The Osun State Government  has approved N275.7 million  for the  payment of  backlog of bursary in the 2012/2013 academic year, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports

Mrs Mulikat Bello, the Special Adviser to the  Governor on Higher Education,  disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking with newsmen in Osogbo.

Bello said: “A total sum of  N226.1 million had so far  been disbursed to 20,774 final year students from 56 tertiary institutions.

‘’The tertiary institutions included  the Nigerian Law Schools,18 universities,13 polytechnics and colleges of technology,14 colleges of education and three colleges of  health technology.

‘’Other schools that were taken care of included colleges of  agriculture, a school of  nursing, school of hygiene, school of surveying and co-operative college.’’

She called on the authorities of 21 higher institutions of learning whose  final year students had not yet received their  2012-2013 bursary award  to submit all required information.

“ Also, the schools should submit the schools’ bank account details and render their previous statement of  payment for the year 2011/2012 bursary awards to the Office of Higher Education, Scholarship and Bursary in the State Ministry of Education,’’  she added.

Addressing a press briefing in Lagos, CODER convener, Ayo Opadokun, frowned at INEC’s volte face on using card reader in Ekiti and Osun states after it has earlier promised to use same for the two elections, as a test run for the 2015 general elections, saying that the decision is ominous considering its implications.
He said that use of card reader is expected to make double/multiple voting and impersonation impossible, because “on the presentation of your voter card, your fingerprint will be tested with the card reader. It will either validate or invalidate your claim of being a genuine voter. This certainly is supposed to be a significant step forward towards achieving credible elections and ensure every vote counts as demanded by Nigerians and the international community inclusive.”
Saying that the nonusage of the card reader in Ekiti and Osun states means that there will be multiple voting and impersonation in several polling units, a scenario he said, will most certainly lead to confusion, accusations and possible violence in various polling centres given the expected effective monitoring and vigilance that contesting political parties would mount in order to defend their votes.
Maintaining that if the INEC fails to use card readers in the June and August elections, it means that the necessary trial runs of the card reader in the elections to test the genuine or the lack of it, the credibility or otherwise, of the machine has again been frustrated.
He said: “If the prospect for testing the card reader to establish the accuracy of the technology, the knowledge and expertise of INEC ad hoc staff, the human users, are postponed until 2015 general elections, it could be imagined that there is an ulterior reasons for such a negative policy. The size of Ekiti and Osun states is small compared to the entire country and those elections are golden opportunities for INEC and the general public to be acquainted with the use of the technology.”
Warning INEC not to allow what happened in 2010 with the Direct Data Capturing, DDC, machines procured for the 2011 elections repeat itself, Opadokun said, “In 2010, INEC requested for and was allocated over N80 billion for the entire process of purchase and production of credible bio-metric voters’ register. Unfortunately, the patriotic warning and appeal from both local and international public that the acquired DDC machines customised for Nigeria should be technically tested for seamless functionality was ignored, the ad hoc staffs of INEC, mostly National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, members were never trained in the usage of the machines and the consequence was failure.”
CODER therefore calls on Nigerians to mount credible campaigns on INEC to use the already purchased card readers to test run the Ekiti and Osun states polls respectively, adding: “This is important so that all stakeholders are equipped with the prior usage and experience of the card reader performance before the nationwide general elections.”
NATIONAL MIRROR

Osun State Commissioner for Commerce, Co-operatives and Empowerment, Ismaila Jayeoba-Alagbada spoke to Seun Akioye on the plans of the government to stimulate commerce by moving goods from Osun to Lagos free of charge

