The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Osun govt

  • Osun govt prohibits illegal medical centres

    •Enforcement begins Monday

    The Osun State government has said it will deal with anyone found guilty of operating illegal medical centres.

    It said the government will enforce Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s Executive Order ridding Osun of illegal medical practice.

    Aregbesola spoke in Osogbo, the capital, while addressing a public lecture: Misdiagnosis and Legal Implications in an Evolving Environment.

    The lecture was organised by the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.

    The governor said the Executive Order would curb misconduct and illegality in the Health sector.

    He said: “While waiting for the promulgation of the law that will standardise medical facilities operation in Osun State, we are announcing that an Executive Order will take effect from Monday (March 26), which will prohibit any illegality in the Health sector.

    “I want to state here that, latest by Monday, there will be an Executive Order that will criminalise any health facility that is substandard in our state.

    “By the grace of God, this Executive Order will make it illegal for anybody to operate a substandard clinic, health centre, hospital and specialist medical centre anywhere in Osun State.

    “This will further reflect our administration’s unalloyed commitment to promote healthy living, improve the standard of living of our people and provide standard healthcare service delivery across the nooks and crannies of the state.”

    On the topic of the lecture, Aregbesola urged health practitioners to champion the Omoluabi (the thoroughbred) ethos in all they do.

    He added: “…In medical practice, Omoluabi ethos is essential. To me, that is the summary of this lecture. You must be an Omoluabi, even in medicine. As it is in medicine, so it is in Law, in Engineering and Accounting, and so it is in every profession.

    “When you break it down, ‘character’ is the soul and heart of every profession. Once you apply character, dignity, honour and decency to all you do, you can never go wrong.

    “The summary of everything here is that we must remember that we are in the state of the virtue. Once you internalise that, you can hardly be wrong.”

    The guest lecturer, Dr Ajibola Bahiru, hailed the state for its commitment to the healthy living of the people.

    He attributed misdiagnosis to poor awareness on the legal rights and the absence of knowledge of legal consequences and remedies available in the Health sector.

     

  • Osun partners Bovas to tackle fuel scarcity

    The Osun State government has expressed its readiness to partner Bovas Petroleum Nigeria Limited, an independent petroleum marketing company, to tackle fuel scarcity across the state.

    The government said the partnership would avert scarcity of fuel by increasing the daily volume of petroleum products supplied and distributed across the state.

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola announced the partnership after meeting with the leadership of Bovas Petroleum, led by its Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Victoria Adunola Samson, at the Government House in Osogbo, the state capital.

    The governor said he convened the meeting as part of his administration’s effort to relieve the pains the residents experienced in getting the petroleum products, being an important commodity to the people.

    Aregbesola said: “As a government, we want to do everything possible to end the protracted fuel scarcity in our state and we are ready to work with Bovas Petroleum to achieve this.

    “I know that Bovas Petroleum has a direct link with NNPC, and I am particularly thrilled that the company sells its products even below the official pump price, which is highly commendable.

    “We want to work with this company to improve the daily supply of petroleum products to our state and guarantee the product in every nook and cranny of our state.

    “There is no doubting the fact that Osun needs about 55 trucks laden with 33,000 litres of petrol everyday to meet its needs, but it is unfortunate that we get less than 10 trucks.

    “We are setting in motion the machinery that will facilitate the realisation of our objectives to guarantee a steady supply of petrol to our people.”

    Mrs Samson hailed Aregbesola for striving to rescue the state and the residents from the hardship of accessing and buying petroleum products.

    She said: “I am really touched to find out that the governor cares for the people of the state by striving very hard to ensure that Osun gets enough supply of petroleum products to ease the sufferings of motorists and commuters.

    “Though we have had a comprehensive discussion on this, but all I discovered is that he (Aregbesola) simply loves his people and he doesn’t want them to lack anything. That is why he wants us to bring enough supply to Osun to halt the current scarcity.

    “…We are ready to partner the state to increase on the supply capacity as we are promising to do our best to improve on the supply of petroleum to Osun to alleviate the suffering.”

     

  • Osun govt hails parties, OSIEC, others for peaceful council poll

    Osun govt hails parties, OSIEC, others for peaceful council poll

    The Osun State government has hailed political parties, the State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC), security agencies and the residents for allowing peace to reign before, during and after last Saturday’s local government election.

    The government expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the poll, saying it reflected the minds of the people.

