The Chairman, RLG Communications, Mr. Roland Agambire, has enjoined Africans, including Nigerians to consider patronage of locally developed ICT products in order to boost Africa’s presence in the digital space.
Agambire, who gave the advice during an interactive session with journalists, said the company’s $10 million (N1.6 billion) RLG phone manufacturing plant, located in the State of Osun would commence initial production next month, while full production would commence in November this year.
“We are putting up one of the biggest assembling plant in Nigeria, precisely in the State of Osun. We have our Nigerian head office in Lagos, but we are building an assembling plant in Osun State, from where we will be able to produce and sell all RLG products in Nigeria,” Agambire said.
He however expressed regrets that Nigerians and Africans as a whole place priority on foreign made ICT products, over indigenous ICT products that were designed and developed in Africa.
“Africa has always been a source of raw materials for other countries that come to Nigeria and take away the raw materials and turn them into finished products. The finished products are later sold to us and Africans buy them. That is the situation with Africans,” he said.
He added:  “We are supposed to be richer than any other country in the world, but we have allowed ourselves to be poor because of our own mindsets. We have made ourselves a cash society, whereby we must save money for everything we want to buy, unlike developed countries that get what they want first, through credit facilities and then pay latter.”
According to him, if Africans would begin to believe in the African brand and begin to patronise them, then we would go places and compete well with the developed countries.
If we do that, we will be creating job opportunities for Nigerians and Africans.
The project has been described by the Osun Government as crucial in the government’s quest to make ICT accessible to all.
Mr Agambire later told newsmen, work on the ultra-modern facility is progressing steadily and that he was impressed with progress so far.
He said when completed, the plant will be one of the biggest in the region, assembling 5,000 phones and 2,000 computers daily.
“We have projected that some 1,000 direct and permanent jobs will be created when the plant shapes up fully”, he told reporters, promising his company’s huge investment towards Research and Development to improve on product quality and service delivery.
While expressing gratitude to the Nigerian and Osun State governments for the support offered so far, Mr Agambire said his company was open to discussion on collaborative strategies aimed at using ICT to advance socio-economic progress of African countries.
The Country Manager of RLG Communications Group in Nigeria, Tosin Ilesanmi said there was the need for the introduction of locally accepted applications to boost the creativity of the teaming creative minds of many young people on the continent.
“We should believe in our own, allow our own to learn from their mistakes, and this will go a long way in changing the mindset of our people. From our mistakes, we will learn more and become better manufacturers in the future,” he added.
(culled from THISDAY NEWSPAPERS & GHANAWEB)

The market, which was an initiative of the traditional ruler of the community, the Alowa of Ilowa, Oba Adebukola Alli, was established in collaboration with Obokun Local Government Area of the state.
Welcoming guests at the official inauguration of the market, Oba  Alli disclosed that he was fascinated by the quest for agricultural and community development of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration.
He said his thirst to end the hardship been experienced by his people, who are predominantly farmers, in transporting their produce to urban areas and his vision for community development inspired him to establish the market in his domain.
He called for participation from government and corporate organisations to develop Ilowa Community which, he said, was blessed with land and several tourist centres, which could serve as source of revenue generation for the government and investors.
Speaking at the event, the Seriki Shasha, Alhaji Maiyasin  eulogised Oba Alli for his bold step towards developing his community and promised that Hausa merchants across the country would soon move their goods to the community for proper take-off of the market.
He, however, promised to contribute to the development of the market, in particular and the State in general.
The Chairman of Obokun Local Government Area of the state, Gbenga Ogunleye, who represented Governor Aregbesola, said the establishment of Ajibogun Market in Ilowa would boost the morale of the farmers and merchants in the rural areas, with the attendant effect of an increased productivity which would bring steady improvement in the standard of living of the people and also contribute to the development of the local, state and federal governments.
He praised Governor Aregbesola for developing infrastructure in the state, which he described as panacea for social and economic development.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

