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Tag: OSUN

  • Osun ACN urges NLC to intervene in lecturers’ strike

    Osun ACN urges NLC to intervene in lecturers’ strike

    Osun State Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Elder Adebiyi Adelowo has urged leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to prevail on striking lecturers in the state to resume work.

    He said NLC’s intervention was necessary in the interest of education and the students, adding that the strike is doing more harm than good to everybody, including the lecturers.

    In a statement by the party’s Director of Publicity, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, Adelowo said the interest of students, the state and the teaching profession is being compromised by the lecturers’ insistence on their demands, which he said the government is not in a position to fulfil at the moment.

    He said: “Since labour has a clear understanding of the constraining circumstances under which this government operates, the union can influence the lecturers to moderate their demands in the interest of the students, who are unfairly bearing the brunt of their actions.”

    Adelowo urged the striking lecturers to consider the government’s financial constraints and resume work.

    He said: “Under these circumstances, the lecturers’ insistence that their demands must be met or the system could collapse is self destructive, because if the system collapses, they would not survive.

    “It is, therefore, in the interest of Osun, students and all stakeholders that labour intervenes and persuades the lecturers to see reason and call off their strike.”

     

  • Osun’ll never experience flooding, says Aregbesola

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has assured residents that the state will never experience flooding.

    Aregbesola spoke yesterday at the Leisure Spring Hotel in Osogbo, the state capital, during a sensitisation workshop on Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) for the wives of governors in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Lagos Field States.

    He said flooding had been banished forever in Osun and urged the people to support his administration’s policies and programmes to have a friendly environment.

    Aregbesola urged mothers to inculcate values in their children to ensure a peaceful society.

    The workshop was attended by Aregbesola’s wife, Alhaja Sherifat and her counterparts – Dame Abimbola Fashola (Lagos) and Mrs. Funsho Amosun (Ogun).

    Mrs. Aregbesola said: “Our converging here today is an indication of our collective resolve to improve the standard and quality of hygiene and sanitation among our people.

    “The Southwest has always been known for innovation and the pioneering of human development activities in Nigeria and I am happy that, once again today, we are showing our leadership traits by coming together to promote sanitation in our communities through CLTS.

    “CLTS is a participatory approach, which facilitates positive behavioural change on sanitation among the people. The change is aimed at stopping open defecation, building and promoting the use latrines.

    “Reports from our development partners, especially UNICEF, puts the prevalence of open defecation across Nigeria at about 33 million people. Open defecation is a major threat to safe drinking water and public health.

    “It has also been reported that the diarrhoea rate in Nigeria is the worst in Sub-Sahara Africa. As caring mothers and mentors of the people, we need not remind ourselves of the large death rate from diarrhoea, which is solely caused by poor sanitation.

    “The report of the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF on Nigeria, which was released last year March, should further give us concern. While the trend in open defecation in rural areas has been decreasing, it has been rising in urban areas. “This is a danger signal, in view of the imminent financial burdens that will heap on our states, if the rate of diarrhoea swings up. Diarrhea is a major child-killer disease in developing countries. Consequently, intervention in sanitation remains a major way to curb it and the only process for now that triggers community stimulation towards achieving sustainable environment and behaviour change is CLTS.”

     

  • Osun takes giant step towards cleaner state

    Osun takes giant step towards cleaner state

    THE TRAFFIC on Gbongan Road , Osogbo, Osun State was unusually heavy on this day. A group of new green trucks formed a straight line, moving in a snail speed. As you try to count, you discovered that those trucks were too many, leaving you frustrated. On the median were excited crowd of people who cheered what they see as novel in this part of the world.

    In the procession was Mouka Ray, an actor, entertaining residents of the town. He, alongside other residents stood in the morning sun to see the new set of green painted trucks procured by the state government to add to the number of existing waste disposal trucks in the state.

    As you begin to wonder what the excitement was all about, you were suddenly woken up from your thoughts by a comment “This government is very serious about the environment. These are O-Clean trucks,” someone said excitedly from the crowd.

    Would you blame them for being happy? Many of them were there when their environment was fusty and neglected. The recent efforts by the government of Ogbeni Aregbesola to create friendly environment is paying off.

    Buoyed by the success recorded with O Clean, which the governor has described as personal and environmental cleanliness, the government took further steps to launch the new intervention project, tagged O-Clean plus.

