ormer National President of the Osogbo National Students’ Union, National Secretary of the Osogbo Progressive Union and Chairman of Ajad-Toy Newspaper Agency and Ajad-Toy Enterprises, Chief Adetoyese Olayanju will be elevated from Otun-Gbobaniyi to Gbobaniyi of Osogboland on Friday by the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun Larooye 11.
The ceremony will hold at the Ataoja’s palace at 10am.
•Artisans, councils’ board, Ondo indigenes back Aregbesola
Five state-of-the-art mechanic villages worth five billion naira are to be built in Osun State.
They will be built by the state government in collaboration with a company from the Netherlands and the National Automobile Council.
They are part of the 11 auto cities to be built in the country.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola announced this at the weekend in Osogbo, the state capital, at a programme organised by the National Automobile and Technician Association (NATA) of Nigeria, Osogbo and Olorunda chapters, to declare their support for the governor’s second term bid.
The mechanic villages would begin operation this year. They will be located in Osogbo, Ile-Ife, Ikirun, Ilesa and Iwo.
Aregbesola said: “A mechatronic village will soon be built on the premises of the Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke, for the training of NATA members on modern ways of automobile repair.
“The mechatronic villages will cost the state government N1 billion. They would be manned by a team of 30 engineers, who are undergoing training on modern day automobile repair in Germany.”
The governor described NATA as vital to the growth of the state’s economy and thanked its members for their support.
Chairman of the occasion and chairman, Oranmiyan Worldwide, Prince Felix Awofisayo assured NATA of the government’s continued support.
NATA Vice-President, Southwest, Comrade Dele Odewale said: “Aregbesola is a God-sent governor; that is why he is getting things right. Automobile mechanics support his second term ambition in recognition of his brilliant performance.
“Technicians have benefited immensely from the present administration’s efforts to put smiles on the people’s faces in every facet of life. The administration has impacted on our lives and profession positively.”
Also at the weekend, the board of Local Government Education Authorities endorsed Aregbesola for a second term.
They said the governor’s achievements in education, infrastructure, youth employment, health, security and environment are unprecedented.
The board members and people from their councils assembled at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, where they declared their support for the governor’s re-election bid.
The board’ Chairman, Isa Ojewale, said: “The Aregbesola administration has simplified governance by involving the people in it. The state has been relatively peaceful since the inception of the administration, an achievement that was made possible through the Osun Youth Employment Scheme (OYES) and other programmes that engage youths”.
Aregbesola said his administration would continue to meet the people’s needs.
Members of the Market Women Association, led by Alhaja Awawu Assindemade, top government officials and state executives of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were at the event.
Also at the weekend, a group of Ondo State indigenes resident in Osun State, Aregbesola Sunshine Movement (ASM), pledged to work for the governor’s re-election.
At the group’s meeting in Akure, the Coordinator and Ondo All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain, Saka Yusuf-Ogunleye, said ASM was formed to work towards Aregbesola’s re-election.
Yusuf-Ogunleye said the group was impressed by Aregbesola’s performance, particularly on regional integration.
He said Aregbesola spent his youthful days in Ondo State and deserves to be supported by Ondo indigenes in Osun.
Yusuf-Ogunleye said the group would launch its campaign soon at the APC secretariat in Osogbo.
Parts of Osogbo, the Osun State capital and its environ may not have power supply for days to come because of the inferno which razed a section of the National Control Centre of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Osogbo on Thursday night.
The centre serves Osun, Oyo, Kwara and Ekiti states in the provision of electricity supply.
A source within the National Control Centre said there was a fire outbreak around 10.00 pm which caused serious confusion in the town as residents of Power Line area where the centre is located, ran helter skelter.
The men of Fire Service could not put out the fire until 9.00am of the following day.
The source further disclosed that the inferno was caused by a technical hitch in the centre.
Equipment worth hundreds of millions of naira was destroyed in the inferno.
It was gathered that some residents of the area, who were scared, moved to other parts of the town in the midnight when all efforts to put the fire out could not yield positive results.
Some of the residents said they fled the area for safety and that of their family members as they had earlier thought that it was a bomb blast.
The state Deputy Governor, Mrs Grace Tomori, who visited the scene of the incident at 3.30 am allayed the fear of the people of the state.
She assured them that the incident was not caused by members of the Boko Haram sect, saying that the state government would investigate the cause of the ugly incident.
Men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp and the Nigerian Army joined the officers of the State Fire Service to put out the fire.
Security agents, including the police and soldiers were strategically stationed at the centre to provide adequate security for facilities at the centre.
However, the incident has caused total black out in most parts of the state. It was learnt that the situation might persist until necessary repairs are made at the centre and the damaged items replaced by the PHCN.
The Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration has built 400 kilometers of road across the state in less than four years.
