OSUN State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola has promised to sustain a strong bond with people of the state by giving them a sense of belonging through the promotion of peace, harmony, happiness and joy among the people. Aregbesola said this while speaking at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo, the state capital, during the pyrotechnic display by the state government to herald the New Year. The governor assured that his administration will continue to embark on activities that will further strengthen the bond between the government and the people of the state, and make the people happy. The event, which was organized through the Ministry of Special Duty and Regional Integration, attracted top government functionaries, Muslim and Christian leaders, as well as traditionalists. Speaking on the occasion, commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Integration, Barrister Basiru Ajibola explained that the pyrotechnics display signified the bond between the state government and the people of the sta
Tag: AREGBESOLA
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Aregbesola laments dwindling Federal Allocation
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday led top government officials and All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftains in prayers to usher in the New Year.
Many traditional rulers, including the Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Olobu of Ilobu and Olokuku of Okuku, were at the prayer session held at the Bola Ige House at the Governor’s Office in Osogbo, the state capital.
The three major religions – Christianity, Islam and traditional religion – were represented.
Also present were the governor’s wife, Alhaja Serifat; House of Assembly Speaker Najeem Salaam; Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Moshood Adeoti; Chief of Staff Gboyega Oyetola and Head of Service Sunday Owoeye, among others.
Aregbesola lamented the dwindling monthly Federal allocation, saying it had fallen from N4.6 billion to N3.2 billion.
He said the highest the state got lately was N3.2 billion, adding: “The sad thing is that the Federal Government has not given any concrete reason for the reduction, except for the claim that there was oil theft.”
The governor said the reduction in the monthly allocation began last August, adding that the state’s monthly wage bill is N3.6 billion.
He said despite the development and non-payment of December allocation, his administration paid salary and entitlements to date, as well as the 13th month salary.
The governor pledged to complete ongoing projects, despite the state’s lean purse.
The State Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Elisha Ogundiya, led the prayer in the Christian way.
The President, League of Imams and Alfas in the South West, Alhaji Musthapha Ajisafe, and Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon prayed in the Islamic and traditional ways.
The Anglican Bishop of Osun Diocese, Rev. James Popoola, urged government officials and civil servants to work diligently.
He prayed for peace and the smooth conduct of the forthcoming governorship election.
The cleric urged political office holders to lead with the fear of God.
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Aregbesola, Osun APC advocate peace
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged Nigerians to be agents of peace, unity and progress in the New Year.
In his New Year message, Aregbesola said both leaders and followers need to have a cordial relationship to improve the country.
He said while governments at all levels are expected to serve the people who voted for them; the followers also have the civic responsibility of supporting the government’s programmes.
Aregbesola said: “As we start a New Year, we should, as a people, chart a new course and rededicate our lives to the progress of our nation. All religious groups, as well as ethnic nationalities, must come together and work in harmony for the benefit our nation. As we approach election years, both leaders and the people must work and pray for peace in our state and nation.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) urged Nigerians to live together harmoniously and pray for peace in 2014.
In a message by its Publicity Director, Kunle Oyatomi, the party felicitated with the people on the beginning of another year.
It urged religious leaders to pray for peace, warning those who may want to fan the embers of discord to change their attitude.
The party listed the achievements of the Aregbesola administration in 2013 to include massive road construction, educational transformation with the reclassification of schools improved health care delivery, urban renewal, agricultural development and the welfare package for the aged.
Assuring that 2014 would be full of more “goodies” for the people, APC said: “Last year, the state became the first in Africa to introduce the Tablet of Knowledge (Opon Imo) in schools and transformed the education sector significantly with innovations.”
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School wins Aregbesola quiz trophy
Tower Gate Secondary School, Ipaja, Lagos has won the Rauf Aregbesola Annual Secondary School Quiz Competition with 45points.
The competition was organised by the Alimosho zone of the National Council of Muslim Youths Organisation (NACOMYO) in honour of the Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
The school, which also won the semi final of the competition, was rewarded with a trophy and a LED TV set.