You are the Commissioner for Commerce, Industry, Co-operative and Empowerment, that is a lot of sectors put together, how do you manage to oversee all
If you look at the four departments, they are into one because what they want to achieve is to empower our people, industry will employ people, they will earn income and they will be empowered, when you produce, those people that will sell those goods in the market are empowered. When you look at the co-operatives sector, by the time they gather and pull their resources together, they will be able to get more rather than as individuals. They will form a small scale industry, so indirectly they have been empowered and the cardinal aim of this Ministry is to create jobs.
So how much of that has been created?
When you look at commerce, it is germane in any economy. You know this state used to be the second commercial centre after Lagos in the 1960s. That is why you see the likes of Leventis, PZ here. They were here because Osogbo is a major station of Nigeria Railway Corporation so moving their products from Lagos was very easy. People from neighbouring states just come to Osogbo to purchase their goods from all these multinationals. But in the 1980s all these disappeared, our railway system was not working; the infrastructural level at the state was zero, nothing to attract investors. Commercial activities were at zero level, they used to call this state the civil servants’ state.
Now, how do you want to attract people to come and trade here? How do you bring people here? Commerce is all about people. Look at Dubai, what do they have there? Because of the infrastructure in Dubai, people are attracted to that country and it is the same thing Ogbeni is doing in the state of Osun. Shortly after Ogbeni assumed office, he began moving passengers from Lagos to Osogbo during the festive periods. People have lost confidence in the railway system. Soon Ogbeni is going is to start moving goods from Osogbo to Lagos and from Lagos to Osogbo, so that the people can sell at wholesale price and earn their money so they can be encouraged to go back and farm.
Are you saying the ultimate goal of the governor in providing free rail transport is actually commercial?
Yes
How is that possible?
If we see people today with their farm produce, we are ready to transport it to Lagos and we will do it free of charge. We have been doing the publicity but the people don’t have enough to move by rail. Ogbeni is ready; people should be encouraged to go back to the farm because this is more or less an agrarian state. But we have not seen any willing farmer.
Maybe if the farmers are empowered enough to produce larger quantity of farm produce
They have been empowered. From my ministry alone, we have spent almost N800 million to empower co-operative farmers in the state. This is the first time that the money will actually go to the farmers at co-operative level and we have seen the result. This is why when other states are complaining about food shortage, in Osun there is no food shortage. This would be the first time farmers will be encouraged to go back to the farm. Now, I must confess to you, for those farmers producing cocoyam, we have set up an off-taker that will buy directly from the farmer and pay them in cash so the farmers can go back to the farms. We have empowered 332 youths to do this, and we have given them money.
So, where will the off-takers sell the cocoyam, locally or in other states?
What we are interested in is the turnover, our intention is to feed our children with cocoyam so these off-takers will just buy from the farmers and sell to the food vendors. So, the farmers will have the opportunity of having their cash in bulk and be encouraged to go back to farm. The same is for those who are producing maize.  The question of where to sell cannot arise every effort is to stimulate commerce.
There is the concept of life academy, what is it all about?
It is a place where people who want to take up skills can go. You know we have massive youth unemployment in the country and we don’t have qualified people to do these artisans work. Ogbeni is setting up an academy where all these skills will be available, it is a place where a retired permanent secretary can come and take up a skill because when you graduate and set up business, you will not be alone, you will take some people out of the employment market.
In fact by the time this academy comes up, it is going to be like an industrial revolution,  and anytime from now it will be commissioned.
Let us go back to the train ride, how many people have you been able to ferry since the start of the project?
From December 2011, we have ferried 50,000 passengers
What is the idea behind it?
During these festivals, there used to be traffic congestion on the road and people spend days on the road,Ogbeni said this must be reduced drastically. When you look at our integral action plan, you will see majority of our people have lost contact with their home. Anytime they want to come home, they will discover that it is not feasible because of the cost. The governor said he must move his people and I must confess since December 2011, the accident on Lagos –Ibadan Expressway has gone down, we discovered that many people who have not visited their homes in the last ten years are coming home now and they are happy with the development that is going on in the state.
Some people did not believe that concept can happen and continue. Many people have lost confidence in the railway system but that confidence has been restored. When Ogbeni said people should move their goods to Lagos, people were skeptical but when they saw that the train could move people, they changed their minds. So, the confidence is back, the concept is there now, the trains are back, in a day three trains will move. If we are able to rebuild our railway, it will reduce the strain on our roads and make them more durable. That is what they do in developed economies.
Let me also say that those who come home during the festive periods have increased the commercial activities in the state. When they come, they must spend money, instead of buying their rams in Lagos, they buy in Osun. The pure water and drink sellers also benefit because of the large number of people coming in.  All that we are doing is to stimulate commerce, look at the cargo airport that we are building, it is going to be the best in the country because it will have a 3.5 kilometer runway, and this will decongest Lagos, and imagine what would happen when people start to land their cargo here in Osun. The commercial activities in the state are on the increase, we have rebuilt the railway station to be the best in the country, it is the best in the country now.
Moving people from Lagos here must have cost a lot of money, so how much does it cost the state each year transporting the people?
When you look at the cost, it hasn’t been much, even with the publicity. If you look at the initial cost you will not get to where you are going. But I must tell you reasonably it is not much. It is worth it.
How many times does the train move?
We don’t have fixed times it depends on the number of passengers waiting. It can be two times or more.
Now looking at all these laudable projects, where do you see Osun State when all these are done?
By the special Grace of God, by the time they are actualised, Osun State will be the next state after Lagos. I know you will be shocked but look at it this way, we are bounded by six states, Abuja, Oyo, Kogi, Ekiti, Kwara, Ondo. So we are in the centre of activities, Ogbeni’s plan is to make this place a hub of all activities, by that time Osogbo will be the place, everyone would come to.
THE NATION