The Ijesa, a term also denoting the people of the state of Ilesa, are part of the present Osun State of Nigeria, Osun State was part of old Oyo state. Some of the popular towns of the Ijesa are Ibokun, Erin Ijesa, Ipetu Jesa, Ijebu Jesa, Esa-Oke, Ipole, Ifewara, Ijeda,Iloko, Iwara, Iperindo, Erinmo, Iwaraja, Idominasi, Ilase, Igangan, Imo, Eti-oni,Iboku, Erin-Ijesa and many others.
The Ijesa are very good in commerce and have cut a niche for themselves as the architect of ‘osomalo’ business which is a popular trading method that allows customers to pay for goods installmentally.
Ilesa is home to the famous Fajuke Family and prestigious Ilesa Grammar School, a school founded by Egbe Atunluse Ilesa and alma mater to many Nigerians including a former Chief Justice of the Federation, Alfa Belgore, a former Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the former Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos, Prof Oye Ibidapo Obe, the former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife, Prof Omole and the current Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Prof Isaac Adewole.
Ilesa, a major city in the State of Osun is very strategic because it is a major gateway to the north, south and eastern parts of Nigeria. It is located on approximately 70 N 50E. A rain forest zone known for its agricultural potentials. The major crops produced includes cocoa, oil palm, kolanuts, cotton, pumpkins.
People from this part of the state are called Ijeshas and they are known to be very hardworking, industrious and widely travelled. Local governments making up Ijeshaland includes, Ilesa East, Ilesa West,  Obokun, Oriade, Atakunmosa East and Atakunmosa West.  Major towns are Iperindo, Ijebu- Jesa, Osu, Esa Oke, Ikeji Arakeji, Owena Ijesha, Imesi Ile, Ifewara and others  villages numbering over two hundred.  The total population of Ijesaland according to the 2006 Population Census is put at 620,109.
Ilesa is known to have large deposits of gold in commercial quantities and other minerals in considerable proportion.
The traditional ruler of Ilesa is called the Owa Obokun of Ijesaland who is the paramount ruler and head.
Ilesa is home to the International Breweries Limited, Wesley Guild Hospital, the famous Ilesa Grammar School and Osun State College of Technology, Esa Oke.  Tourist attractions in this part of the state are Erin Ijesa Waterfalls, Kiriji War Museum and the annual Iwude Festival.
For more on the Towns of the state of Osun click here

Nigerian fast rising singer, Leo Wonder, was recently honoured with the ambassadorial office of Face Of Entertainment at the 2013 Osun Entertainment Awards.
The music sensation whose singing abilities came to limelight after his collaboration with Tiwa Savage on her love song, Ife Wa Gbona, hails from the state and has represented the state well according to members of the State Executive Council.
The award was presented to Leo Wonder by Oba Sijuade at the event which was attended by members of the State Executive Council and other dignitaries.
On receiving the award, Leo said “I feel so humbled and honoured to receive this kind of recognition from my home state and I’m determined to make it more about service than just bearing the title.
Entertainment in the state of Osun has just embarked on a fresh journey to greater things, I’ll need the support of everyone to be a deserving driver for that journey”.
CHANNELS TV

A CALL has gone to Nigerians to use the opportunity offered by access to the Internet facility to promote positive things that can portray the image of the society instead of engaging in rather negative moves.
This call came from the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Sunday Akere who deplored gross misuse of Internet connections to present Nigeria and Nigerians in bad light to the outside world.
Addressing a press conference on Monday in Osogbo, Osun state on the hosting of the 44th edition of the National Council on Information by Osun State Government, Akere noted negative media report has affected the nation’s investment drive.
He said media practitioners should use the opportunity at their disposal to promote reports that would attract investors to invest in Nigeria.
About 600 participants from 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory {FCT} are expected at the event, which would be declared open on Friday by the Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola with the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku presiding.
Akere, who noted the council is the highest policy organ for formulation of information policies in the country assured participant of adequate security throughout their stay in the state.
He said the meeting with the theme, “Social Media and Public Information Management” is not only germane to life and its existence but relevant to the country’s democracy development.
He therefore charged participant to rise up to its responsibility particularly in the area of provision of broad and specific guidelines for development, management and operation of print, electronic and social media for education, public enlightenment, entertainment, socio-economic, and political development.
THE GUARDIAN

