The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AREGBESOLA

  • Aregbesola inaugurates N750m schools

    Aregbesola inaugurates N750m schools

    Determined to leave a legacy that would be difficult for posterity to ignore, especially in the education sector, the Osun State Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola recently inaugurated an imposing N750 school building in Ejigbo, Ejigbo Local Government Area.

    To some, such a giant step was not new because his administration has already put in place world-class school structures. These included 14 elementary schools, 15 middle schools and 11 high schools.

    The gigantic edifice has the following facilities well equipped and furnished: 72 classrooms of 49 square-meters each and capable of containing 49 students, six offices for study groups, six laboratories; 18 toilets for ladies, 18 toilets for gents, 1 science library; one art library; one facility manager’s office, one bookshop and a sick bay.

    In addition, it has one bursar’s office, three principals’ offices, three general staff offices, one senior principal’s office, one record store, one security shed/reception, a 1,000 capacity hall for external examinations.

    Other facilities include: storage for equipment and utility storage, a stage office space, storage for documents, four female toilets, four male toilets, borehole and transformer to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

    The new school, named after Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, is a magnificent three-in-one school, which has the capacity for 3,000 pupils.

    The government had earlier inaugurated the Salvation Government Middle School, Alekuwodo, Osogbo, Baptist Elementary Government School, Ilare, Ile-Ife as well as the Ansar-rul-Deen Government Elementary School, Isale Osun, Osogbo.

    Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Governor Aregbesola stated that the cost of the school though huge, considering the lean resources of the state, is an investment worth making.

    Aregbesola said within the first quarter of next year the government would also inaugurated another set of schools in the same category.

    He stressed that no government can overspend on the education of the people, saying ýeducation translates to a total development of the human person. He added that it is the best way the people of the state can get a lasting benefit from government.

    The governor noted that one of his first actions in office after inauguration in 2010 was to hold an education summit chaired by Prof. Wole Soyinka, adding that the rehabilitation of schools and construction of new ones were derived from the outcome of that summit.

    Aregbesola stated that it is befitting that Osun State named the school after Prof. Wole Soyinka who he described as an excellent product of public education in Nigeria and a distinguished academic who brought honour to Yoruba land, Nigeria, Africa and the black race with his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.

    He said: “We can construct a good road that will last for 50 years and we are doing that, but this can never be compared to the enlightenment an educated person receives in terms of its value to the society and humanity.

    “The state of education prior to our coming was appalling and frighteningly so. Zoos were better than the places where the pupils were receiving education. Many of them were dilapidated and falling down.

    “These schools were therefore not encouraging any serious learning or character building. The result was that the pupils themselves were behaving like animals. They were forming cult groups, fighting regularly with dangerous weapons and engaged in all immoral acts.

    “These are children aged seven and above. My heart bleeds to see the public education system disintegrate and become dysfunctional.”

    The governor added that the inauguration of the school was Osun’s way of making a statement that public schools can be the best and be returned to the pre-eminent position it occupied in the past.

    He reiterated his commitment to complete all ongoing projects embarked upon by his administration despite the dwindling economic fortune of the country and the state in particular.

    Speaking earlier, the Deputy Governor who is also in charge of education, Otunba Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori said the administration of Aregbesola has brought a lot of laurels to the state with his giant strides in education in Osun.

    She noted that the state is redefining the environment of learning hence the construction of 100 new state-of-the-art schools.

    In his remark at the event, the Nobel Laureate commended Governor Aregbesola for doing a great job with the construction of the schools, saying he is elated that such honour is bestowed on him. He pledged to visit the schools frequently to see how they are faring.

    Prof. Soyinka, who spoke in Yoruba language, enjoined leaders in the country to ensure that children are brought up with a feeling that one religion is not superior to the other to avoid creating ill feelings in their reasoning faculty.

    He stated that all hands must be on deck to see to it that children in schools are not differentiated along religious lines for a better Nigeria.

    His words: “I sympathise with the religious policy of governments in schools. Children must not be brought up with a feeling that religion inhibits knowledge.