    The O Clean plus is an effort by the state government to make the task of cleaning the environment, not just for government, but also for citizens. According to the Special Adviser to the Osun State Governor on Environment & Sanitation, Hon. Bola Ilori, the programme entails a lot initiatives like; Private Partnership in Waste Managements, Tree Planting, O’ Clean gas, O’Clean Marshal, Highway Managers, Mosquitoes Reduction Programme, Environmental Awareness & Advocacy, Nylon/Plastic Buyback Programme and Local Government Technical Committee on Waste Managements among other things.

    For those who are smart enough, aside the initiative creating employment for the unemployed youths, it will afford them the opportunity of making money with less sweat from the nylon buy-back project. The government is now ready to buy the ‘pure water’ sachet which are not only environmental friendly but constitute nuisance to the public.

    A modern dump site has also been constructed with modern facilities to convert all the waste into biogas. Good enough, the bio gas is currently being used by the governor to cook. At the launch of O-Clean Plus, the governor came out boldly to vouch for the bio-gas, saying “it is safe and healthy”

    The occassion was another opportunity for the governor to tell the people of Osun that the present government is a responsive and responsible government. He disclosed that the waste collection vehicles were bought on credit; the citizens have to pay a token to dispose their waste of so that the state would be able to pay for the trucks.

    The trucks will be stationed in designated parts of the streets to pack refuse.

    For those who think the project would not last, ilori was quick to point out that the government did its home work before embarking on the project. The streets were enumerated five months for easy operation of the project.

    The environmental enforcement marshals were inaugurated by the governor and mandated to enforce environmental laws by arresting environmental offenders. Aregbesola did not mince words in giving stern warning that the days of flouting environmental laws with impunity was over.

    Though the launch was full of fanfare, Ilori also pointed out that the state was serious about making Osun State clean. “We have done a lot of public awareness in terms waste disposal and managements, we have also provided very many alternatives for our people to get rid of their wastes properly. So anyone seen dropping refuse indiscriminately would be handled by our Oclean Marshals under the various existing laws. ”

    With the present arrangement, each local government will have O-Clean offices with representatives.

    The occasion was also used to launch tree planting project in the state. About 2.5 million tree seedlings of various species are ready to be given free to citizens of the state for tree planting. The Commissioner for Commissioner of Environment & Sanitation, Olubukola Oyawoye, who was up beat at the launch, reiterated the commitments of her Ministry to the tree-planting and that the ministry has started zero tolerance of indiscriminate waste disposal and breaching of the state environmental laws.

    All things being equal, mosquitoes are going to relocate from the state as the state government is bent on continuous aerial spreading with its helicopter. The helicopter acquired by the state had generated much controversy before the launch of O-Clean Plus. At the launch of O-Clean Plus, Ilori put paid to the controversies surrounding the purchase of the helicopter. The state has saved N4billion naira which would have been used in fighting mosquitoes. ”After calculating how much we would spend in hiring helicopter, we discovered that it would be more that what we would be use in buying the helicopter that would do the aerial spraying of the state. With the helicopter, the governor is saving the governor is saving N4bn which would have been spent on fighting mosquito alone.”

    Speaking at the occasion, 50-year-old Ramota Salami, a petty trader was happy, especially with the way the state has been able to control the perennial flooding. She welcomed the recent N500 monthly levy on refuse collection, saying “it would go a long way in stopping from indiscriminate dump of refuse in rivers and streams.”

    Joseph Alebiosu, who recently relocated from the northern part of the country, was happy about the tree planting initiative, saying “government should sensitise people more on tree planting as tree makes environment friendly.”

    Steve Adeyemi, a student in one of the secondary schools, was happy about the buying back nylon/ polythene projects, saying he would do the business to support his family. “I’m not ashamed to collect nylon in exchange for money.”

    The Chief of Staff to the Edo State Governor, Hon Patrick Obayagbon; wife of the Lagos State Governor, Dame Abimbola Fashola; representative of the wife of Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Mrs Doyin Olusoga; traditional rulers, politicians, unions and associations, were around to witness the launch of O-Clean Plus.

     

  • Osun is not broke, says Aregbesola

    Osun is not broke, says Aregbesola

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday debunked the rumour that the state is broke.

    He said Osun is economically strong, despite the massive construction work going on across the state.

    The governor spoke in Osogbo, the state capital, after inspecting some on-going projects.

    He said contrary to speculations in some quarters that the state was insolvent, its economy was growing.