Jooda Abdulfatai , Labour Prefect and Moyinoluwa Amoo, Time Keeper, who were representing their school for the first time, said the victory was team work. They thanked their teachers for mentoring them.
Alimosho Grammar School, Alimosho came second with 37points while Taoheed College was third with 34 points. They were also rewarded with LED television of various sizes.
Other participating pupils got dictionaries as consolation prizes, while their schools were presented with standing fans.
Sixty public and private schools within the zone participated in the competition regardless of their religious affiliations. Twenty-three of them qualified from the preliminary stage of the contest. Only 12 schools qualified for the final.
They were tested in English, Mathematics, the sciences, and other subjects.
The coordinator of group, Bello Hussein, said the competition was part of the organisation’s objectives to recognise the significance of education in Islam and to contribute to the educational growth in the country.
Dr Saheed Timehin, Senior Lecturer, Department of Modern and European Languages, Lagos State University (LASU), advised the students to always be optimistic about the future and strive hard to earn a successful life.
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All went well in Osun, but Aregbesola wants FG to activate emergency control centre
Osun in the South West geo-political zone of the country remains a very peaceful and secured state. In 2013 there were no significant crime related events. However, there were a few cases of armed robbery, rape, arson and violent community clashes across the state.
The state carved out of old Oyo State under the military administration of Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida on August 27, 1991, is reputed to be among the most secured and peaceful states in the country. Over the years, Osun had not recorded calamitous event strong enough to be put it negatively on the national or world map.
Early this year, the state government distributed 100 patrol pick vans to all the security agencies in the state, including the state Police Command, State Security Service, the Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, the Nigerian Immigration Service and Nigeria Customs Service to beef up security in the state. Before the distribution of these vans, the state government had procured about seven Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) and a helicopter for surveillance of the hide out of the criminals from the top. Possibly, all these provision could have reduced the criminal activities of the men of the underworld.
The previous year, 2012, there were series of armed robbery attacks on banks in Osogbo, Ejigbo, Iwo, Ilesa, Ile-Ife and Ikirun as well as armed attack on a bureau de change at Sabo area of Osogbo, the state capital. There were also kidnappings of notable residents of the state, including a major beer distributor, Alhaji Raufu Olaiya, who spent about two weeks with his captors and later released after paying a huge ransom. So also was another major liquour distributor, Mr. Idowu Obembe, who was unlucky to have died even after his family had paid the ransom.
During a robbery attack on a new generation bank at Osogbo, a police man was killed when the robbers, who had earlier successfully robbed a bureau de change at Sabo area were charting a way out of town ran into a bullion van and staff of the bank doing a cash movement in front of the bank. The wife of the state House of Assembly Speaker, Muibat Salaam, in 2012 was kidnapped in Ejigbo, her husband home town while returning from her shop. She was found a week in the bush somewhere in a village in Ogun State when she was discovered in the midst of the kidnappers by a curious palm wine tapper.
Also in 2012 there was an attack on bank at Gbongan, where the son of the Olufi of Gbongan narrowly escaped being killed by the robbers. But in 2013, all the robbery incidents recorded were mostly low profile. There were many incidents of reported and unreported burglaries, rape of minors, suicide, arsons and kidnaps. Prominent among these was the abduction of the 80 year old Ilesa-based industrialist, Chief Mrs. Yinka Obaleye, popularly known as Yinka Oba Foam. Her driver was killed while trying to beat the kidnappers. The industrialist spent about one week in the den of the kidnappers before she eventually regained freedom.
In 2013, there were a number of communal clashes. There was one between Ido-Osun in Egbedore Local Government and Ede, where two persons reportedly lost their lives. The two communities were fighting over the land where the multi billion naira ultra modern proposed M.K.O. Abiola International Airport is being sited by the Rauf Arergbesola administration.