    “In schools, we need not distinguish our children. The fatalistic religious holiness and the holier-than-thou attitude must be reduced among our students.”

  • Aregbesola seeks N1.25b from Fund

    Aregbesola seeks N1.25b from Fund

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has sought the approval of the House of Assembly to withdrawal N1.25 billion from the Omoluabi Conservation Fund.

    The governor plans to use the fund to improve infrastructure in the state.

    The Speaker, Najeem Salaam, at plenary yesterday, read a November 27 letter from the governor through which he sought the approval of the 26-member Assembly.

    Omoluabi Conservation Fund Laws 2012, sponsored by the executive, was passed by the Assembly to provide a bailout for the state during emergency.

    After reading the letter, the Speaker directed that the letter be forwarded to the Committee on Finance and Appropriation for proper consideration.

    The House directed the governor to present the 2016 budget next week.

    The Speaker said early presentation of the bill would assist the Assembly to help the state’s development.

     

  • Activists condemn attack on Aregbesola

    Activists condemn attack on Aregbesola

    The Osun Progressive Left; a coalition of human rights activists in Osun State, has condemned the attack on the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola by former Deputy Governor of the state, Iyiola Omisore over the bailout fund for the state.

    The group, in a press statement signed by its convener, Comrade Wale Adebisi said Omisore’s comments while speaking on Crown FM were not only crude, but capable of inciting the people against the government.

    “We denounce very strongly the campaign of malicious slander and inciting activities of Mr. Iyiola Omisore on Crown FM in October, this year on the issue of bailout fund from the Federal Government.

    “The approach of the former Deputy Governor is not only crude but also a way of setting the people against the government. He has clearly shown that he is a bad loser who is not interested in peace and stability of the state,” the statement read.

    According to the statement, the type of criticism that is expected of a man like him should be the one that will bring about development through constructive means not the one that will set the state on fire.

    The group, therefore, appealed to Governor Aregbesola to vigorously pursue his six action plan for the state as this is the only way of elevating the state as one of the best in the country.

    It also urged the Federal Government to re-open every inconclusive criminal case that had been swept under the carpet, including the cases of murder of the former Governor of Oyo State, Chief Bola Ige, Mr. Funsho Williams, Alfred Rewane, Hon. Hassan Olajokun and the killing of four people in a church in Ife.

     

  • Aregbesola: Visionary leadership in troubled times

    Aregbesola: Visionary leadership in troubled times

    The book, ‘Asiwaju: Leadership in Troubled Times’ could easily frighten the meek-minded away from leadership responsibilities. That publication, co-authored by columnists, Sam Omatseye, Segun Ayobolu and Tunji Bello (now the Secretary to the Government of Lagos State) in honour of former Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who then clocked 60, succinctly captures what storms (expected and unexpected) could hallmark a particular period of leadership.

    And when such economic, political and social hurricanes emerge, they end up defining that era; serving to bring out the best in leadership qualities or presenting the leader as one never prepared for the rigours of office.

    Five years into the two-term tenure of the governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the “troubled times” that leadership faces are real as evidenced by the events of the half a decade.

    Forget the last one year of acute global economic upheaval which has turned into shreds, Nigeria’s monolithic economy relying solely on sale of crude oil in the international market. That was a disaster foretold! It now threatens to cripple the country save the ingenious application of survival strategies of a new order at the centre.

    Almost two decades into its birth as a state of Nigeria, Osun’s state of being could not have been an attractive project for those in search of “low-hanging fruits” at the time Aregbesola set out to be its governor.

    No doubt, a state generating less than N300 million monthly as internally generated revenue from and for its almost four million citizenry could not have been a comfort zone for those looking for tea parties. It was already a state begging to be fixed. Five years down the line on November 27th, the surgical operations through the instrument of a six-point development agenda called “My Pact with Osun”, have changed the skylines in what must be a good study in “tearing down and building up”.

