The search for a more robust and sustainable economy continues in the face of the persistent drop in the global prices of oil, which has unequivocally continued to affect revenue generation capacity of the country.
 

 
 
Taking a reactive measure to salvage the current situation seems to be the only logical option.
The state of Osun, southwest Nigeria, is apparently not left out of the financial downturn that hit the Africa’s largest economy,
Most states of the federation are now financially crippled.
As expected, most of these states, including Osun, have started to look inward to see how the current financial crunch plaguing the system can be tackled.
To this end, the need to invest in local businesses and empower the brains behind such enterprises, becomes imperative, to improve the internally generated revenue of the state, to complement the little accrued from the falling federal allocation.
One of such businesses is ‘DODO IKIRE’ a special appetizer /plantain spice made in IKIRE, a community in IREWOLE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA of Osun state.
A gate way to the state, and a close boundary to Oyo state.
Obviously, named after the town ‘DODO IKIRE’ the economic value of this locally made appetizer to the community and the state at large should not be underestimated.
Ajilo compound in Ikire plays host to the major producers of  DODO IKIRE in the community.
Both young and old in this compound, participate in the production of this product that is made from mostly plantain and other suitable bananas.
A 70-year-old woman, Madam Wulemotu Olaniran , has been in the business for a very long time. She speaks on the production of Dodo Ikire and its level of patronage.
” We use plantain, and other suitable bananas. We use Palm oil and vegetable oil to fry it. And we have clients abroad, who usually request for it, from time to time’
She said her children are not fully into the business, but they help while they are around before seeking greener pasture.
“our children help us here, when they are still looking for another job. we use the money realized from the selling of Dodo ikire, to send our children to the school”
Most sellers of Dodo Ikire hawk along Ife-Ibadan express way to sell for the travelers.
Abidogun shayo, is a young able boy, and he’s engaged in the selling of DODO IKIRE alongside other young people, who make their legitimate money from the business.
“We make at least three to four thousand Naira daily as profit, and we often safe the money for our education and new business”
Buyers and lovers of this great spice believe there is need for the producers to extend their scopes of business beyond the shore of ikire and osun at large.
If the state government could empower Dodo Ikire producers in order to attain large production /quantity, this might as well be a hidden treasure which will improve the internally generated revenue of the state.
Since, the state government is already going above and beyond to ensure a better living condition of its citizenry and meet the financial yearnings of all, perhaps diversification of the economy would be a good thing in this trying time.
Empowering the people involved in this business, might be a good start towards enlarging their coast, which may eventually bring about a drastic boost in their earnings, and as such contribute to the economy of the state.
Olawale Jelilat writes from Osogbo, Osun State

The Permanent Secretary, Office of Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Segun Olorunsogo has directed all agencies of government to adjust their 2016 draft budgets  to comply with present realities and submit on or before next week Tuesday.
 

 
 
Similarly, all agencies are expected to come up with policy objectives specific to their new status and arrangements.
The Permanent Secretary pointed out that budget ceiling, new budget heads and subheads as well as organogram  have been included in the call letter issued by the Ministry of Economic planning, Budget and Development.
He therefore enjoined all agencies of government  to clear the soft copies of the adjusted 2016 draft estimates with both the Budget Department and Computer Unit before submitting the soft copy and forty hard copies  of their final draft budgets on or before Tuesday, 15th March , 2016.
It will be recalled that due to the current economic downturn and dwindling of revenue accruable to the state from the Federation Accounts, the State Government took steps to reduce the cost of governance by slashing the number of ministries from eighteen to twelve hence the initial 2016 draft estimates have to be reviewed downwards to reflect the current economic situation of the state.

The newly appointed Council Managers of Local Council  Development Areas in the state of Osun have been advised to be committed to duty and see their new positions as a call to service.
 