Roland Agambire is a Ghanaian and Chairs RLG Communications, Ghana. The company, with support from the Government of the State of Osun , will commission a $10 million manufacturing plant in Nigeria by next month. He spoke with journalists in Lagos about the potential and challenges of the Nigerian market. Excerpts Below
CAN you tell us about RLG Communications?
RLG Mobile has been in operation, manufacturing mobile phones in the past 12 years, and has just entered into the Nigerian market. In the last 12 years we have improved our products to a quality that now appeals to the people. The products are much stronger and better now, compared to what it used to be in the past. We have learnt from our mistakes and we remain a better product the markets today. RLG has regional operations in Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, China and United Arabs Emirate. Each region or country has regional autonomy and a legal entity.
The focus of RLG today is to become a leader in innovation with a vision of creating a strong African brand. If you ask me if we have an African brand today, my answer will be in the negative because Africans cannot single our something we can attest to.
Our relationship with various countries is to create jobs and promote technology development. It is important to note that one can create jobs if he or she has the product. In creating jobs, we offer the society, valuable skills and gainfully engage the youths in the society.
You planned commissioning an assembling plant for the manufacturing of ICT products in Nigeria, what is the status of that project now?
We are putting up one of the biggest assembling plant in Nigeria, precisely in Osun State and currently, we have spent close to $10 million and we are aware we will still spend more. But that is not to say that it is a very big investment because we believe we can do more than that.
We have our Nigerian head office in Lagos, but we are building an assembling plant in Osun State, from where we will be able to produce and sell all RLG products in the country.
We have a tagline, which is “Proudly Yours’ this means we have brought the brand to Nigeria and it is owned by Nigerians and will be promoted by Nigerians. RLG is about the people of Africa, giving them the confidence that Africans can start very small in business, but can grow very big in the same business. Africa has always been a source of raw materials for other countries, who come to Nigeria and take away the raw materials and turn them into finished products. The finished products are later sold to us and Africans buy them. That is the situation with Africans. We are supposed to be richer than any other country in the world, but we have allowed ourselves to be poor because of our own mindsets.
We have made ourselves a cash society, whereby we must save for everything we want to buy, unlike developed countries that get what they want first through credit facilities and then pay latter. If we begin to believe in the African brand such as RLG products including mobile phones, laptops, among others and patronise them, then we will go places and compete well with the developed countries. If we do that, we will be creating job opportunities for Nigerians.
On the challenge of electricity in the country, yes, we are aware of it but electricity challenge is everywhere in Africa and we cannot run away from it. In Ghana, we have electricity challenge and we have been coping in the last 12 years of production. We will have a way to overcome it in Nigeria, since we are very much aware that steady electricity is key to manufacturing.
What is the job creation potential of the plant when completed?
The assembling plant is designed in such a way that it will create nothing less than 1, 000 jobs at a time in the factory alone. Then the after sales service and product marketing will create over 10, 000 jobs. In the market strategy of the RLG products, we have three lines of business, which are the enterprise business, after sales service, and the turnaround production time. The Enterprise Business is a very detailed plan that allows the youths to trade with RLG and establishes meaningful jobs for themselves, by selling RLG products.
The After-Sales Service has to do with aligning some of the people with various shops that will be dealing with RLG products by detecting defects and making repairs and replacement of faulty parts, and this will create over 500, 000 jobs across the country.  The Turnaround Production staff are factory workers that will be engaged with factory production, and this alone can create over 1, 000 jobs at a time.
From the production capacity, the plant is designed to produce a minimum of 5, 000 phones in a day. But as we progress, and the workers understand the working principles of the machines perfectly, the number can be doubled as time goes on.  The plant is today, the biggest manufacturing plant of RLG and we are citing it in Nigeria, and we are proud of that.
The plant we have in Ghana does not have that capacity as that of Nigeria, and we have made it so because of the huge market in Nigeria, and the warm reception given to us by the government and people of Osun state.
Invariably, the plant is ready. We will start test running in the middle of October this year and by the first week in November this year, we will begin full production.
Nigerian government is very keen about local content. What percentage of local content are incorporated in RLG products?
In terms of local content, everything about our products has 100 percent local content. What most manufacturers do is to outsource some of their production line, but I promised that 100 per cent of the production contents will be sourced from Nigeria.
Also, as part of the local content infusion in all that we would be doing in the assembly plant, we will be seeing a lot of local applications from the phone. We are looking at local contents and our Research and Development Desk is already compiling various forms of available Nigerian software applications that will run on the phones.
We will have apps on local culture, e-commerce, e-education that are tailored to the Nigerian market. We are in the ICT world that create local contents to solve local solutions, and that is exactly what we are doing with the RLG phones.
The Nigerian market is getting saturated with several OEMS competing, how will RLG cope in this environment?
We are passionate at collaborating with other Original Equipment Manufacturers in Nigeria. We strongly believe that it is better to play as a messenger in a $1 billion-investment company than to play as a boss in a zero-balance investment outfit.
It is of no use playing alone in a market that needs collaboration, so we are willing to collaborate in the interest of the countries where we operate. For example, the phone assembling plant in Osun State is not 100 per cent owned by RLG Communications. It is a partnership business between RLG and the Osun State government and we are happy to partner with the state because we believe in healthy collaboration.
On why we have chosen Osun among other states of the federation as the site for our assembly plant, the reason for this is simple: Osun State became the choice state because of the warm reception given us by the Osun State government and the people of Osun State.
THE GUARDIAN