    I have seen historical cases of how fortunes of hitherto despondent people were turned around. The story of Bogota, the Columbia capital slum which became a shinning example of development through vision is one. Today, history remembers Mayor Antanas Mockus for promoting culture of citizenship which brought about an articulate analysis and comprehension of the multiform and multifarious complexities of that slummy city. That led to a change of attitude. Second is that of Mayor Enrique Penalosa which built on the foundation of a completely reorientated citizenry to cause development and inflow of investments and infrastructure.

    Jim Krane, in City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism tells us the sweet story of how a dusty desert land became the tourists destination of the whole world within a spate of three decades. Today, Sheikh Rashid Ibn Saheed Marktoum is revered as the father of modern Dubai.

    Osun, in five years has similar tales to tell. Put together, the works that have gone into a holistic transformation and development agenda rank Osun among people who had resigned to fate only to be jolted by a phenomenal change in their state of being.

    The works that have gone into education, roads, security, social welfare, health, agriculture, rural development are responsible for what visitors to Osun adjudge as true essence of leadership.

    By the end of the first term in 2014, the Aregbesola administration could boast of over 900 kilometres of completed roads of various grades. The impact of that on economic activities are rippling.

    Within the same period, Osun witnessed the construction of more than 50 new mega schools in the Elementary and Middle Schools categories in what have gone down as the most attractive learning centres to be built in the state in its more than two decades of existence.

    The exciting unveiling of the Wole Soyinka Government High School, Ejigbo on Wednesday November 23, 2015 has further confirmed that the experts and stakeholders who sat for the 2011 Education Summit did not just engage in empty talk shop. They can see the outcome of their brainstorming sessions emerging in world classrooms, Tablet of Knowledge (Opon Imo), improved teaching personnel, increased funding for school administration, highly impacting school feeding for elementary school pupils, phenomenal increase in school enrollments among other landmark initiatives.

    The result of the above is the 61 per cent improvement in the performance of Osun pupils in examinations. Comparing the performance of between 2008 and 2010, which had 13.26 per cent performance level with the period 2011 and 2013’s 21.32 per cent obviously shuts the mouths of those who had attempted to pick holes in the educational policies of the Aregbesola administration.

    A recent report of the Oxford Department of International Affairs Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index rated Osun as next to Lagos in Nigeria. This was an indication that in spite of the hullabaloo over financial crisis, the state has been making tremendous progress through silent transformations.

    Two weeks ago, the World Bank ranked Osun the best state in the implementation of the Rural Access Mobility Project, a project opening up access to rural farmers and dwellers to improve the wellbeing of the people.

    But before then, the National Bureau of Statistics had earlier rated Osun as state with the least unemployment rate in Nigeria. Of course, that is not without its own concomitant effects on security lives and investments. Osun appears to have remained impregnable for hoodlums who have made life hell in some neighbouring states.

    And what do the figures point to? Development analysts won’t have problems identifying the various intervention moves of the Aregbesola administration that are responsible for these positive rankings of a state that had occupied the unenviable place as second to the last on federal allocation ladder.

    The state does not just flaunt an array of branded projects. Osun Rural Enterprise and Agriculture Programme (OREAP); Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme ( OYES);  Osun Environmental Sanitation Project (O-CLEAN); Osun School Infrastructure Project (O-SCHOOL); Osun Ambulance Services (O-AMBULANCE); and a host of others. These brands have not just been brands, but vehicles in the development journey of the Aregbesola administration.

    In the end, his era would be remembered for how many hitherto slummy ghetto settlements like Old Garage were transformed into Nelson Mandela Freedom Park which is today a world-class centre of commerce and relaxation in the heart of the state capital.

    His tenure would be identified with the number of dilapidated schools that turned out rascals that were transformed into excellent mega-schools with world class learning facilities positioned to churning out confident, well-groomed and productive citizens who can compete with any of their peers across the globe.

    Above all, he would be judged on how much his visionary leadership in this troubled times have affected humanity as a whole.

    The late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, whose “jewel of inestimable value” was given a final burial rites on Wednesday, never had it rosy in the face of his determined development journey. It is on record that free education, the instrument with which that visionary leader set this region on a faster lane of educational, political, economic and social advancement was, in the beginning, unpopular with the people.

