Education

Workers at the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, Ondo State, on Wednesday morning, staged a protest, against the dismissal of over 35 of their colleagues by the school’s authority.

It was gathered that all the concerned workers received their sack letters on Tuesday.

The protesting workers, who shut the school’s main gate blocked the entrance preventing people to go out or coming to the campus.

It was gathered that the sack of the affected workers was approved by the governing council of the institution but the protesters frowned at the development on the grounds that the sacked workers were duly employed, issued appointment letters, did all documentation and had worked in the school for over six months.

They vowed to continue to paralyse all academic and non-academic activities on the campus until the management reverses the decision.

Punch/ Oluwayemisi Owonikoko

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Education

By Olabiyi Fadahunsi

Plants have immense utilities, and it is essential that the government put in place policies to maximize their use for the benefit of the nation.

A Professor of botany, Adegoke Adegbite gave the advice while delivering the second inaugural lecture of the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, OAUSTECH in Okitipupa, Ondo State.

Delivering the lecture titled “Plants: Oscillating Amongst Creationism, Evolution and Genetic Modifications”, Professor Adegbite, who traced the history of plants to the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden, expressed displeasure that some plants had gone into extinction as a result of deforestation.

Professor Adegbite, however, called on governments at all levels to put policies in place that would regulate the use of plants for the sustenance of life through the provision of food, medicine and oxygen.

The University Don said this became necessary to conserve plants and prevent subjecting humans to the threat of ecological problems.

The Professor of Botany also advocated proper monitoring of unprofessional herbal medicine practitioners to avoid health complications.

Professor Adegbite, who was the former acting Vice Chancellor and the present Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies of the institution, suggested that government should pay more attention to natural resources, particularly, plants by engaging experts in formulating policies that would bring out its economic benefits to serve as a means of boosting the nation’s internally generated revenue, IGR.

Earlier in an address of welcome, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Temi Ologunorisa said the institution had put measures in place to preserve plants and convert them to other products in order to address human challenges.

The Vice-Chancellor emphasized the need to commercialize some of the research findings in higher institutions for the benefit of the nation’s education sector.

The lecture had in attendance people from all walks of life.

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