Also, Oba Oke and Oba Ile are still fighting over boundary matter. No fewer than five people have been reported killed while a chief in one of the communities is still missing. In Ilase Ijesa in Obokun Local Government Area, palace of Onilase, Oba Adesina Alobijuwon, was burnt and the 80 year old blind monarch strangled and left to die helplessly in the inferno.
The paramount ruler of Ijesaland, Owa Adimula, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, at a point cried out about the security situation in his domain. He disclosed that no fewer than 70 motorcycles known as Okada are being snatched on a monthly and in some cases owners killed in the area.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola is crying to the Federal Government to activate an Emergency Control Centre it has built in the state. He said he had tried to no avail to make the FG do something positive about the centre no avail, saying it has refused to activate it in of spite all the appeals by the state government. He stated that though, the state government has its own Security Code, but without the Federal Government Security Code (112) working, that of the state cannot be made to work. He said: “We have appealed to the Federal Government to let us work together to activate the short code 112, so that our people can easily contact us in time of need, but this has proved fruitless. We are ready to take over all the financial requirements to get the centre operational but the Federal Government should come to the aid of the people of Osun to guarantee full security of our people. We have our own security code, but without the Federal Government’s functioning, we cannot get our own to work.”
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My husband is not a religious fanatic – Aregbesola wife
Osun state’s First Lady, Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola is not happy that her husband Mr. Rauf Aregbesola is being tagged as a religious fanatic.Mrs. Aregbesola who spoke with reporters at the Government House, Osogbo on Thursday debunked the claim in some quarters that Governor Aregbesola is a religious fanatic.According to her, Governor Aregbesola loves and cherish all religions equally.She urged those calling her husband a fundamentalist to stop playing politics with the serious issue of governance.
She also denied insinuations that the Governor is high handed in the handling of the affairs of the state, stressing that those making the claim are enemies of the present administration in the state.
The First Lady said her husband of over three decades believes in peace and treats people equally regardless of their religious belief.
Mrs. Aregbesola maintained that Governor Aregbesola, though a committed Muslim, believes in God and allows people, including family members to practise the religion they choose to.
She described Governor Aregbesola as a simple and nice person with a large heart, saying he believes in himself and gives everyone that comes his way the opportunity to develop.According to her, Aregbesola built a church in the Government House in Lagos when he was the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the state.“I am surprised that people are now giving my husband the names he doesn’t bear. He is a very tolerant person who believes in God regardless of the religion through which people call on Him. Today, two of his sisters are married to Christians and they are doing well as Christians.“We have people living with us till today who are Christians. These people go to church from our house and they also organize Christian prayers at home here where my husband also participate actively, ” Mrs Aregbesola stated.
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Aregbesola’s giant stride in judicial sector
By now, very few people, except of course malicious political opponents, would refuse to acknowledge that the incumbent governor of the State of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is a man imbued with a class when it comes to the issue of leadership. However, I will leave his accomplishments for the state in general terms for the chroniclers of history, having decided to limit myself for what he has impacted on the administration of justice since he ascended to office three years ago.
To impugn the insinuation that this is just a routine hagiography of a popular public office holder, I would also refrain from making direct, positive evaluative remarks but would leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions from the factual and well-documented performances of the Oranmiyan.
My real intention for writing this piece is to show how a ruler, convinced on his ideology and principled enough to make sacrifices for their actualisation, can bring about far-reaching changes.
I am a lawyer and being well-schooled in the philosophy that law is an instrument for positive social changes, I am always delighted whenever I perceive that any person, body or institution is making worthwhile contribution to help the cause of justice administration. Accordingly, I want to place it on record that I have been so excited about the remarkable landmark achievements that Ogbeni Aregbesola has made to overhaul justice administration in the state. The governor had earlier promised that the revival of the justice sector would be a subset of his administration’s larger Osun Rebirth Project. He made this vow in his campaign brochure published as the Green Book- My pact with the people of Osun State, stating solemnly as follows: “My government will ensure speedy access to justice by all individuals in Osun State, by reforming the courts system and procedural rules, introducing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms and free legal services.”