    In the face of a daunting economic dilemma facing Nigeria, occasioning delays in salaries and pensions payments, meeting contractors’ obligations, funding budgetary provisions for capital projects and overheads, the message is clear that times like these demand critical and genuine assessment of situations in order to be in tune with the realities of the moment.

    Three years ahead and still a work in progress, there is no doubt that more “troubled times” lay ahead if development must be achieved. The “trouble times” only lies in the readiness of the citizenry to see the genuineness of a vision that is focused on true development and buy into it. That will be when “troubled times” meet their match in visionary leadership.

     

    • Okanlawon is the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Osogbo, Osun State.

     

  • We’ll leave a legacy in Osun, says Aregbesola

    We’ll leave a legacy in Osun, says Aregbesola

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday said his administration give Osun a legacy of an enhanced environment of learning.

    The governor said this while receiving an Award of Excellence from the Association of Primary School Headteachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON) in Osogbo, the state capital.

    He noted that his government has come to the realisation that school environment largely determine the quality and character of pupils produced.

    “We are therefore building state of the art 100 elementary schools. The idea behind this is that there should be an elementary public school in every neighbourhood.

    “We are also building 50 middle and 20 high schools. Out of these, 14 elementary schools, 15 middle schools and 11 high schools have been completed.

    “On Monday, we are going to present our model high school, named after a worthy Nigerian and a great educationist himself, Prof Wole Soyinka. It is a school in a class of its own, that will accommodate 3,000 pupils, with full learning infrastructure,” the governor said.

  • The high schools of Aregbesola’s dream

    The high schools of Aregbesola’s dream

    Despite dwindling revenue, Governor Rauf Aregbesola is determined to make Osun State the home of  new generation school structures that will change the face of public education institutions, writes Assistant Editor SEUN AKIOYE

    It was an unusual Saturday for Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. At a time his aides had concluded the weekend was free for their boss, a relief from the usual events-soaked weekends of the Governor, Aregbesola jumped out of his house and hopped into a privately-marked car. He was accompanied by a close aide and a police orderly. He drove out of Government House.

    In less than 10 minutes, Aregbesola had arrived at the premises of the Osogbo Grammar School, on Iwo-Osogbo Road and made straight for the magnificent structure that is the new face of that school. It is one of the 20 ambitious modern high schools being constructed across the state by his administration.

    The Saturday’s round of visit was about the 7th to that school in the last one month. Obviously, it was an unscheduled one which caught the site engineers and other workers unaware. As he moved from one section of the massive project to another, he closely examined the components and structures of the new building.

    The governor began to take notes as he moved from one end of the site to the other. As an Engineer, he knows what to look for in an ongoing project to ensure that the end-product satisfies the standards and specifications prescribed in the contract papers.

    Where he got satisfaction, you saw refreshing smiles on his face and a nod as he went on. Where the quality of the job fell short of his expectation, you would see the frowns. “I won’t compromise on the standard that we know is good for our school children,” he muttered as he went along in his inspection.

    Done with Osogbo Grammar School, Aregbesola made for the Ataoja School of Science, another sight to behold at the busy Gbongan/Osogbo Road. From one classroom to another, he repeated the same process at the Osogbo Grammar School, taking notes, approving of works meeting specifications and noting areas that need to be adjusted.

    From Osogbo, the Governor drove to Ejigbo, in Ejigbo Local Government Area. This is the site of the first completed High School in the state. The school, a three-in-one 3,000 student’s capacity, had actually been completed last year and was scheduled for inauguration.

    But then, tragedy struck! A seemingly mysterious rainstorm brought down the roof of the hall located within the school premises. The contractors went back to work to give back a befitting hall for the school.

    Last week, Aregbesola was in Ilesa where he inspected a similar project. However, what he met at the project site was not satisfactory, prompting the governor to send very strong signal to the contractor that he would not tolerate any slip-shod handling of the school projects.

    Engineer Gboyega Adeeyo, an expert with international experience said of the ongoing projects in Osun: “What is going on now is a product of long time thinking.”

