The Oyo State House of Assembly has passed a bill renaming a state-owned institution, the First Technical University, Ibadan, to Abiola Ajimobi Technical University.
The First Technical University, Ibadan, was established by the late Governor Abiola Ajimobi in 2017.
The bill was passed into law on Wednesday after the report by the House Committee on Tertiary Institutions, chaired by Oluwafemi Fowokanmi, was presented during a plenary session.
According to Fowokanmi, the renaming will allow the university to access benefits enjoyed by other state-owned institutions.
These benefits include subventions from the government, enrolment of students through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and also lowering the tuition fee, which will invariably allow more admission seekers and Indigenous students to enrol.
The report was considered clause by clause by the lawmakers during the Committee of the whole House, which was constituted by the speaker, Adebo Ogundoyin.
The bill, which renamed the First Technical University, Ibadan, to Abiola Ajimobi Technical University, was passed into law after it scaled through the third reading.
This development follows a request from Governor Seyi Makinde, who had previously sought the repeal of the original law establishing the university to reflect the name change.
Makinde, in a letter to the House, said that the step is to ensure that the institution’s governance structures are in line with those of other state-owned institutions.
Explaining how his administration has increased access to education, including university education, the governor maintained that his administration increased the number of universities owned by Oyo State to three from one and a half universities in 2019.
