Why do South West Governors think we need a Western University?

At the ongoing South West (SW) Governors Forum in Osogbo, they have resolved to establish a Western University co-owned by all South Western states. This is dead on arrival and a misplacement of priority. At the moment, no state owned University in the South West can be described as a world class institution. Education generally is nothing to write home about in the region. The performance of south western states in WAEC, NECO and JAMB to say the least is shameful. These same Governors have failed to successfully manage their respective state owned universities. They don’t pay salaries as expected, they don’t pay pensions as expected, and the universities are suffering from poor infrastructures with zero research. Which University can Nigerians boast of in the South West?? Is it LASU, AAUA, OSU, TASUED, EKSU, UNIOSUN? Which one?

Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) that is jointly owned by Osun and Oyo state is gasping for breath. LAUTECH of recent has spent about two years in total languishing through a series of strikes while these Governors have failed to do anything about the school including the Chancellor of the school Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. While the issue of LAUTECH remained unresolved, the constituted authority of Oyo state went to establish another state owned University where LGs in Oyo state have been forced to enroll students for take-off.

I am not interested in talking about the abysmal performance of south west Governors in agriculture and other sectors as that is a story for another day. The last election in Ekiti and Osun shows how far the south west has sunk in morality courtesy of these emperors masquerading as Governors. South west people have been silent for long and these Governors have continuously draw back the hands of progress in the region with zero challenge.

At this moment, it is important all well-meaning individuals in the region irrespective of political leaning call the SW Governors to order before they destroy what is left of the region. They should fix the rot in their respective state owned universities before embarking on a charade called the Western University

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