 
 
The Chairman, Local Government Service Commission, Elder Peter BABALOLA,stated this on Wednesday during a brief meeting with the out-going Heads of  Local  Government Administration and the newly appointed Council Managers held at the Multi -Purpose Hall of the Commission..
Elder BABALOLA, who was represented by Commissioner 1 of the Commission, Hon. Kehinde Olamolu said all council managers with effect from Thursday morning should report to the Heads of Local Government Administration of the council of the mother Local Council Development Area they are posted while urging all Heads  of Local Government Administration to hand over government properties with them to the new council managers.
According to him, officers on Grade level 15 and above should remain in their various Local Government Areas and await further directives from the Commission.
Speaking earlier, the Commissioner II,Barrister Adebamgbe Omole, who commended the Heads of Local Government Administration for their performance urged the new council managers to take a cue from them saying in a bid to make a change and achieve result,new council managers must do things differently.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary of the Commission, Mr Dayo Olaluwoye stated that  the major task before the new council managers is to generate revenue in the various local council development areas in order to increase their IGR.
While commending the State Governor for creating  local council development areas in accordance to the yearnings and aspirations of the people, he charged the council managers  to be focused and determined in facing the challenges ahead of them.

Assassinated Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Late Chief James Bola Ige, was on Wednesday honoured as the visitor to the Osun State University and Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola named the state-owned university after him.
 
 

 
This was part of a sweeping renaming of all the tertiary institutions in the state which was announced at the convocation ceremony of the university where oil magnate and founder of the Rose of Sharon Foundation, Mrs, Folorunsho Alakija was unveiled as the new Chancellor of the institution.
Other institutions renamed were: Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke will now be Bisi Akande College of Technology; Osun State Polytechnic Iree now, Sunday Afolabi Polytechnic; College Of Education, Ila Orangun now Adeyemi Oyeduntan College of Education and the College of Education Ilesa which will now be Lawrence Omole College of Education.
Others are UNIOSUN C‎ollege of Law, Ifetedo now Kayode Esho College of Law;‎ College of Social Sciences and Management Okuku, now Olagunsoye College of Social Sciences, Okuku; C‎ollege of Agriculture Ejigbo, now Isiaka Adeleke College of Agriculture, Ejigbo; ‎College of Education Ipetu Ijesa, now Ezekiah Oluwasanmi College of Education and C‎ollege of Humanities and Culture, Ikire, now Eniola Atanda College of Humanities and Culture‎
This was even as the new Chancellor, Alakija, described her conferment as the Chancellor of UNIOSUN and the Award of Honorary Doctorate Degree in Business administration as another glass ceiling broken by womanhood.
Aregbesola commended Dr. Alakija who with her investiture becomes the first female Chancellor in any university in Nigeria for counting the University worthy and accepting to serve as the Chancellor of the university when she could have easily turned down top universities in Europe and America with the same request.
‎He enjoined Dr. Alakija to join the state in the desire for an institution that exists for the society and advancement of mankind, saying most Nigerian universities are too withdrawn and unconcerned from the society an its problems.
Aregbesola said, “I therefore want this university at three levels to affect our society.
The first is at the level of teaching which should prepare the students for post graduate life by equipping them with life sustenance skills, especially technical and entrepreneurial education.
“Secondly, the universities should tailor its researches into immediate and prospective challenges of mankind in health, food, housing, infrastructure, societal organisation and the seemingly unknown aspects on nature and so on.
“The essence of the education enterprise is for man to be able to conquer nature and dominate the environment. This should translate into better life for all. An end should come to the idea of research for getting promotion which then gathers dust in a shelf somewhere.
“Thirdly, the universities should also be engaged in society through public service, by bringing their knowledge and research findings to bear directly in needed areas as their counterparts in other parts of the world are wont to do”. The Governor emphasised.
‎Aregbesola advised the university to re-programme itself to be able to raise funds without burdening government and its students.
He stressed ‎that there are lots of firms and individuals who will like to endow chairs, courses, programmes and projects willing to pay any amount to have themselves immortalised in a place like a university, saying not all of them merit it, but people deserving them must be reach out to.
Speaking earlier, the new Chancellor harped on the central role of academic empowerment so as to guarantee economic growth among the people of the country.
According to Mrs Alakija education cannot and can never be over-emphasized because the lack of it could only bring poverty of body, mind and of living.
The Chancellor said being educated would give anyone the opportunity to play significant role and articulate his or her own agenda for change within space such individual occupies.
She called on all stakeholders involved in policies and programmes design for education to be committed education, saying the nation will be the better for it.
She said: “I feel extremely humbled, proud and excited to be receiving this conferment as Chancellor. I also appreciate the Honorary Doctorate Degree in Business Administration (DBA) (Honoris Causa), which came in as a surprise.
“Whatever role you are playing here today, it is obvious we all have a common goal, one that borders on Academic Empowerment for Economic Growth amongst our people for the benefit of Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.
“We all have a role to play to articulate our own agenda for for change; to change the world. If we can make a commitment to do something differently from now on, our world will be a better place to live in.
“Nigeria will flourish with the input from all of you gathered here as you embark on this exciting journey called life.”
The Chancellor also admonished the graduands to always be conscious that they form part of the threads with which the story of the university’s woven together, urging them to be good ambassador of the school wherever they find themselves.
In his inaugural speech, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Jelil Guntola Alamu, remarked that the University has been sustaining it’s reputation as an institution purposely established to promote academic a excellence and sound moral education.
He revealed that the University has continued to grow in leaps and bounds with the recent accreditation of six more programmes by the National University Commission, bringing the programmes the school is running to 32 mature academic programmes.
Professor Oguntola equally disclosed that the university has become a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) as well as signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
According to the Don, the school also excelled both nationally and internationally as students of the state, who participated in debating competition organised by African Regional Inter-University Debate Competition organised by UNESCO, came 3rd overall.
“Osun State University continues to sustain it’s reputation as an institution established to promote academic and moral standard.
“My greatest joy today is the relative peace and high level of academic excellence attained by the institution since I became the Acting Vice Chancellor about a year ago,” he said.
In his valedictory speech, the overall best student of the institution for 2014/ 2015session, Peter Oluwatobiloba Daniel, was full of appreciation to the God, his parents, lecturers and the Government of Osun for the establishment the University.
Daniel, with the best CGPA of 4.81 from Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department, said he achieved the feat by steady and dedicated commitment to his academics.
He encouraged other students to plan well and follow their plans with dogged determination, saying “Whatever you conceive, you can achieve. Just keep on trying and the sky will be the beginning.”