Programme Manager of the Rural Water and Environmental Sanitation Agency (RUWESA) in Osun State, Alhaji Olaposi Adiatu, has stressed the importance of clean environment.
He said in a statement that provision of potable water was essential, but it would be counterproductive if the environment is dirty.

While speaking on the Millennium Development Goals’ projection to provide drinking water for all by 2015, the Osun RUWESA boss expressed reservations about attainment of the goal by the stipulated year.
“Take the case of Nigeria for instance, very few of the states are consistently complying with the laid down conditions for partnership by the development partners like we are doing in Osun.
“In the national policy on water and sanitation, every state is mandated to have three levels of institutions, one in the state, another one in the local government, and a community-based unit,’’ he said.
According to him, all the 30 local government areas have departments handling water and sanitation, and all the communities in the state have Water Sanitation and Hygiene Committee (WASHCOM), a sub-section of Community Development Association.
“WASHCOM has the obligation of sustaining the facilities for water and sanitation in the communities to make their environment hygienic and habitable.
“Our level of compliance in Osun has endeared us to these development partners, making them to partner with us continuously,” Adiatu said.
Adiatu added that the high degree of enlightenment had made the people’s adherence to hygiene rules and regulations very commendable.
He applauded Governor Rauf Aregbesola for creating the enabling environment for the agency to succeed.
TRIBUNE

Photos from the State of Osun APC Arewa Communities Women Leaders’ courtesy visit to Wife of the Governor in Government House, Osogbo, State of Osun on Friday 02-05-2014

From left, Wife of the Governor, State of Osun, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola;
Member House of Representatives, Alhaja Ayo Omidiran; Arewa Communities
State Women Leader, All Progressives Congress (APC), Hajia Aishat Sulaimon;
Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Mrs Mofolake Adegboyega;
Special Adviser to the Governor on Federal Matters, Alhaja Idiat Babalola
and others, during the State of Osun APC Arewa Communities Women Leaders’ Courtesy Visit to Wife of the Governor in Government House, Osogbo, State
of Osun on Friday 02-05-2014

