…We had no money to buy textbooks before Opon Imo – Students
“We have been asked to buy textbooks so as to prepare for the coming Senior WAEC but most of us have not been able to do that because of unavailability of money. Many of us cannot afford the textbooks and have been wondering how to pass the fast approaching exams.”
These were the words of Adeleke Busayo, a final year student of Adventist Government High School in Ede, Osun State as she receives her “Opon Imo” tablet of knowledge.
In a similar vein, the Head Girl of the school, Oluwatuye Mary buttressed what Busayo said. She stated that most of the students have not been able to afford the needed textbooks for their coming exams, adding that the State Government under the leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, has lifted an over-weighting burden through the Opon Imo project.
“I feel so excited, we have been patiently waiting for the Opon Imo since the first day our principal told us about it. I am so happy to get the Opon Imo finally because we have been told to buy textbooks but not all could afford them. Now that the Opon Imo is here, embedded with several textbooks and past questions, the burden of having to buy textbooks has been lifted.
“We are immensely grateful to the Government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, we really appreciate this privilege and we promise to use it judiciously. Aregbesola has fulfilled his promise with the people of Osun on Education Improvement and we promise to study well and make him proud.” Mary added.

In addition to aiding preparation for School Leaving Examinations, the introduction of the tool is expected to aid adoption of information communication technology (ICT) skills among students in the State.
Back in 2013 when the Governor Rauf Aregbesola-led Government of launched Opon Imo, many were skeptical about its sustainability and its effectiveness in combating the low rate of student performance, especially for secondary school students writing final year West Africa Senior School Certificate but four years down the line, the Opon Imo has proven its worth.

Apart from aiding students in their exams and guaranteeing their success if properly used, the Opon Imo has also relieved parents the burden of having to buy textbooks especially in this current economy situation.
As usual, the State government has begun the redistribution of e-learning computer tablets for the 2017/2018 academic session to students in the final year in the state public schools.
The redistribution of the tablets began in an informal ceremony at Osogbo Government High School, Osogbo, as the students and teachers were excited to receive the device again.
While the redistribution lasted, 30,000 units of the tablets were given to final year students who will be writing the SSCE, NECO and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) examinations and their teachers, across the state.

Speaking during the flag-off ceremony at Osogbo Government High School, the Principal of the school, Mrs Folorunsho Ladapo, described Opon-Imo as an unusual education infrastructure in the state.
Also the Administrator of Adventist Government High School, Mrs Uche Agbaso, said the distribution of the Opon Imo is an extra mile on the part of the Governor to enhance better performance of the students.
In her remarks too, the vice principal administration, Mrs A A Oyewole, lauded Aregbesola for the initiative and urged the students to make positive use of the tablets.
Speaking on the nitty gritty of the programme, the anchor, Mr Bambo Basorun explained that, “The government is doing its best to distribute to students a technological device, it is a marriage of technology and creativity, we are tying to make all our children have access to technology, as you can see, this device is being distributed to all SS3 students, the purpose is to help them in passing their exams and it has all their subjects textbooks, it has past questions and answers, it’s a fantastic digital learning tool, it’s a study note, so to say.
“Our Government deem it fit to give our children the best and we have started again this year, we are going round the 120 schools we have in the state now.”
About the controversy surrounding the Opon Imo, Bambo explained that, “As you know Opon Imo has won an award internationally, we won an award four years ago. As far as controversy is concerned, we are unmoved, we are not shaking. It is audible to the deaf and visible to the blind that Opon Imo has come to stay.
“It is a fantastic project and we have not ceased in distributing it four years running now. The teachers are there, the principals are there, the students are there, the parents are there and they will give you wonderful testimonies as to what this government has done through Opon Imo so criticism with objective, we will take it but without objective, we will struck it out.”

Governor Rauf Aregbesola has stated that with the standard infrastructure put in place by his administration, investment will surely thrive in the state.
Aregbesola said this known at a One-day enlightenment seminar on “Stimulating Effective Shipment of Non-oil Export Products” organized by Nigerian Shippers Council, South West Zonal Coordinating Office.
 