    In a statement yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, by his Media Adviser, Sola Fasure, Governor Rauf Aregbesola expressed gratitude to residents of the 71 wards where the election took place for electing leaders who will steer the ship of governance at the grassroots.

    The statement reads: “Governor Rauf Aregbesola, on behalf of the state government, will like to thank the good people of the state for the peaceful and successful conduct of parliamentary election into the local government areas, Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), area councils and administrative offices in the state, last Saturday.

    “Governor Aregbesola expresses profound gratitude to the people of the state for voting for all the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as they have always done in the past.

    “The pattern of the voting is a demonstration of their unflinching support for the progressive cause. It is a faith that served our fathers, beginning from Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the Action Group (AG) and Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the First and Second Republic respectively.

    “This has served us also through Chief Bola Ige and Chief Bisi Akande to our present administration under which great and unprecedented developments came.”

  • Osun govt to aspirants: stop maligning Aregbesola

    Osun govt to aspirants: stop maligning Aregbesola

    Politicians aspiring to govern Osun State have been advised to stop peddling falsehood against Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    In a statement, the governor’s Media Adviser Sola Fasure told aspirants, who had turned “overnight critics” because they wanted Aregbesola’s job, to know that the people were aware of the governor’s performance.

    He regretted that aspirants had been trying to outdo one another by promising to perform better than Aregbesola.

    The statement noted that “such aspirants, regrettably but brazenly, alter statistics, fabricate figures, which are non-existing, and justify what ought not to be, all in the name of wanting to give the administration of Aregbesola a bad name to hang it’’.

    Fasure said Osun residents were not forgetful, adding: “They know, see and feel what Aregbesola did and is still doing in the state.

    ”One of the supposed governorship aspirants said education in Osun is in a bad shape and that there was a disconnect in infrastructure and economic development. He said he possessed the magic wand to synergise things.

    “But if a calabash isn’t broken, do we employ someone to still fix it? This critic was, fortunately, part of the education summit called by Aregbesola in 2011 to fix the sector, which was ran aground by seven years of misrule of the administration before Aregbesola.

    ”This critic was not a governorship aspirant then and he did not see that education was in a shambles. Even at that, he was privileged to serve in the summit with the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka.

    ”The outcome of that brainstorming at the summit produced the template with which the government tailored its restructuring. And today, the state has witnessed tremendous improvement in all ramifications as far as education is concerned.

    ”The criticism must have stemmed from the utter lack of knowledge of performance charts and attention to details exhibited by those who do not want to see anything good attributed to the Aregbesola administration.”

  • Stop blackmailing Osun govt, pensioners warn rival group

    The Triangular Group of Pensioners in Osun State has decried the alleged sponsored attack on Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his administration by a section of the 2011/2012 pensioners, led by Mr. Omoniyi Ilesanmi, on what it called an unwarranted ploy to distract and impede progress and development.

    In a statement by its Chairman, Prince Rotimi Adelugba, the Triangular Group affirmed its position “on the true state of finances” in Osun State and its resolve to champion the plight and welfare of pensioners.

    The statement said: “We are not the mouthpiece or spokesperson for the government, but we are in constant touch with the Osun State government on the financial status of the state; hence, we consider it necessary to inform the public.

    “As responsible senior citizens, we have been demoralised by the orchestrated media attacks, fabricated and perpetual lies, unguarded utterances and malicious statements by the Ilesanmi group that the Aregbesola administration paid each political office holder, who served between November 2010 and November 2014, N50 million as severance allowance; that the government refused to pay their gratuities but spent the meagre resources of the state on frivolities. These allegations are baseless and unfounded.

    “All available evidence shows clearly that the severance allowances given to former commissioners and special advisers (SAs) were in the range of N2.8 million and N4 million, and these were only paid to those who are statutorily and constitutionally entitled to such payments, as gazetted in the State of Osun Public/Political Office Holders and Revised Remuneration Package Law of 2007, which is in consonance with the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act.

    “We are greatly disturbed that the Omoniyi Ilesanmi-led 2011/2012 pensioners have turned themselves into a dirty weapon of destruction in the hands of opposition party and have now resorted to cheap blackmail against the government which has continually displayed high level of responsibility towards the welfare of the citizenry, civil servants and pensioners, despite the paucity of funds which has affected the whole country.

    “It is also noteworthy that these supposedly senior citizens had issued a libellous and fraudulent piece where it was alleged that the Aregbesola government diverted the second tranche of the Paris Club Refund to the recently concluded Osun West Senatorial election, even when none of the states of the federation had received such.

