the meantime?

And yes, the govt should look into this matter- either help them transfer somewhere else or something.

To which state does the school belong? On what basis did Alao Akala order students to move to the establishment in Oyo state? The attitude of students being displayed indicates that they've resigned themselves to fate. That is bad. Instead of waiting for this long without any resolution in sight, you ppl shld fight for an inter-school transfer. The probable loss of one academic year is worth the move. 14 months is too long a period to wait for the state governors to settle among themselves who has the bigger muscle, louder voice or longest kini. You guys ought to have been smarter than this. Appreciate the key importance of finishing school early and entering the job mkt still young and energetic.ng themselves who has the bigger muscle, louder voice or longest kini. You guys ought to have been smarter than this. Appreciate the key importance of finishing school early and entering the job mkt still young and energetic.

The problem is that Osun now has its own University and is not obliged to take responsibility for LAUTECH

This should be 100% on Oyo govt but because of the irresponsible PDP led Govt of Alao Akala things have deteriorated

dayokanu:

The problem is that Osun now has its own University and is not obliged to take responsibility for LAUTECH

This should be 100% on Oyo govt but because of the irresponsible PDP led Govt of Alao Akala things have deteriorated

Is LAUTECH Admin and Perm site in Oyo or Osun state? Please give a straight-foward answer. When Abia and Enugu were carved out of the Old Imo and Anambra respectively, the then academic institutions still remained were they were; in the mother states. They still had other acad. institutions and the new states also built their own schools.

what is the way forward.

0yo state cant run Lautech alone,dey shld leave it d way it is.

So what's odd about catering, hairdressing, fashion design and the rest? Make mention of abortion and other social vices then u will talking of odd jobs.

This is pathetic_playing politics with the youth's future is unfortunate. Now that the two states are now ACN-controlled, something drastic should be done. Time waits for no man! SMH,

May god av mercy on us in Nigeria with the way we re handling education sector. Imagine when a medical students didnt received lectures for such periods, I pity lives that w'lll b in danger

Tinyemeka:

Is LAUTECH Admin and Perm site in Oyo or Osun state? Please give a straight-foward answer. When Abia and Enugu were carved out of the Old Imo and Anambra respectively, the then academic institutions still remained were they were; in the mother states. They still had other acad. institutions and the new states also built their own schools.

Do you understand the situation at all?

LAUTECH permanent site is in Ogbomoso Oyo state. AFter the creation of Osun State from Oyo both govt were joint owners later Osun created their own University and therefore can hands off LAUTECH 100% to Oyo.

Osun has its own responsibilities and cant shoulder Oyos own

Osun has a State University and 2 State Polytechnics

Oyo should handle the funding of LAUTECH alone henceforth, But the Bellicose way PDP rascal Alao Akala went about it is the cause of this confusion

dayokanu:

The problem is that Osun now has its own University and is not obliged to take responsibility for LAUTECH

This should be 100% on Oyo govt but because of the irresponsible PDP led Govt of Alao Akala things have deteriorated

The irresponsible PDP is gone, but what is the responsible ACN that is in both states doing now? I thought Aregbeshola spent many months smoothtalking on how he would solve the LAUTECH crisis right away. He has addressed those students and Osun staffs raising their hopes many times. Now he is getting more and more silent, I dey laff, I think Nigerians are not very clever with the way the follow these politicians. Just like somebody have said, they are playing politics with the lives of these students.

The truth the both governors are failing to tell ppl is that Akala had the benefit of time to bring the issue of Lautech separation to a logical conclusion. It is already at a level that it will be difficult for them to reverse the situation and that is why there are these crisis. Because as far as the Oyo indigenes are concerned in Lautech, the institution is now legally owned by Oyo but the 2 powerful big boys of both states (Ajimobi and Aregbeshola) kept telling Osun indigenes in the institution that they are still part of the system. Why would there not be crisis when there is such confusion?

The politics in this issue is clear. When Akala made known the intention of Oyo to solely own Lautech, ACN as an opposition party kicked against it and listed many reasons why it doesnt make sense. ACN capitalised on the fact that the student doesnt like it and promised them that the issue will be resolved as soon as ACN govt takes over. It will of course be very difficult for the ACN to now tell all ppl in Lautech that:

"hey guys, sorry we promised you that we will solve this problem but we are just realising that it is not that easy to reverse the decision like we"ve promised so Osun ppl should leave Lautech"

Of course they would not want to sound that stupid and disappoint the ppl that soon after raising their hope that much. As a result, they will play some game with it until it lasts.

Lets see.

This is a very pathetic story

The federal government should intervene in this matter

carbonsyb:

So what's odd about catering, hairdressing, fashion design and the rest? Make mention of abortion and other social vices then u will talking of odd jobs.

there is everything odd about it if u r forced 2 indulge in it thru no fault of urs!i bet u dont undastand wat it entails 2 past d preclinical stage in2 d clinical stage of mbbs only 2 end up still at d bottom of d ladder when guys u got matriculated wit hav graduated in a 4yr course r out in d labour market as graduates while u r still and undagrad, man those med students r going thru hell

The NUC and MDCN should be blamed for accreditation of such state universities for the training of doctors. The end result shall be the production of half baked doctors.
May God save our souls.

This is a very sad story. How can these people be playing politics with our peoples' lives. Are they aware they are indirectly dragging the state and the indigenes back. So the students would graduate and become two year junior to those who are their mates from other institutions.
Any LAUTECH alumnus in the house. I think the alumni body can step in and see if we can salvage this situation.
"Give a man education and salvage him forever"

should they sell the school to a private investor maybe?