Speaking with reporters yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, Commissioner for Information and Strategy Sunday Akere said the roads include intra and intercity roads.
They include 21 roads in Osogbo, which are over 26 kilometers; 15 Ilesa township roads of about 30 kilometers; 14 Ede township roads of 21 kilometers; 22 intercity roads of 317 kilometers across the state and 13 intra-city roads of 79.5 kilometers.
Akere said the roads were built through direct labour.
He said six roads, stretching over 74 kilometres across the state, are 81 per cent completed, adding that many others are at various levels of completion.
The commissioner said before the end of the second quarter of this year, more roads would be inaugurated.
INFOGEM Limited, the official marketer of the annual Osun Osogbo festival is exploring new opportunities to increase the number of in-bound tourists coming into the country for the festival. As part of the efforts to actualize this, Infogem participated in the last World Tourism Market (WTM), held in Custom House, Excel, London. The WTM is one of the biggest events in the world tourism calendar, and had more than 200 countries participating.
Infogem attended the event as one of the private tourism companies to the WTM. Speaking on the reason for the their presence, the company’s Managing Director, Mr Ayo Olumoko, said the WTM was an important platform to leverage on to beckon to prospective tourists and investors, and also convince them on the need to capitalize on the enormous opportunities the Osun Osogbo festival possess.
Olumoko said, in Osun Osogbo, Nigeria was literally sitting on fame and fortune, and gave credit to previous and present government policies that have helped to position the festival beyond a mere religious ceremony to a global activity that attracts men and women of different faiths and cultures. He said: “the Osun Osogbo Festival now prides as a cultural hub for those interested in the ancient allure of culture. This is the song Infogem Limited is singing to would- be investors and partners, who in the open and in introspection, will admit to the mileage such an event will give to their products and services. Two reasons for this are: the Osun Osogbo festival retains an almost perfect re-enactment of events and artifacts that have been institutionalized more than 600 years ago, and the second being the fact that the Osun grove is a UNESCO certified World heritage site.
The onus is therefore, on the citizens to fully open their creative minds and be allowed to be serenaded with all the exciting opportunities at their doorsteps. Community participation is encouraged to breathe life into many of these events to fully establish its relevance in the development of a nation. Expectedly, any tourist site, or occasion that has the capacity to welcome a large number of local and international tourists to their domain is poised to empower her people. The need for accommodation, feeding and leisure, which will be a must, have the capacity to improve the lot of the people. As the nation increases her wealth bases from the profits, the ripple effect is felt around the host community, increasing the patronage of local goods and services, and creating more avenues to wealth. Hence, it is imperative that people should learn to divorce their sentiments from what a cultural festival portends, and focus on the economic gains that could benefit the people, irrespective of their religious inclinations, and support it to achieve maximum success.”
Speaking further, Olumoko said: “Nigerians should get set for the launch of the African Community CultureFest 2014, spearheaded by this company; Infogem Limited, which is a celebration of Africa’s heritage, her people and way of life. This week long event will be a cultural showcase of the spectacular beauty of Africa Razzmatazz and the display of the colourful lifestyle that defines the people. It is going to be a reminisce of the highly successful FESTAC 77. Interestingly, it will be an annual event that will be hosted by different African countries willing to be sponsors for the event.”
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has named the Freedom Park in Osogbo, the state capital, after the late former South African President Nelson Mandela.
The governor, at a second term endorsement rally organised for him by the 31 local government executive secretaries in Osogbo, said the Mandela represents freedom and equal opportunity.
Aregbesola said Mandela symbolised anything that is good, adding that his death was a great loss to Africa.
The park is located inside the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) premises in Osogbo.
FRESH facts have emerged on what led to the attack on a teacher of Osogbo Grammar School, Mr. A Olamoyegun, who was given a deep cut in the head by some students of neighbouring Technical College, Osogbo, on Thursday.
The attack on the teacher popularly called Bush Meat by his students, was allegedly planned by some students of Osogbo Grammar School, who allegedly gave the assailants their school uniforms to enter the school unsuspected to carry out the bloody act.
Investigations revealed that the teacher was considered to be a no nonsense man who often administers corporal punishments on notorious students of the school.
The Nation gathered a day before the attack, the teacher was said to have asked some female students to crawl a distance on their knees for misbehaving.
This punishment was said to have led to the call of some students on their counterparts in the neighbouring school to “deal with him.”
An axe was used to deal a deep cut on Olamoyegun’s head, with his body dripping of blood before he was rushed to the state clinic and later to the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo.
Some students have allegedly been apprehended by the police but some of their mates are of the opinion that innocent students were arrested while the real perpetrators are still at large.
Also on Thursday, students of St. Marks Anglican High School, Osogbo, were engaged in a violent brawl leading to the stabbing of one of them within the school premises located at Testing Ground area of the town.
