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Tag: OSUN

  • Sambo, Abubakar for Ansar-Ur-Deen conference in Osun

    Sambo, Abubakar for Ansar-Ur-Deen conference in Osun

    Vice president Namadi Sambo and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar, are among prominent Islamic leaders expected at the 7th triennial National Conference of the Ansar-Ur-Deen Society of Nigeria slated for Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

    The three-day conference, tagged Osogbo 2013, begins on Friday.

    In a statement, the Conference Organising Committee Chairman and Osun State Chairman of the Ansar-Ur-Deen Society of Nigeria, Alhaji Amzat Bello and Secretary Alhaji R.A. Adeyemi, said the National President of the Ansar-Ur-Deen Society of Nigeria, Alhaji Lateef Femi Okunnu, will lead a high power delegation of Muslims to visit Governor Rauf Aregbesola; the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun, and the President-General of the League of Imams and Alfas, Southwest, Edo and Delta states, Sheikh Mustapha Ajisafe.

    Dr. Mikail Folorunso of the Osun State College of Education will deliver a guest lecture titled “National Security, Pluralism And Federalism: Antecedents, Lessons And Choices” at the conference.

    Also, the statement said that “deserving members of Ansar-Ur-Deen Society of Nigeria, who have contributed to the development of Islam and humanity will be confered with awards on Saturday.”

  • Osun shuts school over pupils’ clash

    The Technical College in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, has been shut, following last Friday’s violent clash between pupils of the school and those of Fakunle Comprehensive High School.

    Deputy Governor Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori, who is also the Commissioner for Education, warned pupils of the school to stay off the premises. She said any pupil found on the premises would be handed over to law enforcement agents.

    The deputy governor directed the headteacher to report at the Ministry of Education with details of the events that led to the crisis.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • How far can PDP go in Osun?

    How far can PDP go in Osun?

    Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have returned to the drawing board, ahead of the next year’s governorship election in Osun State. Correspondent Adesoji Adeniyi examines the strengths and weaknesses of the aspirants eyeing the Bola Ige House.

     

    Ahead of next year’s governorship election in Osun State, the two major parties Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – have started mobilisation.

    Many believe that the ruling party will endorse Governor Rauf Aregbesola for a second term because he has performed creditably. Thus, the ACN will not be assailed by internal crisis arising from the governorship nomination.

    However, it is a different ball game in the PDP. The antagonistic activities of the combatants eyeing the State House is factionalising the main opposition party. The third party, Labour Party, is for now, a spectator.

    Since the historic judgment of the Court of Appeal in Ibadan, Oyo State, which deposed former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola on November 26, 2010, the political equation has been changed in the State of the Living Springs.

    What has boosted the confidence of the ruling party is the achievement of the governor in the critical sectors. Stakeholders have compared the administration with the previous one and applauded Aregbesola for his frugality, transparency and commitment to public welfare.

    Despite the meagre resources available to the state, the governor and his executive council of talents have laid a solid foundation on which subsequent administrations will continue to build.

    Reviewing the activities of the administration, former National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) Secretary Mr. Ayo Opadokun said that the people did not vote for Aregbesola in vain. He said his feats are intimidating to the PDP, which does not have a good legacy in the state.

    In the PDP, the five aspirants eyeing the Bola Ige House are full of bravado. Party sources said that more are likely to join the race.

    Top on the list is Senator Iyiola Omisore from Ile-Ife. He has been nursing the ambition to rule the state since the days of the late Gen. Sani Abacha. In 1999, Omisore was the deputy governor in the Bisi Akande Administration. But he defected to the PDP, following a protracted feud with the party and his boss. Irked by his attitude, the House of Assembly impeached him in December 2002.

    Following the murder of the Attorney-General and Justice Minister Chief Bola Ige, Omisore was detained by the police. In detention, he emerged as the PDP senatorial candidate for Ife/Ijesa District. He won the poll through what the Alliance for Democracy (AD) described as rigging.

    Omisore, according to party sources, is working hard to emerge as the PDP candidate. But he also has a ‘Plan B’. Party sources said that the former deputy governor is seriously courting the Labour Party. He is relying on his closeness to the Ondo State governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, to get the platform ready for his ambition, if the PDp denies him the ticket.

    But how far can he go? Although the PDP appreciates Omisores’s services, there are forces in the party that will abort his dream. Since he fell out with Oyinlola, party chieftains outside his Ife/Ijesa axis have kept him at arm’s length. Others believe that he is a controverisial politician who may likely be perceived as a liability, instead of an asset.