    Aregbesola described some opposition leaders, particularly in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as “political jobbers”, who cannot see anything good in his administration.

    He urged the people to disregard the rumour, saying: “Do not mind their claim that the state is bankrupt. You can see that there is massive construction work going on everywhere. If the state is insolvent, will there be these kind of development in virtually all areas?

    “Osun is not insolvent. The question of insolvency should not even arise at all. They are just jabbering and we will not be distracted by their negative comments.”

    On why he had not been inaugurating projects since he assumed office, Aregbesola said the inauguration of projects was meant for lazy leaders.

    He said in advanced countries, leaders do not roll out drums to inaugurate projects, adding that such ceremony was a waste of public funds.

    Aregbesola said: “Our administration does not believe in inaugurating projects. We believe it is the people’s projects, so why must you inaugurate it. In advanced countries, we do not see leaders inaugurating projects the way we do in this country.”

    He expressed satisfaction with the work done by the contractors handling various projects, adding that they were working according to specification and should complete the projects on schedule.

  • Osun infrastructure upgrade peaks

    Osun infrastructure upgrade peaks

    Cargo airport to be ready this year

    Quality roads built

    A brand new state is emerging as Osun’s infrastructural renewal gathers pace. Narrow and dilapidated old roads are being rebuilt and expanded, some converted to dual-carriageways with drainage. Sprawling new markets are taking shape, spacious and fitted with modern facilities for the convenience of traders and patrons. Some new schools are being built, old ones rehabilitated and upgraded. In each of the 30 local government areas of the state, a 10km road is also being built. A cargo airport under construction will be ready this year.

    “Our philosophy translates to the welfare of our people,” said Dr Wale Bolorunduro, the state Commissioner for Finance, Economic Planning and Budget.

    That welfare philosophy became clear as the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola was inaugurated over two years ago. The first major step the governor took was to drastically reduce the youth population in the unemployment market in his first 100 days in office. Within that time, 20,000 jobless persons were engaged in the Osun State Youth Employment Scheme or OYES, a revolving volunteer jobs scheme.

    A world of opportunities lay before the volunteers. Some learnt a new trade such as computer or GSM phone repair. Some went into agriculture. Some took to caring for patients in the hospital. On the streets of Osogbo, the state capital, and other towns and cities, some OYES volunteers boosted traffic control or enhanced the state’s hygiene plan by evacuating gutters and cleaning streets. History was also made in the process. Women enlisted in the sanitary truck driving department. On the streets of the state capital, the women drivers have become a regular sight, evacuating refuse from collection points.

    The point in the OYES programme, as Aregbesola says, is not to turn people into overnight millionaires, but to help them earn a living and above all, awaken in them a sense of dignity in service to the state.

    Commissioner Bolorunduro said nine cities in the state have been selected for urban renewal, adding that the Aregbesola administration is working with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) to plan Osogbo. The goal of the collaboration, the commissioner said, is to ensure that the state capital can accommodate growth dynamics in the next 20 years.

    To that extent, a popular plank market near a rail line has been relocated; other structures which either impede free flow of traffic or distort the state’s aesthetics plan will also give way. Some houses on roadsides have been pulled down, as have even worship centres, so that the state’s renewal plan can go on unhindered. But the interesting thing is that no one is complaining about the demolition.

    A shopkeeper told Newsextra that the infrastructure upgrade is in everybody’s interest, so no one should read any ulterior motives into it.

    Pupils from Primary One to Four are fed free in school but the remarkable thing about it is not just that the kids are eating good food but that jobs are created and the state economy is lifted. For instance, said Commissioner Bolorunduro, “the chicken in their meal is produced from Osun”. About 3,000 food vendors are involved in the free meal project. About 160,000 crates of eggs are eaten every week but again the gain is that it boosts the economy of chicken farmers who supply the eggs. It was also said that 36 heads of cattle are slaughtered each week in the free meal plan.

    The commissioner also said that of the workers employed in any government project in the state, 60 per cent must be Osun citizens.

    Two large markets, Aje and Ayegbaju International Market, are scheduled to be completed this year, Ayegbaju by August, and Aje before the end of the year, Bolorunduro said. He added that the state government has invested so much money in farmers, scaling up its funds to them from N200m to N700m this year.