Speaker, State of Osun House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Najeem Salaam has warned those who are not saddled with the responsibility of speaking for government to desist from making comments on policies, issues and government business, saying that avoidable friction should not be brewed among the stakeholders in the state again.

 
In a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Mr. Goke Butikakuro, Speaker Salaam stressed that it became imperative to warn government officials and politically exposed persons whose duty were not speak on contending issues in government to excuse themselves from doing so, because the intervention of the parliament was at stake.
Speaker Salaam said it has been brought to  his notice that labour force was allegedly reconsidering its position on memorandum of understanding which has thus far engendered industrial peace in the state, because some politically exposed persons were arrogantly taken their (workers’) understanding on the salary issue for granted.
He then urged the workers to continue to maintain peaceful working relationship with the government, promising that the state assembly under his watch was monitoring the economic situation in the country in general and State of Osun in particular, and would seek upward review for them as soon as the revenue generation notches up.
Speaker Salaam further appealed to the workers to shun shenanigan of some elements  who were labouring hard to drag the state down, saying their antics  was to use the economic meltdown to buoy up their politicking, not to defend the interest of the workers.
He said: “I would want to appeal to our workers to continue with their patriotism, for we have no other state we can call our own, and it is a statement of fact that our state would not be in perpetual cash crunch; thus our workers would not be permanently stagnated on the current structured pay.
We salute our workers for their resilience, understanding, and for placing the state’s interest above personal interest. Let those who are hellbent in fracturing the relationship between the government and workers know that their disservice is out of vogue.

The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Tuesday said that his administration will make ‎judicious use of its revenues in such a way that increasing the number of councils will least constitute any financial burden.
 
 