That vow now seems to have turned prophetic! While space may not permit wholesome recitation of the governor’s endeavours in this context, I would briefly mention those that I regard most remarkable.
Now, let us move down to the facts and figures. Prior to his ascension to office, there were only 18 magistrates holding sway throughout the expansive Osun state. Since the majority of the cases are invariably handled by magistrates, Aregbesola felt the inadequacy this limited number of judicial officers foisted on the Judiciary and its concomitant negative impact on efficient administration of justice, he therefore, appointed additional 19 magistrates to bring to 37 the number of this cadre of judicial officers. The governor also appointed 18 more state counsel to boost the efficiency of service delivery at the state’s Ministry of Justice. He established the state’s Citizen’s Mediation Centre to settle disputes between citizens without the need to resort to litigation and thereby decongest the courts. He did not stop there; he appointed 309 presidents and members of the customary courts in the state to revive the court, which had become remarkably in-operational because of lack of quorum and failing to meet the objectives for which it was established.
Furthermore, to ensure that only quality persons are appointed into the judicial service, the governor tinkered with the body charged with the issue of appointment of judicial officers, the Judicial Service Commission. On June 9, last year, he appointed competent, fit and proper persons into Osun State Judicial Service Commission.
After the efforts to appoint a very brilliant and erudite judge of Osun State extraction, Justice Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole, proved abortive, Aregbesola adhered strictly to the recommendations of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which culminated in the appointment of the unassuming and generally acceptable first female Chief Judge for the state.
To consolidate on all these appointments, the governor also made a lot of investment on human capacity building of judicial officers. For example, all legal practitioners in the government of the state and magistrates (which have become enlarged in size as noted above) were sponsored to this year’s Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association in Calabar. They were also sponsored to this year’s International Bar Association Conference, which held in Boston, United States. All magistrates in the state were also sponsored to Magistrates’ Association of Nigeria Annual Conference, which held in Lagos earlier this year, with the state recording the largest number of contingent at the conference among the 36 states.
Besides, judges of superior court are sponsored to overseas training periodically to sharpen their skills and equip them with modern ideas on justice delivery.
Aregbesola’s relationship with the bar has been excellent. All the five branches of the NBA in the state, namely Osogbo, Ikirun, Iwo, Ilesa and Ife, have, at one time or the other, become beneficiaries of the state governor’s largesse. For example, At the annual Sapara Williams Law week of the NBA Ilesa which held on November 26. Ogbeni announced the donation of three buses to the Ilesa, Ife and Iwo branches of NBA, which did not have buses of their own, unlike the remaining two other branches of Osogbo and Ikirin that have.
Under the vibrant leadership of Ogbeni, the state’s legislature has been proactive by passing many laws. These include Osun State Agency For the Control of HIV/AIDS (O-SACA) Law, 2011; State of Osun Security Trust Fund Law, 2012; State of Osun Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding (Amendment) Law, 2012; State of Osun Legitimacy (Repeal) Law, 2012; State of Osun Anthem, Crest and Flag Law, 2012; State Of Osun Debt Management Office Law, 2012 and The Osun Protection Against Domestic Violence Law, 2012.
In addition to these laws, there are also many bills at different stages of passage at the state’s legislature; these include justice-sector bills, such as the State of Osun Special Offences Court Bill, 2013.
In short, the legal/policy reform initiatives of Aregbesola’s administration cut across nine major sectoral areas. These include (a) Public Finance Management; (b)Revenue Generation; (c)Education and Human Capacity Development; (d) Urban Renewal and Environment; (e)Governance and Security; (f) Judicial Sector Reform; (g) Health and Safety; (h) Agriculture and Food Security and (i) Institutionalisation of Social Welfare Schemes.