    The facility to the growers is yielding fruit. “We have improved the quantum of grains produced in the state,” said the Finance Commissioner, adding that fish farmers in the state also sell their products to Lagos and Abuja residents.

    On the quality of the infrastructure, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, said they are built to last.

    “The roads are built to last at least 25 years,” he said. Okanlawon also spoke on the state government’s efforts in rejuvenating the state schools, which are not only wearing a new structural look but are also equipped for ease of teaching and learning.

    School enrolment is said to have improved in the state. Okanlawon made the point that the state government has a vision behind its educational focus, saying there is a sense of obligation to develop people.

    “When people don’t get education, they become a liability to the society,” he said. Before the Aregbesola administration, it was said, less than three per cent of secondary school students gained admission into university and other tertiary institutions because their results were not good.

    Now things are changing.

  • Osun ACN raises alarm over PDP’s plan to rig 2014 election

    Osun ACN raises alarm over PDP’s plan to rig 2014 election

    RELYING on intelligence reports, the Osun State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yesterday alleged of a plot by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to rig the next year’s governorship election in the state.

    ACN’s Director of Publicity and Strategy Kunle Oyatomi, who raised the alarm, urged residents to remain at alert and be watchful to frustrate the “evil intention” of some unscrupulous elements,who are planning to plunge the state into crisis.

    Oyatomi said media reports on the arrest of a PDP female member in Ikirun, in Ifelodun Local Government Area, who was luring people to exchange their voter cards for Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) allocation papers and money, revealed the rigging plan of the PDP.

    The ACN spokesman said: “This is another strategy the PDP is working with, to rig next year’s governorship election in the state of Osun.

    “We in the ACN believe that what the PDP Chairman in Osun, Alhaji Ganiyu Olaoluwa was reported to have said in respect of this story is a confirmation of the fact that the PDP is not only manipulating SURE-P for patronage to party members, it is also attempting to graft the SURE-P into its rigging mechanism for 2014 and 2015 elections.”

    Oyatomi said that the PDP has distorted and bastardised the Federal Government’s employment and empowerment programme meant for all Nigerians by converting it into a monster prowling the country and using SURE-P to buy voter cards from unsuspecting citizens.

    He, therefore, warned the citizens not to surrender their political power by selling the cards to selfish and greedy people, especially the “PDP that brought the state to ruins between 2003 and 2010.”

    His words: “Your voter card is the ultimate power you have to reject bad government and install a new one through the ballot box; and this was what you did in 2007.

    “You should not sell that card for any reason whatsoever because selling it is selling yourself into slavery. Since the PDP has decided to turn SURE-P, into an election rigging apparatus, the PDP should accept the responsibility for the criminal action of people going about in the state buying Voter Cards in exchange for SURE-P papers and money.”

     

  • ‘Days of tears gone in Osun’

    The days of endless tears over deprivations by the people are gone forever in Osun State, Senator Babajide Omoworare from Osun East (Ife/Ijesa) Senatorial District, has said.

    The lawyer-turned-politician who praised the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, over the spate of development in the state under his leadership, stated that Osun people had seen the difference between light and darkness.

    Speaking during the annual week celebration of the National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS) in Osogbo, in a paper entitled: “Sustainable Infrastructural Development and the Future of the State of Osun,” Omoworare said if the previous administrations had embraced infrastructural development, the state would have been on the fast-track of advancement.

    “Every aspect of the state is experiencing revolutionary transformations that had long been described as impossible. These radical transformations are not products of magic; they are works of a willing and prepared mind that is there to raise the bar, by giving standard of living its real meaning. I make bold to say that Osun is now a construction site for different laudable and sustainable infrastructural projects that had been long overdue,” said Omoworare.

    Maintaining that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) had redefined governance and democracy with its people-oriented manifestoes, the Senator said no government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Southwest had done tremendously well like the present governors on the platform of ACN. “May we never witness a return to the dark days of lazy governance and share-the-money syndrome. A simple ‘amen’ will not do it, our votes and continuous support for the ACN is the guarantee,” he said.

    He said, while Nigeria is trying to grapple with development due to deficiency of past leaders, the governor was busy working to make the state self-sustaining with the exploration of its agricultural capacity, human resources and other natural elements, to drive its economy. “Replication of the Osun model without ego as done with the adoption of O’Yes template by the FG to drive its youth employment concern will go a long way in giving Nigeria the needed push to a desirable development level,” the senator said.