Pandemonium broke out when students of School 1 and that of School 4 clashed and engaged one another in a violent combat over an undisclosed matter.
The state Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Ayo Olowe, confirmed the incident.
The driver of a Mazda 2000 commercial bus, marked Lagos XL 463 MSN, has died in an accident on the Gbongan road in Owode, near Osogbo, Osun State.
Eleven people were critically injured.
The accident occurred on Sunday evening.
An eyewitness said one of the bus’ rear tyres burst and the vehicle somersaulted twice.
The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Imoh Etuk, said the injured had been taken to the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital and the State Hospital, Asubiaro, both in Osogbo.
He said the driver’s body had been deposited at the morgue of the LAUTECH Teaching Hospital.
Newly-appointed Prime FC coach, Samuel Abimbola has said he will deliver the goods in his care safely at the end of the 2013/14 Nigeria National League (NNL) season.
The former Sunshine Stars coach was handed the mantle of leadership at the Osogbo-based side on Sunday to guide the side in their ambitious plan to gain promotion to the top flight next season.
Abimbola said he has accepted the challenge with both hands to guide the 2012 Federation Cup bronze winners for a place in the Premier League.
“For every challenge that comes my way, I always table it before God for counseling and direction and I discovered that I’ve never failed in such ventures. We’ll work extremely hard towards the realisation of the lofty dream of guiding the side to gain promotion to the Premier League.
“I’ll deliver the goods successfully at the end of the season, the people of Osogbo are peaceful. Their supporters are mature and not the type that put the coaches under unnecessary pressure, I don’t have any fear with their cooperation we’ll achieve a lot for the side.
“I’ve done some skeletal work with the side leading to careful selection of 36 players after a thorough three-week screening exercise. We’ll still trim down the size to more manageable proportion for our campaign in the upcoming season. I’m happy to report that I like what I met on ground. What we need is God’s grace and hard work to achieve the target set for us by the management of the side,” said the former Flying Eagles assistant coach to supersport.com.
Prime FC finished poorly with 32 points in 12th position in the 2012/13 Nigeria National League (NNL) season Division B 14-team format.
From seminar halls and boardrooms where talks seem to have collapsed, university teachers have moved their battle for better education to the streets.
But, the police are stopping them from holding rallies and marches to convince the public that their four-month old action is right.
In Calabar, the police yesterday stopped a planned protest by lecturers of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and the Cross River University.
But the lecturers addressed a rally on the UNICAL campus.
University of Ibadan (UI) lecturers had a town hall meeting to sensitise the people to the strike.
In Ile-Ife, Osun State, Obafemi Awolowo University lecturers marched on the streets, getting to the palace of the Ooni of Ife. They urged him to pravail on the government to implement the 2009 agreement it signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), without which the strike would continue.
President Goodluck Jonathan said during last month’s Presidential Chat that the government cannot fully implement the agreement, especially the financial aspect, because doing so would force a shutdown of other departments.
The Nigeria Labour Congrees (NLC), also yesterday, said although it would not call out workers on a solidarity strike with the lecturers, it would hold a meeting in Kaduna tomorrow to take a stand on the way forward.
No fewer than 200 policemen, most of them heavily armed, stopped ASUU members from carrying out an enlightenment walk in Calabar.
The walk, which was organised by the UNICAL and Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) branches of ASUU, was to take off from the UNICAL gate at 7am and go through some streets of Calabar, but the policemen ensured the teachers did not leave the campus
The policemen said they were acting on “orders from above”.
ASUU Chairman Dr James Okpiliya said: “Our union is law abiding. We wrote to the police and other security agencies on our intention of walking the streets in pursuance of our cause to put the records straight.
“Many groups have been walking the streets, giving people the wrong impression about the situation. We just want to put the records straight. The police are telling us that they have orders from above not to let us walk the streets of Calabar. It is a shame. You can all see the hypocrisy of government.
“They allowed youth and market women but they would not let us academics, peace loving people. We would remain resolute. No amount of provocation would stop us.”
Okpiliya went on: “We are not on strike because of our salaries. We are fighting for our students and the terrible conditions of our university. Most of our science students do not know the difference between Bunsen burner and a stove. They don’t even know the chemicals.
“The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) today has become a main funding source of our universities, but this is not to be so. TETFUND is only an intervention agency. Government has bailed out banks and even Nollywood, but not our universities.
“The strike would continue as long as the government remains adamant. The President said after all, the strike in Ghana lasted two years, so that means this one can continue even up to five years.
“It is a shame for the President to say the strike is political. The strike is not political. We are fighting for the good of our people. If there is anything political about this it is by him Jonathan. Let him implement the agreement and if the strike continues then he can say it is political. Any government that does not pay attention to the education sector is a dead government.”
The Chairman of ASUU, CRUTECH branch, Dr Nsing Ogar, said the Federal Government must honour the agreement.
