The Nation Newspaper

Tag: OSUN

  • Osun, Hijrah and equity

    Osun, Hijrah and equity

    This piece is not for the Christian bigot or Muslim fanatic. Neither is it for the emotively misguided, warring for God who could war for Himself. It is rather for the open-minded; with absolutely no hang-up about religion, the bastion of immensely personal faith.

    Look at Nigeria’s green-white-green. Isn’t green rather dull for Nigerians known for their vigour, dynamism and corky pride, when the subject is national bragging rights?

    Why would anyone therefore pick such drab colour for Nigeria, when Britain the departing colonial master had draped itself in a blaze of red, blue and white?

    Why green? A surreptitious tinge of Islamic green, as parting gift to the Sokoto Caliphate and its green flag, for its lasting partnership in the British colonising mission in Nigeria?

    Look at the Nigerian currency: N1, 000, N500, N200 and N100 notes. All have Arabic inscriptions. Yet Nigeria’s lingua franca is English, not Arabic.

    None of Nigeria’s native national communities has Arabic as their mother tongue, though a lot of Muslim scholars and clerics in these communities use Arabic as the Islamic code: for teaching and scholarly discourse; a reality that led the religiously liberal Yoruba to tag Muslims Imale (literally, hard stuff, regarding Arabic), as distinct from Igbagbo (Christianity).

    That tag underscored the relative inaccessibility of Arabic in the local Yoruba community, since they could access Christianity by English (the colonising language) and Yoruba (their mother tongue, thanks to the works of Bishop Ajayi Crowther, who translated the Bible into Yoruba). Islam enjoyed no such twin-luxury of lingo accessibility, even if both religions are bastions of unquestionable faith, and Islam had cohabited with Yoruba traditional beliefs long before the advent of Christianity.

    There appears therefore ample evidence of Islamic symbolism in the panoply of Nigerian national symbols, even if Nigeria is constitutionally a secular state.

    But look at the other side of the religious coin. The government calendar and the routine work-free days are decidedly Christian. The colonial master worked from Monday to Saturday and worshipped on Sunday. So, Nigeria’s official rest day is Sunday, after the Western, Christian calendar.

    Femi Abbas, a Friday columnist with The Nation, has claimed Seventh Day Adventists, a Christian sect, successfully persuaded Gen. Yakubu Gowon to, from half-day, make Saturday a full work-free day, since the Adventists worship on that day. But not even the strong Islamic lobby could persuade the British colonialists and independent Nigerian governments to make Friday, the Muslim rest day, work-free, though Muslims are allowed ample time for Friday Jumat prayers.

    Before aligning the school calendar with the international September-July cycle, the January to December calendar was decidedly Christian. Schools took short breaks in the first term in April (which dovetailed with Easter), second term in August and the end-of-year longer holiday in December (which also dovetailed into the Christian Yuletide, a season in Christendom starting from December 24 – Christmas Eve – to January 6, well beyond the Christian New Year’s Day of January 1).

    Indeed, ever so adaptive Yoruba Christians have promptly tagged Christmas, Odun Kekere (small festival) and New Year’s Day, Odun-Nla (big festival). Besides, the harmless Yuletide wish of “a merry Christmas and happy New Year” holds in its goodwill cheer an imposed Christian calendar.

    Indeed, Yuletide appears some unseen parallel to Saudi Arabia, which theocratic court declares as many as 10 days to celebrate the two Islamic feasts of eid-al-fitr (after Ramadan) and eid-al-adha (which Yoruba adherents simply tag Ileya – literally, “time to go home and feast”).

    The Nigerian case is even more interesting when compared with Egypt, a secular state with a Muslim majority and a sizeable Coptic Christian minority. Egypt, each year, celebrates the Coptic Christmas (January 7), Orthodox Easter (April 25, this year). For the Muslim festivals of eid-al-fatr, it sets aside three days of public holiday, and four days for Qurban (eid-al-adha). It also observes a public holiday for Al-Hijrah, the Islamic New Year, but only recognises what, in most of the Arab world is called the international New Year’s Day, January 1, though on that day, offices remain open.

    From the foregoing therefore, it would appear Nigeria is under the twin-domination of Muslim and Christian symbolisms, which is just as well: since a majority of Nigerians claim to be Christian or Muslim.

    It is also clear that though officially January 1 is not in Nigeria a Christian holiday, its root is Christian. It is the first day in the Gregorian calendar, decreed into being by Pope Gregory XIII on 24 February 1582. Besides, January 1 cannot be totally separated from the international celebration of the Yuletide, the Christmas season.

    That moves the discourse to the hoopla State of Osun Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, caused with his declaration of November 15 as Hijrah (Islamic New Year’s Day) this year.