    He said Aregbesola had long before he became the Governor of Osun State, seen drawings of some foreign school projects he had been involved in on his computer.

    “This Governor saw a drawing on my own computer long time ago and he said how some people can go to schools like this and our people cannot. We must not give up until we give our own people things like these. He was not governor then. When he became the governor, he called me and said ‘those drawings I saw on your computer that time, bring them.’ That was how the idea of these mega schools began,” he said.

    A high school housing 3,000 pupils will have three schools in one location. While the United Nations international best practices states that a high school cannot accommodate more than 1,000 pupils, the idea of three schools in one with different principals make sharing of facilities possible.

    “We can combine three schools in one with different principals. Each of the principals runs his school purely on the academic front. The management of the school becomes the responsibility of a facility manager,” said Adeeyo.

    The novel idea of having schools to be managed not by academic personnel such as the Principal or the Vice-Principals but by professionally qualified facility managers has the capacity to change the face of running schools in Nigeria. Over the decades, schools had run down to dilapidated structures simply because there were little or no attention paid to maintenance.

    “Who cares for replacement of the electricity bulbs? Who ensures that water taps run? Who ensures security of the students, personnel and facilities installed in the schools for the convenience of the pupils? Who cares if the paints are fading? Who maintains the electronic boards? These are too much for the Principal of any school whose main job should be the delivery of perfect and functional learning processes,” said Semiu Okanlawon, Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor.

    Okanlawon said those concerns brought about the well-thought out innovation of facility managers for the schools to ensure that these would not be projects run down in no time as usual with many of the publicly-owned facilities in this part of the world.

    “The idea of shared facilities such as the laboratories came because if you look at it well, all the three schools won’t be having laboratory works at the same time. So, when a school is through with the laboratory, it will be the turn of another. With that, you can maximise facilities and still have the quality learning in an environment conducive to teaching and learning that we desire for our people,” Adeeyo added.

    Of the 20 high schools that Aregbesola has tasked his administration with producing for Osun, 11 are currently at different stages of completion. Next week, the governor will also inaugurate the Ejigbo edifice which Okanlawon described as a “dream come to reality.”

    He gave the example of what is now the Salvation Army Government Middle School, Osogbo which had not become decrepit, but was a big hideout for hoodlums who used the school along the popular Alekuwodo area of Osogbo as centre for hatching their criminal activities.

    “There is a new lease of life,” said Alhaji Waheed Bakare, a human rights activist. “The emergence of these schools alone has changed the colour of the environment and it is gratifying that there are more to be established,” he said.

     

  • Aregbesola condemns female genital circumcision

    Aregbesola condemns female genital circumcision

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has condemned female genital mutilation, describing it as a sin against humanity.

    Speaking at a high level meeting on female genital mutilation organised by the Sericare Foundation in collaboration with UNFPA in Osogbo yesterday, the governor said it was disheartening that female genital circumcision still happens in the modern world. Describing the act as very primitive, he maintained that the female circumcision bears no good at all for anybody.

    Calling on all to condemn and reject the act, Aregbesola said scientific knowledge has established that circumcised women are not more promiscuous than uncircumcised woman, which generally is the reason for engaging in the dastardly act.

     

  • OSPOLY lauds Aregbesola on MoU

    Management of the Osun State Polytechnic Iree, Osun State, has praised the Osun State Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregesola for creating an enabling environment for the polytechnic to access international opportunities which have yielded positive developments in the institution.

    Rector of the Institution, Dr Jacob Olusola Agboola said this on Monday, while playing host to a volunteer from United States Agency for International Developnment (USAID) and Winrock International, Mr Brian Doyle, who was in OSPOLY to help with the re-organisation of the institution’s library as part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the agency on agricultural education and farmer-to-famer programmes initiated by the polytechnic.

    Said Agboola: ”The state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has created enabling environment for our institution to be rated as the sixth best polytechnics in Nigeria out of over 100 polytechnics nationwide.

    We are now on a journey towards being the first in the country. We are blessed with the state of the arts equipment, facilities and seasoned academics. All these are achievable with the assistance of the governor.”