A former president of ASUU and renowned author, Prof Festus Iyayi, said a government that does not respect agreements is calling for anarchy.
He said: “This is the final struggle. Even if it takes 10 years, the students should know we are struggling on their behalf. A day would come when the police would join us. A day would come when we would not care whether the police would stop or not. The state has failed.”
Another lecturer from UNICAL said: “If the strike is called off today, everybody will be worse off for it. People are not looking at the issues; they are just saying open the school, let the children graduate. Let them go to school. They are not bothered about the quality of education they are getting. In the future, whatever we say the government will never take us seriously.”
OAU chapter Chairman Prof. Peter Akinola, who led the protest, urged the Federal Government to accede to ASUU’s demands to enable the union suspend the industrial action.
Addressing residents at the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Akinola said the education sector deserved a better deal.
A member of the union, Prof. Gbolahan Babalola, said protest was to show the concern of ASUU for undergraduates who had stayed at home for months.
He urged traditional rulers and other stakeholders to resolve the impasse.
The Sarun Oodua, Chief Adekola Adeyeye, who represented the Ooni, praised ASUU for the peaceful conduct and show of concern for students.
Adeyeye said that the Ooni understood that education was the best legacy that any parent or government could bequeath to any child.
He promised that the union’s message would be relayed to the traditional ruler.
The OAU lecturers moved round major streets of Ile-Ife. Osun State University teachers staged their rally at the newly built Freedom Square near Old Garage in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
The Ile-Ife rally, which kicked off from the Oduduwa Hall of the OAU caused a traffic gridlock for many hours in the ancient town.
Osun State University branch Chairman Dr. Joseph Abiona was worried over the misinformation being dished out to Nigerians by the Federal Government as reason for the strike.
The NLC said it was in the process of mediating between the Federal Government and ASUU.
Oyo State NLC Chairman Comrade Bashiru Olarewaju spoke at a town hall meeting organised by ASUU to review the strike. The meeting was held at the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan (UI).
At the Town Hall meeting were hundreds of people, including civil society groups’ members, politicians, the clergy, traders who were presented with slide of the NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT of 2009 .
The NLC, according to Olarewaju , will meet tomorrow in Kaduna to take a decisive action on the ASUU strike.
He said: “The government and some other people have been trying to undermine the power, the influence and the ability of each group that can salvage this nation from collapse . And let me say this, that NLC has not been quiet. No, many people will want the NLC to go on strike. No; we will not go on strike on ASUU for now. But, anything can happen after Wednesday. This is because we have more than 40 affiliates. If an affiliate of NLC is in crisis and we now bring the entire workforce to join the strike, the train of the nation will not move forward. What we do in most cases is to mediate. ASUU is an affiliate of the NLC. ASUU is our partner. We will work together ,” the NLC chair said.
Prof. Remi Raji, Dean, Faculty of Arts, UI, said: “The way forward is for the government to look at the NEEDS ASSESSMENT report, which was presented to the government in November, 2012.
“In the next few days, it will be one year and nothing has been done of the 189 recommendations and we are saying that it is very crucial for government to deal with it squarely for the future of our children and our nation because a country that does not develop its own capacity within, to develop its own education standard to world class quality, cannot claim to be a giant of Africa, cannot claim to have a clean bill of economic health . This is the issue.”
UI chapter Chairman Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye said the appeal by President Jonathan to be patriotic is not needed but action and implementation of the agreement reached with the union.
He said it was sad that a President who claimed that corruption is not Nigeria’s problem can watch a Minister buy bullet proof vehicles for N255million, yet claiming there is no money to fund education.
He berated the President for speaking out publicly on the ongoing strike close to four months after it began, maintaining that he has not been patriotic and sensitive enough to the needs of the majority of Nigerians.
He said: “Will it have been possible for Mr. President to be quiet if his children are in one of our public institutions and be at home for four months? “How many years of appeal will make Mr. President implement a four year old agreement? The truth is we are tired of appeal. We need action. “
The Chairman of ASUU, Niger Delta University (NDU), Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Dr. Beke Sese, said the strike is to save the universities from collapse.
He maintained that the strike had no political undertone and not targeted at Jonathan or his administration.
Sese told reporters in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, that the industrial action was to protest the deplorable condition of public universities.
“Imputing political motive to the strike is a calculated attempt by some persons to deploy propaganda gimmicks to the cause of the university teachers, in order to divert attention from the real issues that informed the strike,” Sese said, adding:
“When the current Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, was ASUU president, the members did not compromise, when there was similar strike, during the regime of the late Gen. Sani Abacha.
“This is the first time that ASUU members have embarked on a protracted strike, which centres on funding of the universities and improvement of the infrastructure. The funds so far released by the Federal Government are grossly inadequate. The 2009 agreement must be fully implemented.”