    Was the governor right by law? No doubt. Was it politic? Not convinced: that the Yoruba are famously tolerant of rival faiths does not eliminate residual Christian-Muslim tensions, which the Hijrah declaration appeared to have goaded in many a Christian psyche.

    Was the declaration legitimate? If legitimacy is interpreted as quiescence in Osun, it would appear so: for while Osun Muslims appear happy and proud of their latest concession from the state, hardly any Christian groups have growled over the holiday.

    So, why the media hue and cry? Perhaps because a governor just accused of putative Islamisation should be very circumspect on religious matters. That is good faith.

    But much of the media flak veered beyond good faith into impish intolerance and sweeping but false claims. The most blatant of these claims that no Arab and Muslim country has Hijra as public holiday is false.

    According to www.schoolholidaysguide.com, Egypt, Malaysia (marked as Awal Muharram), Indonesia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have Hijrah as public holidays, though all of these countries, except Egypt, also observe January 1 as public holiday. Saudi Arabia runs an official Islamic calendar but does not declare Hijrah a public holiday. Neither does it declare January 1. Hijrah is no public holiday in Pakistan. But Pakistan also only observes January 1 as “banker’s holiday”, according to information on this website.

    Thinking Aregbesola’s Hijrah move is impolitic, therefore, is within the explosive realm of political gains and losses. If that Machiavellian motive indeed drove the declaration, then it is well and truly condemnable.

    But if it was driven by meeting deeply felt but much repressed Muslim aspirations, there is nothing sinister about it, so long as no non-Muslim is forced to join in the Hijrah celebrations.

    The notorious fact is that the Nigerian Christian and Muslim majority, having carved the country in their twin-images, bawl and scream anytime they sense a tilt on the domination scale. That is no ode to tolerance.

    So, let all in the State of Osun beware. As citizens, Osun Muslims have a right to Hijrah. But adherents of other faiths, like African traditional believers, have rights too.

    So, when this most repressed group come to the fore to claim their own religious rights, let no one turn emergency jihadists or crusaders!

  • Osun wins BSN bible quiz contest

    It was a display of wits, skills and in-depth knowledge of the scriptures last week when the final of the annual Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) quiz competition for secondary schools held.

    The event which took place at the District Headquarters of the Apostolic Church in Palmgrove, Lagos attracted a host of dignitaries and schools from within and outside the state.

    Addressing participants and guests at the event, Revd. Dare Ajiboye, Assistant General Secretary of BSN, said the bible quiz competition was organised in order to help youths develop godly values by taking them back to the bible. He added that because youths of today have so many gadgets at their disposal, they seldom have time to study the bible.

    “What we are doing here today is not about winning and losing. It is about taking young people back to the scriptures. It is a fulfilment of BSN’s objective to ensure that everyone has access to the bible. There are so many gadgets competing for the attention of young people today which makes it difficult for them to study the bible.”

    For this edition, which was the tenth in the series, there were representatives from schools in the North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-West and the South-East geo-political zones. The five schools qualified for the final by winning the preliminary stage of the competition in their geo-political zones. At the final, the students proved that coming that far was no fluke. They awed the audience as they answered questions from various parts of the scriptures.

    At the end of three keenly contested rounds, Daniel Tobiloba and Segun Olatunde of Feso International High School Ilesa, Osun State, emerged winners with 308 points. They were followed by Ecwa Baba Ahmadu Secondary School, Kano with 302 points and Mary Sumna Junnorates Secondary School Okpofe, Imo State with 293 points as first and second runners-up respectively.

  • Osun to employ 3,230 teachers

    Osun State Deputy Governor Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori yesterday said the government would employ 3,230 teachers in public primary schools.

    Speaking with reporters in Osogbo, the state capital, on the second anniversary of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration, Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said the recruitment of more teachers would improve the staff strength and fill the space of teachers who will retire next month.

    The deputy governor, who doubles as the Commissioner for Education, said: “Those to be engaged are being carefully scrutinised to determine their professional competence through a transparent exercise devoid of sentiments and favouritism.”

    She said the feeding of pupils has increased the number of children enrolled in schools.

    Mrs. Laoye-Tomori denied claims by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the government was demolishing schools built by the ousted administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

    She said: “We have not demolished any of the buildings built by Oyinlola in any of our schools because we are not ready to waste our money. In fact, we do not have the paint to waste on erasing the ‘Oyin ni o’ inscription on the buildings. What the present administration has done is to demolish dilapidated buildings to prevent collapse.”

    Mrs. Laoye-Tomori saidthe state government has suspended some teachers for absenteeism.

    She said some were suspended for two weeks and others for one month without pay. On the closure of the College of Education, Ila-Orangun, the deputy governor said the institution would be reopened soon.