  • 5,000 plots for allocation in Osun

    About 5,000 plots of land at the Government Reserved Area (GRA) on Gbongan road in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, will soon be allocated to residents.

    The Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Muyiwa Ige, broke the news during the first quarter ministerial press briefing in Osogbo.

    He said a firm had been employed to prepare a comprehensive land sub-division plan.

    Ige said preliminary and perimeter survey had been completed on the sites for mechanic villages in Osogbo, Iwo, Ikire, Ilesa and Ile-Ife; the JAMB office in Osogbo; the Ode-Omu Cooperative College; the Model Elementary School in Osogbo and the Ayegbaju International Modern Market, Osogbo, among others.

    He said the state government has partnered the UN-HABITAT to develop nine cities across the state.

    The project’s consultants have visited the chosen local governments and the proposed cities have been surveyed.

    The Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr. Ajibola Basiru, said the government established ‘O Mediation Centre’ about two months ago to settle disputes among residents.

    The centre has received 73 cases and 23 have been settled amicably.

    Basiru said the ministry processed some bills, including the Fire Service Bill, the National Primary Health Centre Development Agency Bill and the Osun Water Corporation Bill for the governor’s approval.

    He said the bills, when passed into law, would make life easier for the people.

  • Omisore can’t win election, says Osun ACN chair

    The Chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State, Elder Adelowo Adebiyi, has said Senator Iyiola Omisore cannot win any election in the state.

    He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would regret it, if it fields Omisore as its governorship candidate in 2014.

    Adelowo was reacting to Omisore’s comment in a media interview that he did not believe in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    In a statement yesterday, Adelowo said: “Omisore spoke like a person with a premonition of his own failure. He is setting up a scapegoat in INEC to explain away why he cannot win in 2014. The truth is that Omisore is unelectable, even in his ward in Ile-Ife.

    “Two months after the PDP was driven out of the Government House in 2010, Omisore lost in his ward and could not return to Abuja as a Senator. He must be hallucinating to think that he has any chance in 2014 to win the governorship election, when he cannot win his ward.”

    He accused Omisore of making unsubstantiated claims about the person and administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola and advised the politician to address issues constructively.

    Adelowo said: “The media owes the public the responsibility of investigating Omisore’s claims to determine whether they are true or false, so that the people will know the true state of things in Osun.”

     

  • Attendance central to writing WASSCE, says Osun Deputy Governor

    Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori has enforced a high school attendance by senior secondary pupils as a precedence to allowing them sit for the May/June 2013 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

    She made this statement in Osogbo during an interactive session with principals of secondary schools.

    She lamented that rather than attend school some pupils resort to commercial motorcycle operations during school hours.

    “A student who refuses to comply with the 90 per cent attendance requirement would not be allowed to sit for the final examinations,” she said

    She urged principals to be diligent with record keeping. This would enable them establish the identity of those who stayed away from classes.

    The Deputy Governor also said the government’s investment in education is paying off as performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) improved by 76.42 per cent in 2011.

    In 2010, she said only 6,773 out of the 44, 388 candidates who sat for the May/June WASSCE made credit in five subjects including English and Mathematics.

    In 2011 May/June WASSCE, her first year in the saddle as the Commissioner for Education, she said 11, 949 of the 54, 810 pupils that sat for the examination recorded credit level passes in five subjects including English and Mathematics, which she said showed a 76.4 per cent increase in performance.

    Counseling pupils to be serious, she said they cannot be indifferent to their studies and still expect excellent results in their academic pursuits.

    Mrs. Laoye-Tomori advised principals to be friendly with the community and ensure their pupils are not deployed as political thugs during elections.

    She urged principals to be honest in their dealings and stop illegal registration of candidates from private schools to take the WASSCE in public schools .

    In her presentation, President, Osun State Chapter of the All Nigerian Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools ANCOPSS, Mrs. Moji Olagunju, advised that the office of the Tutor-Generals should be saddled with the administration of schools’ grants. She requested for increased funding for capacity building and solicited for the employment of non- academic members of staff. She intimated the deputy governor about the resolution at a meeting of principals to punish any of their colleagues found guilty in examinations mishap.

    In a another development, Mrs Laoye Tomori assured a gathering of the Association of Proprietors and Heads of Schools in Nigeria, Osun State Chapter that the re-categorisation of schools in the state would not lead to job loss. She urged head teachers to desist from peddling rumours about retrenchment .