    “We were vindicated when the second tranche of Paris Club Refund to the State of Osun was eventually released 30 clear days after the Osun West election was concluded. What a contradiction and a show of irresponsibility on the path of the Ilesanmi-led 2011/2012 pensioners!

    “We are a non-partisan, non-political group. As elders and senior citizens, our immediate concern is how to join hands with the present administration towards the sustainability and development of our dear state.

    “We are happy and satisfied that pensioners were not left out of the first and second tranches of the Paris Club Refund as well as the concessionary loan guaranteed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), popularly called ‘bailout fund’. We want the whole world to know that in the recent disbursement, Osun pensioners were allocated N791 million out of the N6.3 billion received.

    “We appeal to the Aregbesola administration to continue to offset the pensions and gratuities of our members as and when due, notwithstanding the cheap blackmail by Ilesanmi and his ilk.

    “We have observed also that it is the global trend that the use of fossil fuel to power machines and automobiles is gradually coming to an end as more countries are beginning to switch to renewable and sustainable energy.

    “With this, the Nigeria’s economy, which derives its strength majorly from crude oil, will be badly affected and stands the risk of atrophying.  Therefore, we admonish all strata of government to think outside the box to generate income on their own and survive in the fast approaching post-crude oil era.

    “We shall continue to agitate for the payment of all our outstanding arrears in mature and civilised ways through constant deliberations and consultations devoid of hatred and blackmail, without constituting public nuisance.

    “We also implore all other stakeholders, especially the Ilesanmi-led faction, not to constitute themselves into a distraction and stumbling block to the government.”

  • Osun govt: we’re not fraudulent as PDP

    Osun govt: we’re not fraudulent as PDP

    The Osun State government yesterday said it was not as fraudulent as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The party had accused the government of “manufacturing documents” in anticipation of a purported planned probe of the bailout loans by the Senate.

     The state’s Bureau of Communication and Strategy, in a statement by its Director, Semiu Okanlawon, described as warped, the reasoning and conclusion that the government hired an accounting firm to help it cook books of its expenditure since 2014.

    “PDP’s allegation is a fallout of what the party represented while it lorded over Nigerians. If the PDP government had not been good at falsifying and altering financial documents fraudulently, it would not have so easily jumped into conclusion that Osun has hired a firm to help it perfect fraud.

    “The PDP’s statement merely reminds us why, since the anti-people party was booted out of office, Nigerians have been treated to a series of mind-blowing financial malfeasance. Of course, the humongous financial recklessness of the PDP, which is now public knowledge, could only have been a result of many years of “manufacturing documents”.

    The statement cautioned the media against falling prey to PDP’s deceit, adding that the party’s several lies could rob an unwary media organisation of its honour and credibility.

    “Our media organisations must be wary of the corrupting influence of PDP and its warped logic. When a party says a government has hired an accounting firm to “manufacture documents” to cover fraud, the responsibility the society places on the media compels it to carry out investigation by subjecting such information to veracity and reliability tests.”

  • Osun: EFCC invitation will stop frivolous petitions

    Osun: EFCC invitation will stop frivolous petitions

    The Osun State Government on Monday described as frivolous a petition before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on alleged diversion of local government funds by the Rauf Aregbesola administration.

    The EFCC had last week invited the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun to its Ibadan office to explain the rationale behind the petition.

    The Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, in a statement, said: “the self-appointed civil society group is a group that had been making bogus claims against Governor Aregbesola and his government without producing evidence to substantiate any of the allegations.

    “For instance, this was the group that accused Governor Aregbesola of embezzling the N34.988bn bailout loan obtained last year as part of Federal Government’s intervention to assist states meet their salary obligations.

    “The same group had accused Governor Aregbesola of borrowing over N750 billion on projects that have not impacted on the socio-economic lives of the people of Osun. The government had also been accused of planning a mass sack of civil servants in the state especially in the wake of the challenges to meet salary obligations by the state. It is instructive that none of these allegations and others from this same group has been proved to be true.”

    The state government described the group as a “dubious two-man contraption masquerading as a pro-people organization.”

    The statement added: “We must remind Nigerians lest they take this group serious at all that Mr. Sulaiman Adeniyi who claims to be the leader of the group and Seun Adeoye, have been no more than two hired hands of the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun and its allied opposition elements.