Dr. Wale Bolorunduro graduated with a Bachelors degree in Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife and was awarded the best faculty grade, Miccom Award for the best graduating student, Society of Engineers Award for the best graduating student in the Faculty of Engineering and University Award for the graduating student with the highest Cumulative Grade Point Average for the year 1990.
He started his Accounting career with Arthur Andersen & Co. Lagos (Audit and Chartered Accounting firm) in 1991. He subsequently picked up an appointment with Zenith Bank and rose through rank and file to become Deputy Manager, Strategic Planning & Financial Control from 1994 -1997. He joined Arthur Andersen & Co. Vancouver B.C. Canada in 1997 as a Senior Consultant and moved to BMO Nesbitt Burns (Investment Banking Group) Vancouver, B.C. Canada in 1999 as a Manager (Project Finance). He took up a teaching position as a Teaching/Research Associate at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C, Canada in 2001 and subsequently returned to Zenith Bank Plc as Senior Manager, Energy Division (Oil & Gas) in 2003.
He continued his career at Zenith Bank Plc between 2003 and 2011 in various capacities as Senior Manager, Energy 2003, Assistant General Manager, Deputy General Manager, Group Head, Telecoms & Technologies Businesses (Corporate Banking) 2003 – 2007 and General Manager, Head of the Infrastructure and Power Sector (Corporate Banking) from 2007–2011. Dr. Bolorunduro also obtained with awards, Masters Degree (Business Management) and PhD degree from the University of British Columbia in Canada in 1999 and 2002 respectively.
He later obtained Masters degree in Corporate Governance from Leeds Business School, United Kingdom in 2009. He has attended numerous courses all over the World such as Wharton Business School Executive Course and has been involved in numerous landmark transactions. He pioneered construction financing in Telecom industry between 2003 and 2006, and iconic project finance transactions in upstream Oil and Gas, Telecoms, Power and Infrastructures. He is currently authoring a book on Project Finance.
Dr. Wale Bolorunduro is happily married with children.
For more on the Executives of the Government of Osun, click here.

Pictures from the Nigerian Telecom Development Lecture held at the Muson Center Onikan on Friday, September 20 2013

From right – Chief Exécutive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Segun
Ogunsanya, Governor Sate of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Chief Biodun Ajiboye, during a development lecture organiséd by Nigerian Telecom, at Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos on Friday 20-09-2013

From right-Director, Public Affairs Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Mr Tony Ojobo, Governor Sate of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Chief Exécutive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, during a development lecture organiséd by Nigerian Telecom, at Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos on Friday 20-09-2013

From Right – Chief Exécutive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Segun Ogunsanya, Governor Sate of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Chief Biodun Ajiboye, during a development lecture organiséd by Nigerian Telecom, at Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos on Friday 20-09-2013

From right – Chief Biodun Ajiboye, Governor Sate of Osun Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Chief Exécutive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Segun Ogunsanya and Country Director of Orlg, Mr Tosin Ilesanmi, during a development lecture organiséd by Nigerian
Telecom, at Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos on Friday 20-09-2013

From right -Chief Exécutive Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr Segun
Ogunsanya and Governor Sate of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, during
a development lecture organiséd by Nigerian Telecom, at Muson Center,
Onikan, Lagos on Friday 20-09-2013