    Doyle, who is currently in the institution to improve students and workers skills, counseled the authorities of the polytechnic to re-package the library using e-learning.

    The polytechnic recently hosted officials of USAID/Winrock International for a workshop and facility assessment on agricultural education, which facilitated the approval for the take-off of Agricultural Engineering and Bio-Environmental Studies in the institution by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

     

  • Aregebsola seeks prompt tax payment

    Aregebsola seeks prompt tax payment

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said the only bail out from the economic challenge facing the state is prompt payment of tax by the citizens.

    Addressing Muslims during the 1437 Hijrah celebration at the Government Technical College, Osogbo, the state capital, Aregbesola described tax payment as a civic responsibility of all citizens.

    He said no one is recognised as a responsible citizen, until he fulfills his civic obligations diligently and obediently.

    Aregbesola, who noted that the nation has run out of cash, maintained that the revenue to the states could not sufficiently cater for their needs.

    He added that the only way to come out of the economic crisis was for all the citizens to see the need for regular tax payment.

    The governor promised not to relent in giving the state the best and good governance to justify their support for his government, assuring that he would ensure total completion of all ongoing projects.

    “If you pay your tax regularly, it means that you love our government and you wish us to succeed because what we are earning from federation accounts could not take us to anywhere.”

    Assuring that his government would not be distracted by the current economic situation, he enjoined muslims to continuously embrace peace, unity and harmony as they joined their counterparts in the world to commemorate this year Hijrah celebration.

  • Aregbesola urges Soyinka to reconsider resignation

    Aregbesola urges Soyinka to reconsider resignation

    The Osun State government yesterday appealed to Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka not to resign as the chairman of the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (CBCIU), Osogbo.

    A statement signed personally by Governor Rauf Aregbesola said public interest is supreme in all matters.

    The governor called on stakeholders to prevail on Soyinka not to go ahead with his decision to resign.

    “In the interest of the public and the culture of our race to which Soyinka is passionately committed, he must continue in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Centre.

    “Yes, Wole Soyinka has resigned but he himself has conceded the fact that the governor must accept it.

    “We cannot accept the resignation even though we hold him in high esteem, because of the responsibilities attached to his chairmanship of CBCIU, which is beyond him and even beyond us.

    “It has to do with the culture and tradition of our race which we believe that the CBCIU is meant to preserve and promote.

    “We call on people of goodwill to prevail on Prof. Wole Soyinka, an international personage of culture, in the interest of our race, not to go ahead with his decision to resign.”

    The government said though the former chairman of the CBCIU had the vision to build the centre in his capacity then as the governor, he cannot be the chairman of the Centre in perpetuity as stipulated by the law establishing the Centre.

    The statement said: “The issue here is not difficult at all. The issue is that for whatever reason, a former governor of our state who had the vision of building that centre was misdirected to believe that he could be the perpetual chairman of the board of trustees, a situation that contradicts the constitution on any public institution.

    “There is no way the constitution will permit any individual to, in his individual capacity, head at that level, public institutions in perpetuity. It is not done. It offends the constitution. No matter how powerful you may be, no individual can put himself in perpetual role in a public institution.”

    The statement added that the law which vested that perpetual chairmanship in the former governor has been amended.

    It said: “The law which vested the perpetual chairmanship of the Centre on the former governor has been amended through the Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (Amendment) Law 2012.

    “Wherever the public interest is, personal interest suffers, diminishes or does not exist at all. The public interest prevails.”

    “To that extent, as far at the CBCIU is concerned, the obnoxious section which gives the perpetual chairmanship of the Board of Trustees to any individual is no longer there. It is null and void and cannot be the point of reference for anybody. Whoever therefore still sees himself in that light is not in any way acting on the legal instrument today in force on that centre.”

    The government said Soyinka’s chairmanship of the Centre is part of a larger responsibility to drive the building of a new heritage centre in the state.

    “We call on all people of goodwill to prevail on Prof Wole Soyinka to kindly reconsider his position and avail us his world acclaimed knowledge, intellect, international network and commitment to black  culture and civilisation,”  it concluded.