    “It is pertinent to state that the so-called civil society group is a contraption hurriedly put together by Adeniyi and Adeoye to push the dubious agenda of their sponsors, the humiliated governorship candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Senator Iyiola Omisore and Mr. Segun Akinwusi respectively to blackmail Governor Aregbesola and his government.

    “When all their antics against the Aregbesola government failed, Nigerians must recall how these characters procured the services of a High Court Judge to write a petition with all forms of spurious allegations which they equally failed to defend.”

  • ‘CBN’s figures vindicate Osun govt’

    The Osun State government has said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistics of the nation’s revenue has vindicated it.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore on Monday accused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of financial recklessness.

    Aregbesola’s Director of Communication and Strategy Semiu Okanlawon said the governor was the first to raise the alarm of an impending economic doom.

    “His cries and alerts that an economic war had been declared on the states were politicised by the Federal Government and the PDP in order to divert Nigerians’ attention away from the realities.

     “For us, Omisore is not the issue as we are more focused on getting the salary issue resolved. However, it is germane to note that traducers of the Aregbesola administration in the ilk of Omisore should be told that capitalising on the plight of the state and its workers through fraudulent figures is not only self-serving, it is also wicked and ungodly.

    “The CBN’s explanation that showed that at N119.27 billion or 77.7 per cent of the total, state governments’ receipt from the Federation Account was below both the 2014 monthly budget estimate and the level in the preceding month by 29.7 and 30.3 per cent, respectively, is a direct vindication of our position.

     

  • Osun govt invites protesting students’ parents to meeting

    The Osun State government has invited parents of pupils of Baptist High School, Iwo who were involved in a protest over the use of hijab to a meeting in Osogbo, the state capital.

    The meeting , scheduled to hold today at 4.00 pm is to find a lasting solution to the crisis.

    According to the government’s preliminary investigation, 92 of the 2,500 pupils were involved in the protest.

    The government also said that it will set up a panel of inquiry to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the disturbance.

    The governor’s media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon said the panel will comprise representatives of the relevant organisations such as the All Nigerian Conference of Principals of Schools (ANCOPS), Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Parents Teachers Association and community leaders with the officials of the Ministry of Education.

    The government said it recognised that protest is a legitimate avenue for registering grievances in a democracy but noted that it must be peaceful and decent.

    However, the government said it will not condone acts of indiscipline in any form from any quarters.

    Meanwhile, the Osun Baptist Conference (OBC) has asked the invited parents and guardians to shun the meeting.

    The Conference gave the order in a communique by the President of OBC, Rev. Paul Oluwole after the end of the Conference’s executive committee meeting.

    The Conference said it had the support of the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria in the state to ask parents and teachers to shun the planned meeting.

    It, therefore, asked Christian students to continue to wear religious garments to their schools.

    The communique reads in part: “That the Baptist community in Osun State and Iwo community is vehemently opposed to the use of hijab in Baptist High School, Iwo.

    “That no parents and students be invited to Osogbo under any guise to intimidate the parents and their wards rather if there is any information to be passed, it should be through the normal channel such as the school authorities or the Parents Teachers Association.

    “That in view of our observation that the wearing of hijab in Baptist High School appears to have the backing of the state government, we hereby also authorise and mandate all our Christian students to wear their religious garments.”

  • Osun begins sales of Islamic bond

    Osun begins sales of Islamic bond

    Osun State has begun offering the country’s first Islamic bond, taking a major step towards developing an Islamic finance industry in Nigeria, bankers said on Thursday.

    The issue makes Nigeria the first big economy in sub-Saharan Africa to market a sukuk, although Gambia has been selling small amounts of Islamic bonds for several years.

    Other African countries including South Africa, Kenya and Senegal have been laying plans to issue sukuk, seeking to tap into growing global demand for Islamic bank, particularly among cash-rich Islamic funds in the Gulf and Southeast Asia.

    The state issuing of up to 10 billion naira ($62 million) of seven-year sukuk, denominated in local currency, will pay investors a fixed return of between 14.25 and 14.75 percent, according to a prospectus seen by Reuters.

    The offer will close at the end of this month, the bankers said, declining to be named under briefing rules. The sukuk is based on an ijara structure, a common leasing arrangement in Islamic finance, which bans the payment of interest.

    Local credit rating agency Agusto & Co gave an A rating to the sukuk, suggesting it will attract ample investor demand. Bankers said earlier that Osun hoped the issue, which is expected to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, would be bought by local pension funds and international investors.