    Another PDP aspirant is the former Minister of Youths and Sports, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, a native of Ode-Omu, Osun West Senatorial District. Last week, he held a press conference where he declared his ambition. His popularity does not cut across the state and his political structure is not visible.

    Another PDP contender is the former House of Representatives member from Oriade Council, Mr. Oluwole Oke. He was a federal legislator for eight years. He served as the Chairman, House Committee on Defence. He has erected signposts on major highways to announce his gubernatorial ambition. Oke wants to leverage on his popularity among party elders and youths across the state. He fought tooth and nail to return to the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly in the last election. He lost his deposit. The former legislator wanted to return to the House to aspire to the position of the Speaker, but the dream was aborted by the ACN.

    Another aspirant is Alhaji Fatai Akinade Akinbade. He has a large following in the PDP. He hails from Ogbagba, near Iwo. Since there is the pervading sentiment in the PDP that power should shift to the Osun West District, his supporters are confident that he can benefit from zoning.

    But, according to observers, Akinbade’s capacity to stand up to the benchmark set by the new crop of leadership in the Southwest is in doubt. He has the structure. He is loved by the youths in his constituency, but in other districts, he lacks the grassroots appeal.

    Senator Isiaka Adeleke is also in the race. He is full of nostalgia, having served as the first executive governor of the state. When he was in office, he was full of youthful exuberance. How the Social Democratic Party (SDP) governor and son of Senator Adeleke, an ‘Action Grouperfound himself in the conservative fold has remained a puzzle.

    Adeleke, a native of Ede, represented Osun West District in the Senate between 2003 and 2007. He was the Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission. He lost the governorship ticket in 2007 during the controversial primaries of the PDP. However, one of his associates said that he is not desperate to retun to the State House.

    Also in the race is Mr. Alafe Aluko, a prominent member of the Action Congress (AC) and Aregbesola’s supporter who deserted him when he was still fighting for the restoration of his stolen mandate. There was no disagreement between him and Aregbesola before he left for the PDP. He hails from Ilesa.

    Former Head of Service Elder Sunday Akinwusi has not openly declared his interest. But a party source said that he is being penciled down for the position on the paltform of the Labour Party, if Senator Omisore will not run on the platform. He was The Clerk of the House of Assembly before he was appointed by Oyinlola as the Head of Service. He was a retained by the Aregbesola Administration, until he retired last year. He is technocrat with little political experience.

  • Aregbesola’s quiet revolution in Osun

    Thomas Kanza insists that revolution in Africa must be a revolution in thinking. Revolution is not always about gun-wielding militants and fire-spitting ideological demagogues. There are men and women who changed the course of history by making their environments a better place to live in. Others simply showed the light for others to follow. According to Machiavelli’s two lessons in policy and strategy, first, a ruler can always learn and be more effective; second, a ruler can learn to be more effective in the use of resources. It takes only those rulers who understand the nature of policies and master the principle of strategy to truly appreciate that strategic management demands both effectiveness and efficiency in the use of scarce resources.

    A quiet revolution started in Osun State on November 27, 2010 with the inauguration of Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola as fifth democratically elected governor and the eighth chief executive since creation. It was Max Depree who once said, “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.” There is no gainsaying that Aregbesola has done this with deep commitment and selflessness. Since he came on the saddle 27 months ago, he has sufficiently demonstrated that he has the resolve and determination of a work-horse. And this is the attitude he is deploying to take the state of Osun to greater heights. This perhaps, informed his foreign trips to attract foreign investors, which have started yielding desired results.

    To state that his administration has substantially institutionalized a vibrant economic roadmap to lift the people of the state of Osun out of poverty and build a society which embodies peace, social harmony and economic empowerment is merely underscoring the obvious. The essence of good governance is to institute policies and programmes that would seek to fast track the socio-economic development of the society and thereby ensure the welfare and economic well-being of the people. According to one time U.S Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, the task of a leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been. Also to former U.S President, Thomas Jefferson, “The overall objective of any government is to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of its citizens”. The good and long- suffering people of the state of Osun can now compare two eras: The era of Oyinlola led PDP government when people are pauperized, as compared to the era of Aregbesola led ACN government when they are empowered. Under the Aregbesola-led administration, the state of Osun is undergoing manifest social and infrastructural transformation that has never been witnessed in the state since its creation. One refers here to construction of roads, urban-renewal, and provision of electricity and water supply, effective housing and healthcare delivery, agricultural and industrial development, grass roots development and above all, educational empowerment, a major plank on which the success or failure of any well-meaning administration will be measured in the new knowledge-based world economy.