Wife of the Governor, State of Osun, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola (2nd left);
Member House of Representatives, Alhaja Ayo Omidiran (3rd right);
Commissioner for Environment and Sanitation, Professor Olubukola Oyawoye
(left); Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Mrs Mofolake
Adegboyega (right); Arewa Communities State Women Leader, All Progressives
Congress (APC), Hajia Aishat Sulaimon (2nd right) and others, during the
State of Osun APC Arewa Communities Women Leaders’ Courtesy Visit to Wife
of the Governor in Government House, Osogbo, State of Osun on Friday 02-05-2014

Wife of the Governor, State of Osun, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola (3rd left);
Member House of Representatives, Alhaja Ayo Omidiran (4th right);
Commissioner for Environment and Sanitation, Professor Olubukola Oyawoye (2
nd left); Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Mrs Mofolake
Adegboyega (2nd right); Special Adviser to the Governor on Federal Matters,
Alhaja Idiat Babalola (right); Arewa Communities State Women Leader, All
Progressives Congress (APC), Hajia Aishat Sulaimon (3rd right); Women Leader, Arewa Communities, Orolu Local Government APC, Hajia Fatima Issa
(left) and others, during the State of Osun APC Arewa Communities Women
Leaders’ Courtesy Visit to Wife of the Governor in Government House,
Osogbo, State of Osun on Friday 02-05-2014

Abiodun Agboola, national coordinator, People’s Welfare League (PWL), has said that governments at all levels must ensure that their policies and programmes positively impact on the lives of citizens.
Agboola said that PWL was not interested in the claim by some state governments of fantastic figures and statistics of achievements that do not reflect on people’s lives.
Speaking with Business Day SUNDAY in Osogbo, Osun State capital, the PWL coordinator, said the group was made up of professionals who are concerned about impact of governance on citizens.
He explained that the organisation has been in existence for a long time now and that its focus was basically to make sure that there was good governance in the country.
Agboola told our correspondent that the recent two-day economic summit in Osogbo, the focus of which was on economic development was “for government to present the economic masterplan of the state.”
According to him, “They were able to showcase that during the sessions. We had government officials present to the whole world facts and figures about the economic development in the life of the current administration in the state of Osun. The second aspect is the academic angle to it, where eminent scholars told participants the economic theories as they affect the masterplan, and the most interesting aspect is the involvement of the beneficiaries- indigenes of the state of Osun. They formed the bulk of the panel of discussants. They also spoke on the impact of these economic masterplan in their lives.
We want to move away from mere paper work where we start to depend on figures and statistical claims by government; we want to actually see the direct impact of some of the ratings in the lives of the people of the state. That is why we decided to bring people from various sectors of the economy to speak.”
Assessing the performance of the current administration in the last three-and-half years, Agboola said: “This administration has really performed wonders because there have been witnesses to the clear differences between what has happened in the life of the present government and what transpired in the administrations before it. This is not the first time we are doing this. We have had time in the past to analyse different administrations’ performances, we found a lot of flaws we complained about, but such flaws were never rectified.
But when we now discovered that this administration in the last few years it came on board has been able to embark on projects that caught our attention. So, we said there’s a need for us to organise the summit to be able to hear from the direct beneficiaries. At the end of the day, government will be able to know the areas they have done well and where they need to cross their t(s) and dot their i(s).
“It is also afforded the indigenes of Osun to move closer to government because we have created a forum to come together to be able to ask government officials relevant questions that affect their lives.”
Reacting to question on how his group’s activities would help to shape the coming election in Osun, the PWL national coordinator said: “Having presented the situation of things in the state of Osun to the people, in terms of the quantum leap the administration has made, indigenes are now in a better position to make up their minds whether or not to return the administration in power. But we are saying that re-election is usually based on an administration’s achievements.
The people should decide what happens in terms of who to vote or otherwise.
“As the state enters the phase of electing a new chief executive on August 9 gubernatorial election, there is the need to showcase the level of transformation witnessed so far under the Aregbesola administration as benchmark for future rating of whoever will mount the saddle. That also informed the hosting of the summit this time around.”
Agboola further said: “Osun has been transformed from a backwater, agrarian state into one of Nigeria’s largest and most vibrant economies through a masterful plan that combines prudence, strategic focus and mass talent mobilisation. The latest testament to this fact is the Renaissance Capital’s recent description of Osun as Nigeria’s 7th largest economy even though the state is 34th on the revenue allocation table and there is need to discuss the merits and security of these outstanding economic gains. That was the crux of the summit.”
BUSINESSDAY