    She said the state government has begun the review of the circumstances that led to the institution’s closure.

     

  • Osun Govt, PDP disagree on demolition

    The Osun State Government and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have disagreed on the ongoing demolition of structures in some parts of the state.

    The state government is demolishing structures on the Obafemi Awolowo Way; Igbona, Ayetoro, Okefia and Ring roads in Osogbo to beautify the state capital.

    Commissioner for Information and Strategy Sunday Akere said the administration is in the process of renewing major towns in the state. He said shops were demolished on Ring Road and the East by-pass to make way for the planting of flowers on both sides of the roads.

    Explaining that the shop owners were notified before the demolition, Akere said: “The shops had been marked for demolition for over six months now and the government waited for a long time to allow the shop owners look for an alternative.

    “The immediate-past government was there for seven and a half years without anything to show for it. We got there in less than two years and are giving the state a face lift.”

    PDP Publicity Secretary Prince Bola Ajao said: “We are not saying there should not be development, but the development must be within the economic viability of the people. Aregbesola’s action was not only unfair; it was wicked, callous and unfortunate.”

  • Osun refutes $50,000 visa scandal story

    The Osun State Government has denied a report published in the Leadership Weekend of November 3, which alleged that a certain Southwest state, in collaboration with some staff of the Ukrainian Embassy and an unnamed tertiary institution, were involved in a $50,000 visa scandal.

    In a statement by Yinka Muyinwa Chambers on its behalf, the state government said it did not pay $50,000 to any Ukrainian Embassy official to procure visa for students or its officials.

    It described the publication as a deliberate attempt to strain the cordial relationship between Osun State and Ukraine.

    The statement reads: “Having studied the story, we believe there was no other state in the Southwest that the publication was referring to, other than Osun, which has a cordial relationship with the Government of Ukraine, through an exchange programme in education and other areas.

    “It is based on this understanding that the government sends medical students to Ukraine to further their studies. The story is unsubstantiated and has no basis in the ethics of noble journalism, which demands proper and balanced story before going to the press.

    “We hereby state that the alleged $50,000 bribery scandal is false and lacks substance. We regret any inconvenience and embarrassment the report might have caused the Ukrainian Embassy.

    “The Osun State Government is studying the remedies available to her under the law, without same having any effect on the future of the student concerned.”

     

  • Osun partners NGO on jobs

    Osun partners NGO on jobs

    The Osun State government has done it again. Through the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, the Rauf Aregbesola administration, in collaboration with Women in Management, Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), has restated its commitment to improving the lot of young women.

    Lately, a business clinic was organised at the Multi-purpose Hall of the Local Government Service Commission in Abere Osogbo, for more than 300 women between the ages of 18 and 45. They were trained on how to write and develop business plans for their business ideas.

    Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWIN) and the Federal Ministries of Finance, Communication and Technology, Youth Development, Women Affairs and Social Development provided a platform for the youth to express their business ideas and also an avenue of financial support to see them through.

    One of the resource persons at the workshop, Mr. Ayo Ekisanya, who is a consultant to Women in Management, Business and Public Service, disclosed that the first edition of YouWin programme of the Federal Government was launched in October, 2011 by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, where he said 1,200 youths became successful in a competition. He said the lucky youths were given grants of between N1m and N10m to grow their businesses.

    According to the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs. Mofolake Adetoun Adegboyega, the business clinic which the Osun State is working in partnership with WIMBIZ , YouWIN and others was designed to give technical assistance to the youth from the state ahead of the zonal competition coming up in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital later this year. She said: “What we want to achieve with this clinic is empowerment of our youths. We want to prepare them far ahead of the competition at Ibadan and therefore give them an edge. This kind of programme would, no doubt, help them to be self-employed and be employers of labour. Last year, when the programme was done, very few women participated with only about 18 per cent putting in applications and this prompted Mr. President to insist that this year’s edition should be for women alone.”

    The Executive Secretary of WIMBIZ, Fati Omobolaji, disclosed that 50 candidates from each state of the federation would be picked to participate in the competition.

    Describing the process of picking the best candidates with quality business ideas and plans as faceless, she said participants would do the registration, filling of forms and submission of their business proposals on line.

    The Commandant of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme, Col. Oyewole Eni-Ibukun (rtd) said 15 candidates from each of the 30 local government areas of the state and one area office of the state were picked from the Aregbesola’s Youth Employment Generation Initiative, (OYES).

    He also said that the Federal Government’s programme to support the youth would surely benefit the country.

    Three participants among the 300 invited for the programme, Rukiyat Aremu from Ola-Oluwa Local Government Area, Theresa Ogundeji from Ifelodun Local Government Area, and Abake Oyewole from Ife Central expressed their gratitude to Osun State government and WIMBIZ for the clinic which they believed would leverage them at the competition.