An objective reader may ponder on why a governor who is not himself a lawyer may embark on revolutionising the justice sector on such an expansive and ambitious scale. But, I am not surprised; having known that the governor is a beneficiary of a courageous and uncompromising judiciary, he will strive to fulfill on his promise to make the society better that he met it.
Though he is an engineer, Aregbesola somehow understands the great importance a good administration of justice system implies for harmonious co-existence, progress and sustainable development. This is easily shown in the way he handled the matter of his governorship election debacle in his state.
Having been cheated of his mandate through massive election rigging in the last governorship election in the state, the governor urged all his followers and supporters not to take law into their hands through violence. He assured them he would follow the unpredictable and expensive procedure of litigation. What a torturous path that proved to be!
For whopping three years, he fought a relentless legal battle, which would have exhausted the patience of men of lesser steely constitution. To claim back his stolen mandate, he called more than 100 witnesses and tendered 168 exhibits in his petition before the Election Petitions Tribunal, to prove the allegation of mass rigging of the election. Eventually, the judgment came on November 26, 2011, when the Court of Appeal declared Aregbesola the winner of the election and ordered he should be sworn-in the following day.
Furthermore, it is remarkable that all the above quoted achievements of Ogbeni were done for the Judiciary alone despite the fact that Osun State is the smallest economy in Nigeria. To make this objective and the larger dream realisable of Osun Rebirth Project, the governor embarked on major drive to increase phenomenally the internally generated revenues of the state. It is noteworthy that as at 2009, Osun had a meagre Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of N110 billion ($963 million) and internally generated revenue (IGR) of N320million monthly, but as of today, the state has an IGR of about N1.4 billion per month, also, the state’s GDP is about N738 billion.
Commenting on the performance of Aregbesola after three years in office at the Ilesa Bar- organised Law week in honour of Christopher Alexander Sapara-Williams show case session, the guest speaker and Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr. Ajibola Bashiru, gave an overview of the governor’s justice sector initiatives as follows: “Aregbesola has led an administration to modernise governance; institutionalise good governance practices; facilitate and support investment; improve security and social welfare; promote public good and realise the Six-point Integral Action Plan of the Administration.
“Governmental institutions and policies become more meaningful, achievable and sustainable when they are entrenched in the legal framework of society. The immense development being witnessed in various facets of life in the State of Osun is functions of not only purposeful leadership, but clear re-engineering of different aspects of the society including financial, legal, judicial and social sectors.”
In conclusion, I would like to state that the governor has erected a great foundation for dynamic and efficient justice administration which is solid enough to carry the weight of subsequent superstructure of legal reforms. This exemplary legacy would surely give him a place in history.
Abdul-Rasheed is a former National Publicity Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association
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Aregbesola urges lawyers to improve justice delivery
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged lawyers to improve justice delivery through more research.
Speaking at the inauguration of the Sapara Williams Memorial Law Library, which cost about N19 million, the governor said it was built to immortalise an icon who promoted legal education.
Aregbesola, who described the library as the best in the country, said a lawyer’s success depended not necessarily on how brilliant he is, but on the depth of his research.
“Law is about the only profession you can not practice without constant reading,” he said.
He said the lawyer that does more research wins more cases, but can only be sound when he has facilities for research.
Aregbesola said the Sapara William Law library is, therefore, a legal resource centre established to aid lawyers, students and legal scholars.
He said the dedication of the library to the memory of the late lawyer is necessary because “the iconic stature of Sapara Williams in the history of Nigerian law and politics is well worth more than what the state has been able to do in his honour”.
He said the deceased belonged to the same league of great Nigerians as the late Herbert Macaulay and others.
Aregbesola urged lawyers in the state to make the best use of the facility to the advantage of the law profession.
Earlier, thes Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Wale Afolabi, lauded the efforts of the governor in for making lawyers’ job easy in the state.
While pointing out that the governor has made sufficient funds available to stock the library with good books, the commissioner said the governor had bought four brand new buses and an industrial Mikano generator to aid the smooth running of activities in the Ministry of Justice.