    Today, the rank of the unemployed has been decimated through Aregbesola’s ingenious job creation initiative which has received both national and international accolades. The state has also latched on to the Information and Communication Technology revolution. A new crop of competent farmers is emerging through various farm institutes and settlements that have been resuscitated. Tourism is also featuring prominently in the scheme of things. My admiration for Aregbesola is informed by my conviction that he is a man of destiny, who has excellently acquitted himself as a visionary leader and statesman. Even some objective key members of the opposition like former President Obasanjo and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, had during their visits to the state of Osun agreed that the success story of the state under Aregbesola’s watch will soon become a reference point in developmental strategy.

    Nigeria that has failed over the years because it has been saddled with leaders that can at best be described as accidents in our political firmament. Arguably, the paucity of qualitative political leadership in our country, Nigeria tended to be a consequence of our collective inability to celebrate quality leadership, due to myopic and parochial considerations. The question that has been agitating the minds of right-thinking persons and every neutral political- observers is: why is quality leadership a virtue that is not much in abundant supply amongst members of the PDP as demonstrated by the lacklustre performance of its ambassadors in states controlled by it and the centre but virtually abounds amongst members of the ACN as demonstrated by the sterling performance of its ambassadors in states controlled by it since the inception of this democratic dispensation 14 years ago?

    Not a few will agree with this writer that the only legacies PDP can claim to have bequeathed to Nigerians are profligacy and ineptitude. The foregoing explains the present socio-political and economic woes of the nation, despite the stupendous amount of petrol-dollars it has made in the last 14 years of its administration. In our own country, PDP has turned us to hewers of wood and fetchers of water. As the race to 2015 inches closer, is it not about time we, the Nigerian electorates take our destinies in our own hands by pitching our political tents with coalition of progressive political parties that has merged to challenge PDP dominance? It is in our own interest and that of our children to embrace the All Progressive Congress (APC) that parades the likes of Adebisi Akande, Muhammadu Buhari, Nuhu Ribadu, Bola Tinubu, Segun Osoba, Raji Fashola, Adams Oshiomhole, Rauf Aregbesola, Kayode Fayemi, Abiola Ajimobi, Ibikunle Amosun, Rochas Okorocha, Nasir El-Rufai and others too numerous to mention as members. If we all believe that we are not comfortable with the status quo in our country. A word, they say, is enough for the wise.

     

    • Aminu is Head, Media and Public Relations, Awo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo

  • Osun increases workers’ car loan by 75 per cent

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has approved 75 per cent increase in the car refurbishing loan to civil servants.

    In a statement, Commissioner for Finance, Economic Planning and Budget Dr. Wale Bolorunduro said the gesture showed the administration’s commitment to the welfare of workers .

    Bolorunduro said the review is the first since the state was created 22 years ago.

    He said Aregbesola recognises the role of workers in achieving his administration’s goals and would always protect their interests.

    Bolorunduro said the review affects workers from Grade Levels 1 to 17. He said workers initially entitled to N100,000 would now get N170,000 and those on N200,000 are now to get N350,000.

    The commissioner said the loan would be repaid in 60 instalments within five years.

    He urged the workers to reciprocate the gesture by rededicating themselves their work.

     

  • Osun needs N100m for scales’ project

    Osun needs N100m for scales’ project

    Osun State government needs over N100million for its proposed uniformed scales project, a report has said.

    The report entitled: ‘Introduction of standardised weights and measures,’ said the government needs the money as take-off capital. The government would use the money to procure various range of measurements, and later sell them at subsidised rates across the local government areas, it added.

    The report said market associations are the major beneficiaries because they deal with wholesalers and retailers.

    It said the government’s decision to provide standardised measurements or scales for traders was a good idea, noting that the development is in accordance with the Weights and Measures Act of 1962 as amended and made effective in 1975.

    The report indicated that goods sold or distributed by weights, measures or numbers would be more regulated, when the proposal on standardised scales,is ratified.