  • Osun community honours lawmaker

    Ila-Orangun, an ancient city in Osun State and home of the national chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Bisi Akande, has bestowed the chieftaincy title of Balogun Fiwagboye  on Hon. Rotimi Makinde, Deputy Chairman of Human Right Committee, House of Representatives, Abuja.

    Amid rousing praise-songs for Makinde by his admirers, Oba Wahab Kayode Oyedokun, Bibire I, the Orangun of Ila, bestowed the honour on him.

    According to the monarch, Makinde who represents the Ife Federal Constituency in the federal legislature was honoured for his meaningful contributions to development efforts at the national and state levels, most especially his immediate constituency.

    Makinde, who was accompanied by party supporters among others, breezed into the palace amid loud ovation before the commencement of the official conferment of the chieftaincy title on him. Cultural dancers were on hand to spice up the ceremony.

    Thereafter, the celebration train moved to the architectural masterpiece residence of Chief Bisi Akande, for a swell reception. In remark on the occasion, Chief Akande urged Makinde not to relent in his effort at giving his people dividends of democracy.

    Similarly, Hon. Ajibola Famurewa who represents Ilesa-Atakumosa Federal Constituency of Osun State, said: “I thank God for the life of Hon. Makinde; the title of Balogun Fiwagboye has been added to his numerous titles. It is no doubt a reflection of what he represents to his people. I wish him best of luck.”

    In his response, Hon. Makinde thanked Oba Oyedokun for appreciating his contributions both at the national level and his constituency. “It is a big challenge to do more,” he added.

  • Osun ACN to receive defectors

    Hundreds of thousand of members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition political parties in Osun State will today defect to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the Acting Chairman of the party, Mr. Adelowo Adebiyi, will receive the defectors at a mega rally which will hold at the Government Technical College, Osogbo.

    Leaders of the ACN from all the 30 Local Government Areas will welcome the defectors.

    According to a statement by the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, the defectors who were prominent members of the PDP spread across all the 30 Local Government Areas.

    Oyatomi, who called on all progressive politicians in the state to troupe out en mass to welcome the defectors, stressed that security arrangements have been perfected to ensure a hitch-free rally.

    He said the defectors were convinced by the wonderful works of Aregbesola in the last two years, hence their decision to drop umbrella and embrace broom revolution, adding that the ACN in the state was more determined than ever before to set the pace for other political parties in the country.

    Members of the State Executive Council and the lawmakers are also expected to grace the occasion which will also have in attendance Executive Secretaries of the 30 Local Governments.

     

  • Osun declares Thursday holiday

    Osun declares Thursday holiday

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has declared Thursday, the first day of the new Islamic year, a public holiday.

    He said the holiday was aimed at promoting religious harmony among residents.

    Addressing Muslims at a lecture marking the new Hijira year, Aregbesola said the first day of the Islamic calendar should be celebrated like January 1.

    The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Special Duties and Regional Integration, Mr. Ajibola Basiru, said religion is a sensitive matter that must not be politicised to avoid strife and acrimony among adherents of various religions.

    He said: “Prophet Mohammed preached peace, love and justice to all men of faith and if the first day of the new year of the Christian faithful is accorded Honour, honouring the first day of the Islamic year is justice on course.”

    Aregbesola said violence, corruption and other vices were abhorred by Prophet Mohammed and urged Muslims to shun violence.

    An Islamic scholar, Sheikh Dhikrullahi Shafi’I hailed the state government’s gesture on the holiday.

    Sheikh Shafi’I, the Mufti of Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO), urged other governors, especially in the Southwest, to emulate Aregbesola.

    He said: “If our Christian brethren enjoy public holiday on their New Year Day, same benefit should be accorded the Muslim Ummah. The government’s action is a step in the right direction.”

     

  • 15 Osun principals get overseas training

    FIFTEEN secondary school principals have been sent abroad for training by the Osun State government.

    The deputy governor, Chief (Mrs.) Titi Laoye-Tomori, disclosed this at the distribution of 10,000 notebooks to thirty-four secondary schools in Oriade and Obokun Local Government of the state by a member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Nathaniel Agunbiade.

    Laoye- Tomori maintained that the training was necessary to improve the standard of education in the state.

    She said the training was meant to help school administrators acquire new skills and modern techniques that would enhance their work and make their students competitive.

    The deputy governor lamented the deplorable condition of schools and other facilities in the sector when the present administration assumed office in November 2010.

    She commended Agunbiade for contributing his quota by offering free education materials to students and teachers in his constituency.

    Agunbiade assured the support will not be limited to Oriade and Ibokun Local Governments but to all parts of the Osun State.