 
 
Aregbesola who was represented by the Special Adviser on Wealth Creation, Mr. Adetoyese Ademola, gave accolades to the organizers for identifying the state as a place of economic development, adding that the capacity of Nigerian Shippers Council as one of the leading economic regulator of Nigeria’s port sector cannot be overemphasised.
At the enlightenment seminar for stakeholders held at White Plain Suites and Towers in Osogbo, the State capital, presentations as regard the theme were revealed in line with part of the mandate of Nigerian Shippers Council.
In his presentation titled “Stimulating Effective Shipment of Non-Oil Export Products in the State of Osun”, the Commissioner, Ministry of Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives, Mr. Jayeoba Alagbada stated that the state government under the leadership of
Aregbesola has laid solid foundation for investors to invest in the state through projects and array of Agricultural produce as well as solid Minerals.
Alagbada stated that the foundations are necessary precursors to make the state a major player in the national drive to promote Non-Oil Export.
Alagbada described Aregbesola as a Governor with foresight, Alagbada added that one of the Governor’s major projects at inception of his tenure was construction of Free Trade Zone in the state which comprises Importers/Exporters, Shippers Associations, Commodities Association, Chambers of Commerce, Manufacturer Association of Nigeria, among others.
The Director, Inland Transport Services Department of Nigerian Shippers Council, Lagos, Mr. Akintunde Makinde in his presentation tagged: “Role of Nigerian Shippers Council in Trade Facilitation” affirmed that the role of the association is to provide protective platform for stakeholders in import and export business nationally and internationally.
Makinde who was represented by Mr. Akintola Kola, maintained that actualization of objectives of the Federal Government’s Executive Order on the ease of doing business in Nigeria through the councils trade facilitation and regulation must be embraced by stakeholders at all levels.
Also in his presentation on Packaging of Agricultural Products by the Regional Coordinator, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, Mr. Babatunde Faleke averred that packaging must be protected and advertised, as well as trendy and innovative.
Faleke noted that agricultural products in Nigeria with improved packaging have a place in the international market.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Zonal Coordinator, Nigerian Shippers Council, South-West Coordinating Office, Mr. Olurotimi Anifowose appreciated Governor Aregbesola and stakeholders for their support of the council in the state through the Ministry of Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives.
He also appealed for appropriate recognition to the Shippers Council which is not a non-governmental organization for good service delivery, while pledging that the Nigerian Shippers Council will not fail in its function as one of the key boosters of Nigeria’s economy.

The entire members of staff of the Hospitals Management Board (HMB) have been urged to treat people with dignity, human face and the fear of God, while rendering their services.
This admonition was given by the new Permanent Secretary, Hospitals Management Board, Mr. Dayo Olaluwoye, while addressing the staff of the Board in an inaugural meeting held at the premises of the agency.
The Permanent Secretary told the staff that, it is incumbent on them to have compassion for their counterparts in the out stations hence
they should render services to them unconditionally.
Mr. Olaluwoye reminded the staff that God recognizes their services to humanity and asked them to give their best and leave the rest to God
for their rewards.
Furthermore, the Permanent Secretary informed the workers that he believed so much in treating people with fairness, justice and merit.
According to Mr. Olaluwoye, his office is widely open at all times for reasonable and genuine cases to all categories of staff and are
free to walk in with their complaints.

The State of Osun has consistently maintained her leading position as a centre of learning to other states in Nigeria and the
international community.

 
The State Programme Facilitator, Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O-MEALS) , Mrs Olubunmi Ayoola made this remark at a training programme organised for health teachers across the twelve centres in the State.
Mrs Ayoola who commended the Governor of the State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for rebranding O-MEALS in the State that has attracted
other states and the international communities, said deworming of school pupils has helped in both physical and intellectual
development.

The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has tasked Nigerians to imbibe the culture of taxation.
According to him, for a developing country like Nigeria to confront boldly the socio-economic and political challenges, taxation must be taken seriously.
 