    It said the success of the initiative depends on the application of the relevant laws prescribed by the Constitution, adding that the laws said a Superintendent of Trade, Deputy Superintendent and Inspectors must be appointed to supervise the project at various levels of governance.

    It said the new scales have the potential to eliminate mistrust, incessant arguments and disagreements that are synonymous with commercial transactions in the state.

    Others include easing trading, increasing the pace and volume of transactions among traders, attracting consumers from neighbouring states, creating employment opportunities, and impacting positively on the economy of the state.

    The report voided the measurements used by market men and women, saying they are inaccurate and inconsistent.

    “Findings from observational checklists showed that the measures are based more on rule of thumbs than any degree of accuracy and consistency. The measures are not accurate and reputable. The various measuring standards are full of inherent shortcomings as observed by the market men and women themselves. “

    It said local measurements are not hygienically produced, making users and consumers to be prone to diseases.

    “The health hazards associated with over exposure of food items cannot be over-emphasised. Most of the communicable diseases are as a result of the exposure to vectors carrying the germs. Sometimes, nursing mothers, after cleaning up their babies still use the unwashed hands to measure food items,“ it added.

    The report said the high level of illiteracy, portability and accessibility of the scales/ measurements to the micro-scale traders, negative perception of the people, among other problems, may affect the implementation of proposed uniform measurements or scales.

     

  • Osun: Long throw into the future

    What is happening in the state of Osun at the moment may not be aptly captured for its significance by the present generation. We are witnessing dramatic changes in the state at close quarters; so we may fail to grasp its strategic importance appropriately. Yet we can see the stirrings of a great social and political movement never witnessed before in the state in recent years.

    I refer in part to the recent report of the provision of free uniforms and health books to over 750, 000 students of public schools in Osun by Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Planned as part of a total package to revamp education in the state, the uniforms are in three different types to match the tiers of school structures namely elementary, middle and high schools.

    Local adire fabric is the stuff of the uniform while tailors from all the local governments of the state are employed to sew the attire. This is a deliberate ploy to apply a sector, education, to empower the citizens of the state. While the children are being equipped with education for them to be useful to society in the future, the government is correspondingly arming their parents economically by offering them jobs through the sewing of uniforms and the weaving of adire.

    Ogbeni Aregbesola says the first set of uniforms will be free while subsequent ones will be bought at highly subsidized rates. He declared that the new unified uniform system would “promote unity, ensure uniformity and foster a sense of belonging in the public in the primary and secondary schools”.

    The governor declared: “The idea of the Osun school uniform stems from our belief in the need to create a unique identity for our students in the public schools; and a good way to do this is through unification of school uniforms which is after all what uniforms are meant to be. Consequently, the school will also help promote unity irrespective of the differences in the socio-economic and cultural background of the pupils”.

    According to the Ogbeni, N800m was expended on the school uniforms, out of a whopping N2.6b spent on education in Osun in the last two years of the present administration. He said N1.8b meanwhile was spent purely on grants for meals for the students and examination fees. These include N342m just announced by the Ministry of Education as money paid by the government to enable Osun pupils write their WAEC papers. The government says these expenses do not include the salaries and emoluments of the teachers and the administrators of the school system. With all these, you can’t dispute the claim of Aregbesola that the state of Osun under him is the country’s “biggest spender on education despite the fact that it ranks 34th on the table of 36 states in the federal allocations”.

    At the event in Ede where he unveiled the uniforms to the public and the students, Ogbeni also gave free health books to the students. The action is symbolic of the governor’s oft-stated declaration that developing human capacity is a double-prong strategy: you must attend to man’s body and soul. To get the best in a man, you need to feed his body and his intellect. It boils down to the old Latin saying: mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a sound body). You can’t take care of one and ignore the other. There must be a balance of attention to the two. While the uniforms partly address the outward academic need of the pupils as well as the economic yearnings of their parents, the health books offer a guide to taking care of the body so it can get the right sustenance for its upkeep.

    Together, the uniforms and the health books make up what economists and sociologists refer to as the ingredients of human capacity development. And as we all know the human factor constitutes the most critical of all the factors of production. But the human being must be refined and be well equipped to play that crucial role of harnessing the other factors of production for the all-round development of society. Where a society boasts all the other resources, land, money, infrastructure etc. etc. without the accompanying entrepreneurial intervention in the form of man (the skilled or educated man), all the other factors would amount to nothing. In fact, the human factor is the most critical. The man or woman with skill can work wonders and create resources even in the absence of nothing. The example of the wealth and prominence of nations without oil comes in handy here. They do not depend on the so-called petrodollars to attain the great heights they have reached.