Alhaji Fatai Kolawole, the Permanent Secretary, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in Osun, has described the Rural Education Scheme as a priority of the state government.
Kolawole made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Osogbo while speaking on government’s policy of taking qualitative education to  rural areas.
He said that the state government considered as a matter of priority  the need to encourage teachers to go to  rural areas and give qualitative education to rural dwellers.
According to him, government is motivating teachers to take more responsibilities in  the rural areas by giving them attractive rural allowances.
As we are promoting universal and qualitative education among our people irrespective of where they reside, we take the issue of rural education serious.
The state government is committed to equal access to quality education in all the nooks and crannies of the state. That is why the government is motivating the teachers by giving them special rural allowances.
“This will definitely go a long way in making qualitative education available to the rural dwellers as more and more teachers are jostling to teach in the rural settlements,’’ Kolawole said.
The permanent secretary, however, stressed the importance of training and re-training of teachers to meet up with global best practices.
Kolawole described as unfortunate the crisis in some schools after the re-classification policy where schools were categorised as Elementary, Middle, and Higher Schools.
He urged parents to monitor  their children in order not to expose them to some unscrupulous people who would use them to  cause havoc for cheap political gain.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on Monday reiterated its commitment to assisting  the Osun government to develop  a  strategic approach which would  ensure  effective justice delivery.
The Deputy Coordinator of   UNDOC,  Mr  Edwin Berry, said this in Osogbo  during the opening ceremony of a three-day  workshop on justice sector reform.
Berry said the workshop was organised by UNODC in conjunction with the European Union  as a necessary means of enhancing good governance, respect for human rights and the rule of law.
He said the workshop was also aimed at effective coordination and cooperation among justice sector institutions with an enhanced legal and policy frame work.
Berry, who noted that UNDOC was the United Nation agency entrusted with the mandate to assist member states tackle  corruption, illicit drugs, crime and terrorism.
“As part of the  mandate , UNDOC provides technical assistance in the area of justice sector reform globally, including several years in Nigeria, and has built up a knowledge base of successful practices in these areas,’’ he said.
Berry said Osun  was particularly important in the area of judicial reform,  adding that  it had set a national example in being the only state that already had a reform plan developed by the government.
He said the development of  an  action plan was timely, especially in terms of linking with activities from the reform plan, particularly those concerning  protection of the rights  of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Earlier in his remarks, the state’s  Chief Judge, Justice Oyebola Ojo, said the workshop was necessary as a means of occasional review of strategy  as well as internal and external assessment of personnel and tools available to the judiciary for optimum service delivery.
Represented by Justice Jide Falola, Ojo said the workshop would  also expose participants to modern techniques  in order to sharpen their skills  and  motivate them to perform effectively.
He, however, said it was rather unfortunate that the judiciary was the most poorly  funded of the three arms of government nationwide.
While commending  the Osun government  for  providing  a conducive atmosphere for the judiciary, Ojo  lauded  UNDOC for making the state one of its seven focal states in the country.
Mr Wale Afolabi, the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice,  said government was passionate about  reforming the criminal justice system in the state.
Afolabi  said government was also improving  on the speedy acceleration of  justice as well as improve the welfare package  for judges and magistrates in the state.
Mr Ibrahim Lawal, the Senior Special Adviser to Gov. Rauf Aregbesola on Legal Matters, said progress was being made in the justice delivery system.
DAILY INDEPENDENT