LAUTECH: Oyo and Osun released N13.626b to LAUTECH, as they insist on forensic audit.

Osun and Oyo, the owner state governments of Ladoke
Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH,
Ogbomoso have made their earlier position known, in which they
demanded an external forensic audit of the
institution, so as to defuse and proffer lasting
solution to the incessant crisis that had been
affecting the institution, has been justified
based on the visitation panel’s report.

According to the visitation panel's report, they detected 97 different bank accounts in almost
all the commercial banks in the country being
operated as against the directive of the
Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy
specifically put in place to promote
transparency.

The report further revealed that majority of the
banks have closed shop due to either
restructuring, merger or outright de-listment by
the Central Bank of Nigeria and a total sum of
N13.626 Billion subventions, excluding
Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was
released to the institution by Oyo and Osun
state governments between 2011-2016.

Revealing this on the 9th of June, in Ibadan, the Oyo
state commissioner for Education, Science and
Technology, Prof. Adeniyi Olowofela, while
receiving the state executives of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, (CAN) said that part
of the recommendations of the visitation
panel led by a far famed legal luminary, Chief
Wole Olanipekun was that the accounts of the
school and its workforce must be audited.

He stated that:
“We are not too comfortable
with the accounting process or procedure of
the institution, that is the least we can say
now. ” Part of the recommendations of the
visitation panel was that the accounts of the
school must be audited; not only the accounts
but the work force too must also be audited
such that we look at the best practices on how
to run this particular institution”. The bursary
departments still rely on analogue mode of
operation, with its attendant challenges and
risks”.

The Commissioner further added that:
“When the
government said you must have single account,
in that visitation panel report, you have various
accounts. If you have various accounts, you
have not been accused of any financial
difficulty, but we must know the truth so that
at the end of the day, we will know whether
something is wrong with the management,
administration or the accounting process.

Still speaking, Olowofela stated that,
“The visitation panel observed that the
University opened ninety-seven different bank
accounts in almost all the commercial banks in
the country. Some of the banks have closed
shop, due to either restructuring, merger or
outright de-listment by the Central Bank of
Nigeria”.

Meanwhile, Olowofela summarily
analyzed The subventions released
to LAUTECH between 2011-2016 as follows:
Oyo state released 8,473,361,702.25, and
Osun state contributed 5,153,047,345.74.
Totaling
N13.626 Billion.

“in conjunction, the students population is as follows :
Undergraduate (Regular) – 27,457.
Undergraduate (Part time ) – 1514.
Postgraduate (Regular) – 2857. Postgraduate
(Part-Time) 3054 .
Open Distance Learning
(ODL) 655.
Total- 35,507 Students.

"Why is it
difficult for LAUTECH to survive, since
institutions with less students’ population are
surviving?”.
“We must ascertain whether the government
needs to jerk up the subvention or whether
government needs to remove the subvention
completely. We must know so that we will be
acting based on facts. But what are we
observing now, people are moving from one
quarter to the other raising emotions “,
Olowofela explained.

While appealing to the labour unions of the
institution to give peace a chance, he concluded:
“We are getting closer to the
solution than to the problem. If we have an
enabling atmosphere such that the audit firm is
able to do the job there, the two governments
will comply with the recommendations. The
audit firm must submit its report within the
next 3weeks. But it appears as if some people
want to truncate the exercise. I am appealing to
the workers to give peace a chance”.