The Ondo State House of Assembly on Wednesday held a public hearing on the name change of the state-owned specialised university, the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo.

The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Olamide Oladiji, described the university as the pride of the state, hence there was need to carry out some amendments in the law establishing the institution.

Mr Oladiji explained that at the establishment of the institution, it was named Ondo State University of Medical Sciences, but the University of Medical Sciences as a name had yet to be backed by the House of the Assembly.

He stated that the lacuna caused graduates of the institution a problem in being enlisted in the National Youth Service Corp and thereby deprived the institution of some benefits.

According to him, amendments to the law that created the university will bring more value to the institution.

“If there’s going to be an amendment like this, there’s need for us to call for public hearing. Our children are there.  If at the end of the day, if a student should pass out of the school and the result became useless, then I think that would have been an exercise in futility. So, what am I trying to say in essence is that it’s going to really add more value and to the image of the school. It is going to be a welcome development to every one of us,” he said.

Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor of UNIMED, Prof.  Adesegun Fatusi, explained the principal reason for proposing the amendment was for the name of the university to be legally known as University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED).

“If you go to the JAMB website of NYSC, you will not find University of Medical Sciences because, legal paper that established it was Ondo State University of Medical Sciences (OSUMS) at that point in time. And at the point where we are now, 10 years in history, it has now become extremely important that this name be legally established as UNIMED, because we have got to a point where some of our graduates are running into trouble when they present certificates outside the country, and they check JAMB website and cannot find the name. That is the major reason we have been pressing that we need a law to amend the name formally for JAMB to recognise it and also take another look at what the law provides, for minor amendment,” he stated.

The Chairman, House Committee on Tertiary Institutions, Chris Aiyebusiwa, said that the committee scrutinised the bill as expected, considering the present concerns, visions, hopes and aspirations of the government and the institution.

Mr Aiyebusiwa, however, said that the sensitive nature of the bill required the contributions of well-meaning stakeholders to have an amended law that would stand the test of time. 

 (NAN)