 
This was even as he dissolved the management committees of the existing 30 Local Councils and Area Office  and their Executive Secretaries, deputy executive secretaries, members, Special Advisers and other functionaries.
The Governor stated this in a state‎ broadcast to the people of the state on the creation of additional 31 Local Council development Areas, 3 area Councils and two administrative offices.
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The request for additional local councils by the people of the state after several legal procedures was sent to the state House of Assembly in form of an executive bill.
The House looked into the bill, set up a committee and subsequently, a referendum was held on February 19, 2015 in which the people of the state overwhelmingly gave a Yes vote on the bill.
The House passed the bill creating 31 new Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), three Area Councils and two Administrative Offices, signed into law by the governor.
Aregbesola, speaking on why the state is creating more councils at this special time of financial challenges, held that his administration has given it sufficient consideration, saying he has put in place procedures that will cost less and safe money thus bringing rapid development.
He added that the primary responsibilities of the newly created councils are to bring development to the people, market management, revenue mobilisation and generation among many others instrumental to the yearnings of the people.
The Governor stated that the state will be saving huge cost with the new system adding that the same number of staff will still run all the councils and no new appointments will be made to existing ones.‎
‎
He hinted that the entire local government system will be managed by Council Managers for three months, adding that managers shall be appointed and deployed by Local Government Service Commission from among the substantive grade level 14 officers in the local governments.
‎He said, “Many would be wondering and asking: why create more councils at this special time of financial challenges? We have also given sufficient consideration to this. With this new parliamentary system, it will cost less to run the new councils and save a lot of money for the government than in the past.
“The primary responsibilities of our new local government system are sanitation, market management and revenue mobilisation and generation. This is consistent with local government administration worldwide.
“The beauty of this new system is its parliamentary nature, which requires the chairman and the vice chairman to be elected by the councillors from among their own ranks, thereby saving cost,” The Governor told the people of the state.
He added that the creation of additional local government should not be seen as being alien in the sense that In advanced western democracies, the local government controls the police and provides many municipal services to the people.
The Governor also highlighted the importance of the local government, saying that the usefulness of this smallest tier of government  cannot be overstated.
According to him, “It is where the government is designed to be closest to the people. While you need to follow some protocols for reasons of security and tight schedule before having an audience with a minister, a state governor or the president, you can walk in on your local government chairman or other officials of council.
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“Also, because the geographical space of the local government makes it the smallest unit of administration, it is easier to get things done at this level. The local government is also the ideal training ground for political leadership”.

The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Tuesday called on Universities in the country to impact positively on the Nigerian society‎ rather that the role of just admitting students and awarding certificates at the end of their academic exercise.

The Governor while giving the charge ‎at the fourth and fifth convocation ceremonies of University of Osun at the University’s convocation arena, main campus, Osogbo also named the university auditorium after the former Governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola.

He held that university education  should be a sector that should impact on the society, saying the country ‎is daily beset with life threatening challenges in wars, hunger, diseases that are defying solutions.

‎Aregbesola also admonished Universities to be prepared in providing leadership for the country to be able to overcome it’s present economic challenges.

 

He stressed that their will be hope for Nigeria if Universities in the country start preparing students for a self-reliant post-graduation life and guiding society with the ideas and philosophy of change, science, technology, finance and entrepreneurship.

 

‎”Our universities are primarily suffering from the crisis of mission. While they may have beautifully crafted mission statement, in practice, they are giving the impression that their raison d’etre is to admit students and award certificates to them at the end of their studentship.

‎”How impactful on our society and governance have these institutions been? We are daily beset with life threatening challenges in wars, hunger, diseases that are defying medical solutions, homelessness and just anything imaginable. Of course, it could have been worse.

‎”Where there is no vision, the people perish, says the holy writ. Lack of mission consciousness inevitably leads them to in-fighting and other self-inflicted crises.

“It is therefore the case that apart from graduating students, another veritable product of Nigerian universities is jostling for power, influence and resources with factions as many as there are faculties and petitions as powerful and numerous as academic journals. Where there is no vision, the people perish, says the holy writ,” Aregbesola said.

‎The Governor chided most Nigerian University for relying on grants and subventions, adding that no serious institution will think of surviving with subventions.

He said, “Most universities are underfunded. They rely mostly on subventions from their proprietors. Yet, there is nowhere in the world where a good university lives only on subvention.

“One of the disingenuous ways to fill the gap is to charge exorbitant tuition fees. While tuition is universal, it is lazy and unimaginative to make this the basis for generating revenues to sustain a university.

“Universities must learn also to generate revenues through endowments and creative revenue yielding ideas in patents, copyrights and so on”. Aregbesola stressed.

In his speech, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Jelil Oguntola Alamu, remarked that the University has been sustaining it’s reputation as an institution purposely established to promote academic excellence and sound moral education.

He revealed that the University has continued to grow in leaps and bounds with the recent accreditation of six more programmes by the National University Commission, bringing the programmes the school is running to 32 mature academic programmes.