 
 
He said all the responsible, civilised and advanced countries remain successful because they generate their resources from taxes collected from the populace, while under-developed and developing countries remain poor and backward because of their poor taxation culture.
Governor Aregbesola made the statement while addressing leaders and members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Osogbo Branch, during the ceremonial presentation of the 2017 Group Dynamics Cup Trophy won by the Osogbo NSE.
Aregbesola explained that the emerging economic realities remained the signal to the fact that no nation can survive without huge revenue from taxation, adding that global economic reality is compelling seriousness on the need for government and the people of any country that desire development to prioritise taxation as the basic way for revenue generation.
He said, “It is unfortunate that most professionals in our state do not take the issue of taxes seriously. That is why I want to appeal to the leaders of the NSE and other professionals bodies in the state to rally round their members to correctly and appropriately assess themselves so as to pay appropriate taxes to government.
“Before the military interregnum in Nigeria, taxation was a serious civic obligation and responsibility of every citizen and as a matter of fact, the liberty of the citizens was defined and determined by how citizens fulfilled their tax obligations.
“At the time, negligence in tax obligation had a citizen’s liberty circumscribed. But the military during its interregnum with the need for it to forcibly acquire legitimacy from the people, overlooked that very critical factor in modern society.
“The reason adults worked then was to serve themselves and serve the government because there was no other way government could get money outside the taxes paid by all entities, both human and corporate in their domain”.
“It is not a doubt that today, all developed nations in the world have one characteristic of sole means of revenue generation from taxes paid by their citizens.
“The advanced nations of the world generate much more of their resources from the taxes paid by their citizens and that is the only way for responsible, civilised and consequently advanced nations to generate their revenues.
“But backward, under-developed and primitive societies depend on natural resources that, in most cases, they do not even know where such resources came from. Their belief was, once the natural resource is bringing the proceeds to them, they don’t want to know how effective their own assessment of the proceeds is.
“We just found that we all depend on rent to live our lives and any nation that depends on such will just be living a mere existence.
“So, we must all come to the need to understand the essence of taxation in ensuring good governance. It is time for citizens of the third world particularly African countries to rise to the challenges of poor taxation culture”, Aregbesola stated.

The successes recorded by the government of the State of Osun on the operations of Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO) have drawn the attention of the Ondo State government, which was impressed enough to send a team to Osun in order to understudy the programme.
YESSO which is an offshoot of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) is a tripartite agreement among the World Bank, the Federal Government of Nigeria and participating states.
The programme was launched in September 2013 with the overall objective to increase access of the poor to youth employment opportunities, social services and strengthen the safety net system.
Addressing the Ondo delegates in Osogbo on Wednesday, the State Coordinator, Youth Employment and Social Support Operation (YESSO), Mr. Femi Ifaturoti said that Governor Rauf Aregbesola conceived the OYES idea as a social intervention programme to reduce the unemployment rate among the youths in the state.
The Coordinator declared that OYES, borne out of passion and vision has become a reality, commending the Ondo State Team for choosing Osun to learn from and promised them all necessary supports during the period of their assignment in the state.
He noted that there are similarities between the leaders of Osun and Ondo states in terms of development.
According to him “it is the vision and passion of Ogbeni Aregbesola to put this OYES scheme in place in Osun and we set up this scheme to tackle the problems of unemployment”.
“For the first time in the history of Nigeria, Osun government employed 20,000 youths at a go to reduce unemployment. There are other schemes which have addressed the need of those that are not educated and the vulnerable people in the state”.
In her response, the head of the Ondo State delegation, Mrs. Bunmi Ademosu, who is the Special Adviser to the Ondo State Governor on Inter-governmental Affairs, said the purpose of the tour to Osun was to study the developmental programmes that encourage the youths.
According to her, “We are here to share from the State of Osun experience and to know what the state of the virtuous has been doing to tackle unemployment among youths”.
She said that Osun and Ondo states share the same vision in dealing with youth unemployment, as everybody, according to her, should have the passion and confidence to move the country forward for better.
“With this Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) programme in place, the idle hands will get busy with something worthy”, she added.
In his presentation, the leader of the Osun Project Implementation Unit, Mr. Olugbenga Odulaja emphasised the need to develop youths and engage them for better goals.
In his goodwill message, the OYES Commandante, Col. Eniibukun Oyewole (rtd) noted that OYES is a premier project in Osun which 42,000 youths has passed through to better the lots of the people across the state.
He said, “Osun has a low-crime rate, because the scheme has taken many youths off the streets who now work on building a sustainable society”.
He appreciated the effort of the present administration in the state for the supports given to the programme.