From right- Governor Sate of Osun Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and
Chief Biodun Ajiboye, during a development lecture organiséd by
Nigerian Telecom, at Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos on Friday 20-09-2013

Osun raises IGR generation to N600m via technology in a year 
For Nigeria to realise the vision of becoming a major economic bloc, the duo of Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Eugene Juwah, have said that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) if adequately explored could aid the country in its pursuit.
Specifically, Aregbesola said that ICT had potential to open up huge possibilities for development. The Governor of the State of Osun, who spoke as a guest speaker at this year’s Nigerian Telecom Development Lecture (NITDEL) at the weekend in Lagos, said that ICT was the inexorable future of the world, adding that it was only sensible, “we recognise this fact and begin to make the best use of the opportunities for development that ICT can afford us.”
Aregbesola, who said that ICT had helped the state to increase its Internally Generated Revenue from N300 million to N600 million yearly, an 100 per cent increase, noted that the world was already being extensively driven by ICT: “Right from simple domestic appliances to much more complex mechanical devices, and physical structures. Very familiar items of creature comforts like telephone handsets, cameras, refrigerators, television sets, ovens, and gas cookers among others (from their manufacture to their use) have become heavily digitalised and reflect the varied and intensifying applications of ICT. In the wide-ranging areas of human life, in medicine, construction, agriculture, drugs production and other processes of industrial manufacturing, ICT has become the central driving force,” he added.
The Governor said that Nigeria could not be allowed to be left behind, saying the world was truly a global village in terms of information flows, which had been aided through the World Wide Web and international satellite media. According to him, ICT could assist greatly in all major parts of the economy; including education, security, politics, health care, and agriculture among others.
Aregbesola informed that, as at March, the sector’s contribution to the country’s GDP was 8.53 per cent.
For Juwah, the impact of ICT to societal development had always been a subject of interest, not only to the economists but also to governments, regulators, development analyst, financial experts and many other segments of the society.
According to the NCC EVC, who was represented by the Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Tony Ojobo, it had been widely established that the economic development of a nation could be accelerated by improvements in the country’s ICT infrastructure. He noted that the explosion in technology, which ushered in the information age had become the basis for defining power in the modern world.
“No modern economy can thrive without an integral information technology and telecommunications infrastructure. This is because ICTs provide the veritable platform for development across the economic and other sectors if well harnessed.
“ICTs are in fact enablers of broad based social and economic development. ICTs not only contribute to the development of education, health and governance, but are also key enablers of sustainable human development in a more general sense,” Juwah stated.
The NCC EVC observed that governance and the delivery of public services could be performed more efficiently through the use of ICT, which included mobile/fixed telephony, Internet, broadband and wide area networks.
Juwah said that ICT opened the door of e-commerce, e-education, e-health and e-government, stressing that this was why a number of government agencies at both the federal and state levels were deploying ICT facilities to improve service delivery, sharing of information and reduce delay.
THE GUARDIAN

A student group has commended the new school classification policy of the Government of the State of Osun, describing it as capable of revolutionizing the education sector.
The group disclosed this in a press statement issued by its President and Secretary, Miss Saka Kikelomo and Mr Asawe Mathew and made available to journalists in the state capital last Saturday.
According to the group, the classification of schools in the state to Elementary, Middle and High Schools, if properly managed, would return the lost glory in the education sector in the country and return the country on the path to greatness again.
It also said that the system, which is famous in some western countries, would not only give children of similar age the opportunity to compete, but would also allow for their ability and progress to be monitored as they progress. It also commended the state government for its initiatives for new school structures, saying it would usher in a new era in the education sector in the state.
According to the group, the governor has shown that he is a man of honour, having promised to restructure the sector after the Education Summit held immediately he assumed power and he is now building new model schools for public school pupils to be able to compete with the best in the world.
“The State’s Opon-Imo project is another trail-blazer worthy of commendation. This singular act has made our public schools a toast for parents and pupils themselves and we advise that other states cue into the scheme for the benefit of Nigerian child”, the statement added.
It then called on teachers and parents to protect government investment in the sector by monitoring the pupils regularly at schools and homes to ensure that they dedicate time to their studies.
OSUN DEFENDER