Professor Oguntola equally disclosed that the university has become a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) as well as signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

According to the Don, the school also excelled both nationally and internationally as students of the state, who participated in debating competition organised by African Regional Inter-University Debate Competition organised by UNESCO, came 3rd overall.

“Osun State University continues to sustain it’s reputation as an institution established to promote academic and moral standard.

“My greatest joy today is the relative peace and high level of academic excellence attained by the institution since I became the Acting Vice Chancellor about a year ago.

Barring all odds, the University successfully completed 2014/2015 academic session promptly without any form of interruption in our academic calendar,” Prof Oguntola said.

In his valedictory speech, the overall best student of the institution for 2013/2014 session, Adeyemo Kazeem Adekunle, was full of appreciation to the Government of Osun for the establishment the University.

Adekunle, with the best CGPA of 4.7 from Civil Engineering Department, commended Osun Government for catering for thousands of students from Osun and other adjoining states.

He stated that the school will continue to serve humanity in numerous significant ways as long as it is in existence.

Governor of Osun state, Rauf Aregbesola has announced the creation of additional 31 local council development areas LCDAs, three Area councils and two administrative offices.

This is just as he dissolved the executive secretaries of the existing 30 local government council and moadakeke area office.
Governor Aregbesola made the announcement in a broadcast to the people of the state at the earlier hour of today.

According to him, creation of the LCDAs which would be managed by council managers to be appointed by local government service commission from grade level 14 officers in the local government for three months, became necessary to bring government closer to the grassroot people.

Aregbesola further revealed that, the new LCDAs would be saddled with the responsibilities  of market management, revenue mobilization and generation and sanitation.

He maintained that the creation of the LCDAs, was in accordance with the law and general demands of the people of the state

The authority of Osun State University has disclosed that 51 students will graduate with first class in the combined 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 academic sections’ convocation coming up next week.
The University has also said it would graduate 3164 students from six Colleges of the institution for the two graduating set.

The Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof Oguntola Jelil-Alamu, disclosed this during the press conference organised as part of activities marking the fourth and fifth convocation in Osogbo, yesterday.
Prof Alamu who was excited by the number of students who graduated with first class in the university also expressed happiness over the performance of the graduates of the institution, saying they were already making them proud.
He noted that First class products of the institution had been completing their postgraduate programmes with distinction in foreign Universities.
According to the VC, in 2015, Olojido Oluwatoyin Esther bagged distinction in M.Sc. Accounting and Finance from University of Leeds, while Odesanmi Oluwatosin Racheal also came back with distinction in M.Sc. Analytical Chemistry from Loughborough University, stressing that the testimony was a fulfilment of the global competitiveness of their graduates, enshrined in the vision of the University.
While commenting on smooth and peaceful academic atmosphere in the institution, Prof Alamu said there was no record of violence which might have led to the clog in the wheel of the academic programme of the University.
The VC further said that the University had successfully completed 2014/2015 academic section promptly without any form of interruption in the academic calendar, saying “the stable academic calender had aided the pioneer graduates from the College of Law into the Nigeria Law School in October, 2015.”
While laying emphasis on the need for the graduates to be independent, Prof Alamu hinted that most of the graduates had been trained in various entrepreneurial skills.
Prof Aremu said in a bid to ensure that their graduates were independent, they had trained most of graduates and they would be collecting two certificate by end of the ceremony, the Bachelors’ degree Certificate and entrepreneurship skill set certificate.
Commenting on the quality of the teachers at the University, VC said the institution had very qualified lecturers which had tremendously improved the quality of the faculty and translated to globally competitive graduates from the university.
“Within the last of year, 29 academic staff bagged PhD degree from Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia and United Kingdom”.
This University has another set of 29 academic staff currently at advance stage of their Ph.D programme in New Zealand, Australia, Germany among others.
He therefore vowed that the University would continue to sustain its reputation which according to him established to promote academic and moral standard.
The activities lined up for the convocation was the commissioning of the Central Research Laboratory by the Visitor to the University, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
The final convocation ceremonies will hold on 8th and 9th March, 2016 with the convocation lecture title “Sustained Tertiary. Education in Post-Oil Nigeria” to be delivered by Prof. Michael O. Faborode. While investiture of Chancellor and Award of First Degree (2014/2015 graduating set on March 9.