Those in attendance include Justice Adebisi Ogunlade, who represented the Chief Judge Justice Adepele Ojo; the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry and Solicitor-General, Mrs. Abiola Adewemimo, among others.
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Mandela lived without prejudice, says Aregbesola
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola spoke last night on the passage of Nelson Mandela, saying he doubted if another like him would come this way soon.
He said: “There goes the conscience of the world. He lived without prejudice. I doubt if there could be anyone like him in the nearest foreseeable future.
“We celebrate his life and dogged struggle, even in death.
“On behalf of the State Government of Osun and all those who are committed to the deepening of democracy, I send my condolences.”
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AREGBESOLA THIRD ANNIVERSARY: By innovation, harvests increase
The Director, Osun State Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, highlights the achievements of the Aregbesola Administration in the last three years.
By November 2010 when the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola took over the baton, Osun was barely a year less than two decades. What the entire state could boast of in internally generated revenue (IGR) in almost twenty years was no more than N300 million every month at the very highest. Records indicate it fell short of that many times.
However, by November 2013, a period of three years, by merely blocking all the leakages, Osun now rakes in N1.6bn in IGR monthly without expanding the tax net and the prospects are high and encouraging. What this indicates in clear terms, is that in all of its 19 years of existence as a state before the advent of the Aregbesola administration, Osun could muster a paltry N300million in what its people could contribute for its survival and continued existence. Conversely, in three years, the state grew its IGR by 433 percent.
Glimpsed from the perspective of this phenomenal growth, Nigerians are wont to go back to such statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics in terms of development indices to reason why Osun shows the highest capacity for outstanding growth in the whole country at the moment despite the unenviable 34th place in the revenue allocation ladder and meagre opportunities to generate funds internally.
The National Bureau of Statistics announced to the world that Osun ranks highest in public school enrolment in the country in a national environment where public school enrolment figures make very loud statements of the rot in the country’s education sector.
Within the same period and owing to the same factors, the National Bureau of Statistics placed Osun in the league of states with the lowest unemployment rate with the lowest figure of 3.0 where even Kwara ranks 7.1, Lagos ranks 8.3 and Oyo 8.9.
Of course, the obviously low crime rate in the state did not elude the observation of Participants of the Course 22 of the National War College Abuja which spent some days in the state on an assessment tour within the last two months.
All these indications of success cannot be happenstance. If anything, they represent the direct outcomes of ingenious, coordinated and determined interventions in the affairs of a state that was brought to its knees in all spheres of life.
Declaring that “For me and for all of us, it is work, work and more work!” on the day of his inauguration at the state capital, Osogbo on November 26, 2010, Governor Aregbesola left no one in doubt on the direction his administration was to follow more so with the resolve to run an unusual government.
He seemed to have read Alfred North Whitehead well. Whitehead’s logic that “simple solutions seldom are,” and that “it takes a very unusual mind to undertake analysis of the obvious” readily provides the only template for any critical mind to analyse the problem-solving fervor of the governor.
The state with a population of about 3.8 million people had its difficulties spelt out in all the areas. The education sector presented a depressing outlook. Schools did not promise learning. Hospitals did not promise health. Roads did not promise safe journeys. Markets did not promise sales. Farms did not promise food. But even in the face of these, the people had resigned to fate; having been cowed into silence and trepidation by the combined evil forces of foisted poverty and festering violence.
But realising that “fear is the lack of faith in one’s ability to create powerful solutions,” as reasoned by T.F. Hodge in his From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph Over Death and Conscious Encounters with “The Divine Presence”, what have emerged in the last three years in Osun represent “powerful solutions” to break the shackles of poverty and set the people on a path to greatness.
The distinct admission, that the same old solutions cannot continue to be applied to the same old problems, have culminated in ground-breaking ideas that have only placed the state steps ahead of its peers.