    Isn’t that the challenge we are facing in Nigeria where we have enormous resources at our disposal but with little to show for it in terms of development of human capacity all because we don’t have the right and visionary leadership to harness our latent resources? The state of Osun is teaching us that with whatever means at the disposal of a society it can still make a difference in the lives of the citizens if you throw up a caring leadership who would be passionate about service and be sensitive to the needs of the people. The future will rightly capture the events in Osun, even if the present isn’t also oblivious of them, just as the Awo era relished the achievements of the sage in his lifetime but with the greater impact reserved for the generations that came after Obafemi Awolowo.

    • Adeoye is a retired journalist in Lagos.

  • Osun State to spend N1bn on rehabilitation of hospitals in 2013

    Government of Osun State will invest a sum of N1billion on the rehabilitation of the nine state hospitals in 2013.

    The governor, Ogbeni  Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this in Osogbo, the state capital, on Friday while flagging-off the free medical eye treatment, organised by the state government in collaboration with Al-Basar International Foundation, based in Saudi Arabia.

    The free medical mission includes free eye screening, free eye surgeries and distribution of free eye glasses to the patients, among others.

    The governor also said that within the last one year, his administration had spent a sum of N120 million for the procurement of drugs for the free health programme of the government.

    This, according to him, is in addition to several other steps, including the procurement of new medical equipment being embarked upon by the government.

    He said: “This medical mission is part of our administration’s efforts to provide standard healthcare for our people. Our approach to healthcare is aimed at ensuring good health in all aspects of the lives of our people.”

    The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Temitope Ilori, commended the governor for his efforts at providing good healthcare for the people.

    She said the mission was aimed at nothing other than to save the people from eye diseases, especially cataract and glaucoma that could eventually result into blindness.

     

  • Osun ACN calls for peace

    The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Osun State has urged residents to remain united.

    It wished them a merry Christmas and a New Year filled with love, peace and progress.

    In a statement by its Director of Publicity, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, ACN congratulated the people on the state’s outstanding performance at the capital market on December 12, where its bond issue was over subscribed by more than 100 per cent.

    It said the success at the capital market should be seen as “a special Christmas gift” from the Nigerian business community to the people of Osun State in appreciation of the development achieved by the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration in the last two years.

    ACN said: “We celebrate Christmas in remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ, who brought salvation to all people.

    “It is, therefore, imperative that we always keep in mind the great teaching of Christ, which says we should love our neighbour as your self.

    “If the people of Osun extend love to one another, the state will become a wonderful example for others.”

    The party urged residents to support the Aregbesola administration in the New Year to make the state the hub of economic activities in the Southwest.

     

  • Osun to bury Eso on Friday

    All is set for the final rites of the late Justice Kayode Eso.

    The Osun State Government yesterday mapped out activities for his funeral.

    Chairman of the State Burial Committee Oguntola Toogun, who is the Assistant Chief of Staff to the Governor, said Eso, who died at 87, would be laid to rest at his Ilesa home town on Friday.

    Speaking with reporters in Osogbo, the state capital, Toogun said adequate security had been put in place to ensure a hitch-free ceremony.

    He said the state government was determined to give the late jurist a befitting funeral because of his Omoluwabi traits, which are worthy of emulation.

    Describing the late Eso as “courageous and fearless”, Toogun said he was known for his “brilliance and illuminating judgment” in the Judiciary.

    He said the deceased had to his credit many landmark judgments that stood him out as an exceptional jurist, thereby making him the only judge in the world that was invited twice by the United States Supreme Court for refresher programmes.

    Toogun noted the case of the Shagari vs Awolowo election judgment in 1979, where Eso’s was the only dissenting judgment, and the celebrated case of Prof. Wole Soyinka.

    On the funeral programme, Toogun said the Service of Songs would hold today at the Bodija International School.

    The Osun State Government will receive the body of the jurist tomorrow at Asejire, the border between Oyo and Osun states.

    The Christian wake will hold at the Anglican Church of the Risen Christ at Oke-Omi-Iru, Ilesa.

    A farewell oratory session in honour of the jurist will be held at the Governor’s Office in Osogbo.

    His remains will be laid to rest on Friday after a funeral service at the Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity, Omofe, Ilesa.