The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Osun State Government

  • 300 to benefit from $200m World Bank grant in Osun

    In a bid to boost food security, the Osun State government, in partnership with the World Bank has trained over 300 youths across the state on the FADAMA III programme.

    Tagged FADAMA III AF Graduate Unemployed Youth and Women Support (FADAMA GUYS), the programme was designed to educate the youths on both theory and practical procedures in getting the best from various agricultural enterprises. The programme also focused on building the participants’ knowledge and capacity in managing their farming businesses if supported by the government.

    The training programme afforded the participants drawn all council areas of state the opportunity to get first-hand training from experts in the agriculture sector. The participants were taught the rudiments of soil, fish farming, crop production, animal husbandry and other practical trainings as well as research experiments.

    The programme, which held from July 17 to 28, also provided the participants a platform to write examination and business plans to be sent to the national headquarters of the World Bank in Nigeria to ensure they benefitted from the agency’s $200 million grant facilitated by the Osun State government.

    At the closing ceremony held at the Conference Room of the Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, where certificates were presented to the participants, representatives of the state government and technical facilitators for the training took turns to advise them. The programme Manager, FADAMA III AF in Osun State, Dr. Ganiyu Adediji, said the training was the first step in selecting the beneficiaries of the World Bank grant.

    According to him, only 200 out of the 300 that participated in the programme will be shortlisted to benefit from the $200 million World Bank grant to begin their own businesses based on what they had learnt during the two-week capacity building programme.

    Dr. Adediji urged the FADAMA GUYS to be proactive, resilient and put in good use the knowledge they had gained from the experts in order to make an impact in the society and be of benefit to themselves and their immediate families.

    He, however, praised Governor Rauf Aregbesola for sustaining the programme, warning participants against sharp practices when utilising the funds to be given them as support grants.

    The Programme Manager and Managing Director of Osun State Agricultural Development Corporation (OSSADEP), Alhaji Mukaila Omisore, who noted that the benefits of boosting national food security could not be understated, said  a nation that is not capable to feeding its citizens is a failed entity. He, therefore, said Governor Aregbesola is in a right direction for creating a vibrant agricultural sector in Osun State.

    In his speech, the Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Prof A.A. Amusan, expressed his appreciation to the Federal Government for supporting unemployed graduates and for providing opportunities for them to create jobs and guarantee food security for the nation. He also urged participants to carefully optimise the gains of their training.

    Two of the participants, Adekunle Babatunde and Ajagun Jumoke, on behalf of others, expressed their readiness to make reasonable impact on the society.

    Prof. Duro Oyedele and Prof. Akeem Tijani were among the training facilitators at the programme.

  • Osun State Education Marshall

    Education Marshal

    Newly Introduced Osun State Education Marshall Caught students While Wandering the Street During School Hour.

    [poll id=”22″]

  • UNICEF charges Osun on child malnutrition

    UNICEF charges Osun on child malnutrition

    The United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged Osun State government to address child malnutrition among children under the age of five.

    It enjoined the state government to extend its school feeding programme to cover children below three years.

    UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, Mrs Ada Ezeogu, decried the current malnutrition level in the state. She revealed that 195, 245 children under five years are stunted in Osun as a result of malnutrition.

    While praising Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola for the school feeding programme in the state, she advised that the figure generated from National Nutrition and Health Survey 2015 could be reduced if the early child care centres are included in the programme.

    Ezeogu, who was a facilitator at a two-day media parley on child malnutrition with the theme Good Nutrition, Invest More in Ibadan, Oyo State, disclosed that over 50 per cent of infant death in the country occur as a result of malnutrition, urging the government to take proactive steps in addressing the current situation.

  • NDE hailed for complimenting Osun’s youth empowerment

    The Osun State government has hailed the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) for complementing its efforts in empowering the youths for national development.

    Speaking at distribution of working tools worth N2 million to thirty youths from various trades in Osogbo, the state capital, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, said engaging the youths economically must be paramount in any government’s agenda.

    The SSG, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Bureau of Cabinent Services, Mr. Ademola Akinyemi, maintained that no time could be better for empowering the youth than now that the country was facing a financial tsunami, which he said had started since 2014.

    He said: “In 2013, the financial mess was compounded with an alleged theft of 400,000 barrels of crude oild which later dovetailed into fall in oil price at the international market. The implication of this shortfall in revenue later manifested some signs of weak economy to an extent that President Mohammadu Buhari said that 27 states found it very difficult to pay workers’ salaries.

    “Also, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. David Babachir Lawal, also disclosed that the Federal government borrows an average of N600 billion every month to argument workers’ salaries. It is that bad. But we are fortunate in Osun through the financial ingenuity of our governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. We have been able to cut the salary arrears into two.”

    He advised the youths against looking for white collar jobs, saying paid jobs are increasingly difficult to find.

    The SSG further‎ advised the youths and fresh graduates to take the advantage the opportunity offered them by the NDE and to remain focus and responsible citizens.

    The Acting Director-General of the NDE, Mr. Kunle Obayan, represented by the South West Zonal Director of NDE, Mr. Soares Adegbite, said the plan by the Mohammadu Buhari administration to create mass employment for unskilled and unemployed Nigerians has started.

    He also disclosed that the NDE’s vocational skills training would soon be‎ extended to the remaining 18 states of the federation.

    Earlier, the Coordinator of the NDE in Osun State, Mr. Sola Andrew Daramola, ‎reminded the beneficiaries that these “working tools are provided as soft loans and have three years repayment period after your initial deposit of ten per cent.”

    He enjoined them to ‎pay back the loans in order for the scheme to be sustained and to benefit others.

     

  • Osun panel holds public hearing

    Osun panel holds public hearing

    The Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the Osun State government to investigate the cause of the land dispute between Ashipa and Ipetumodu communities in Ife-North Local Government yesterday held its first public hearing.

    But the two warring communities refused to yield ground on their demands.

    The crisis, which occurred on January 13, resulted in destruction of property, including burning of houses and destruction of farm lands worth several millions of naira.

    However, no life was lost in the communal clash, which lasted for days.

    Addressing the Justice Oyejide Falola-led panel, counsel to the Ashipa community Funminiyi Adeyemi asked the commission to recommend the removal of  Akinola Market from Ashipa, identifying the location and time of the market as the cause of the crisis.

    But counsel to Ipetumodu community Afolabi Adedeji faulted Ashipa’s call to relocate the Akinola market.

    Adedeji asserted that the power to relocate the market was beyond the discretion of the panel.