The youth employment strategies employed by the government have proved to be not only ingenious but efficacious. Forty thousand youths engaged through the Youth Empowerment scheme and its allied forms are the reasons for such commendations by the World Bank, National War College Course 22 Participants, American embassy, the Sultan of Sokoto, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal, and a host of others who have seen that something unique is taking place in Osun beyond the ordinary.
In a country with mounting restiveness in all her regional parts, the Osun job creation specimen provides development experts fresh vistas of ideas to solve not only Nigeria’s but Africa’s bourgeoning unemployment predicament. That the World Bank adapted this model and presented it to the Federal Government culminating in the Youth Employment Social Support Operations, YESSO speaks volume about the Osun’s now established thinking out of the box.
Yes! The reforms in the education sector have brought about hoopla. But that is only to the very extent that humans must naturally resist change even when they are to transit from hell to paradise. This is coupled with the fact that the ever-opportunistic opposition camp, boxed to a corner and dazed by the chains of innovative projects, is poised to confuse the citizens with its dubious manipulative characterization.
Ranking Opon Imo, the Tablet of Knowledge among four best global learning tools by the United Nations-backed World Summit Award Global Congress strengthens the claim that from Osun has emerged “powerful solutions” to the problem facing quality education.
A combination of uninspiring learning environments, ill-motivated and unqualified teaching personnel, inadequately prepared curriculum and other problems had all conspired against quality learning.
If governance means responsibility to the people at all, the solutions proffered have addressed the roots of failure and ignited fresh passion for learning. The years to come are to confirm the ingenuity that lies in the solutions as examinations results are already indicating that the rot is disappearing.
The Senate Committee on Education, led by Senator Uche Chukwumerije, did not just recommend the Osun education model for the entire country for nothing. There is no argument about the fact that Nigeria has lost its grip on the education sector with the concomitant huge costs to progress, order and development.
A large illiterate population readily promotes poverty, diseases, stagnation and violence. The Senate’s assessment of the Osun model and subsequent recommendations for national acceptance and adoption as a way out of the present conundrum is a powerful endorsement of the creative governance in the state.
The creativity resonates in tourism to attract people to Osun; it resonates in agriculture to cause massive food production; in youths engagements to re-orientate youth and create the new total man who is useful to his society. In environmental cares, the government has demonstrated a rare foresight in the management of its affairs that a hitherto uninspiring environment now greens with order and coordination.
It is also on record that this foresight made the state to stay afloat when many states of the federation came under the mercy of massive floods; a national catastrophe that had forced the Federal Government to belatedly spend billions of Naira to limit loses of lives and properties. Just before the current administration took over, it was tragedy galore as flood swept humans and goods away even before the very eyes of those who had no solutions to society’s pressing problems.
The innovative nature of the solutions always provided is the very reason for the noise. But there has emerged a pattern. Virtually all innovative ideas that had ignited heated debate and hullaballoo have been embraced surprisingly by their initial vociferous critics.
What other states of the federation and the Federal Government have done with the youth engagement strategies, re-branding of the state, and others have merely shown that it is a matter of time for the education reforms models, projects financing strategies and others to be adopted as indispensable options for rapid growth.
Of course, some have accused the administration of obduracy; castigating it for sticking to its ideas of development even in the face of mounting criticisms.
But the driver behind the wheel, just like the American inventor and businessman of the 19th century, Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth, says, “I’m convinced that the best solutions are often the ones that are counterintuitive – that challenge conventional thinking – and end in breakthroughs.
“It is always easier to do things the same old way…why change? To fight this, keep your dissatisfaction index high and break with tradition. Don’t be too quick to accept the way things are being done. Question whether there’s a better way. Very often you will find that once you make this break from the usual way – and incidentally, this is probably the hardest thing to do—and start on a new track, your horizon of new thoughts immediately broadens. New ideas flow in like water. Always keep your interests broad – don’t let your mind be stunted by a limited view.”