The Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration has built 400 kilometers of road across the state in less than four years.
Speaking with reporters yesterday in Osogbo, the state capital, Commissioner for Information and Strategy Sunday Akere said the roads include intra and intercity roads.
They include 21 roads in Osogbo, which are over 26 kilometers; 15 Ilesa township roads of about 30 kilometers; 14 Ede township roads of 21 kilometers; 22 intercity roads of 317 kilometers across the state and 13 intra-city roads of 79.5 kilometers.
Akere said the roads were built through direct labour.
He said six roads, stretching over 74 kilometres across the state, are 81 per cent completed, adding that many others are at various levels of completion.
The commissioner said before the end of the second quarter of this year, more roads would be inaugurated.
THE NATION

Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola; elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, and Professor of African Literature and Culture, Carleton University Ottawa, Canada, Pius Adesanmi, said on Tuesday that the ideals of the first Premier of the defunct Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, were enduring nuggets capable of transforming the country if well utilised.
The trio spoke at a symposium in Lagos titled ‘The Nigerian Constitution: The Awo Road Not Taken’, organised by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation.
Aregbesola said Awolowo’s enemies were not human enemies. He said, ‘‘The enemies are ignorance and want. Ignorance is a great disaster anywhere it reigns. That is what Nigeria is managing in the North (Boko Haram).The greatest value of Awolowo was that he used education to create a middle class that has absorbed the dislocation in the social structure. The situation in the South-West could have been worse.”
Yakassai, who was the chairman on the occasion, stated that Awolowo’s Action Group made Nigeria a federation.
‘‘The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons wanted a unitary system for Nigeria while the Northern Peoples’ Congress wanted confederation. Now is the time to use Awo’s ideas to develop Nigeria, ’’ he said.
In his keynote address, Adesanmi said the current situation in the county called for a sober reflection. Saying Awo was an originator, creator of paths and a visionary, he added that he was the loudest of the nationalists. Adesanmi added, ‘‘Awo stands out in the national discourse for the right way to greatness because he did more than his peers.
He stood by Nigerians at critical times, by showing the way and placing them in the right way to go. He was committed to Nigeria’s constitutional development, going the extra miles to show the right path to tread. In all of Awolowo’s books, throughout the years, he pointed at federalism as the path and unitarianism as bush.’’
THE PUNCH

Following the successful conclusion of the Osun State Sukuk, Foremost Halal investment management firm, Lotus Capital Limited, has been honoured as the best in Africa by the Islamic Finance News (IFN).
The award ceremony put together by IFN was held in the United Arab Emirates. Lotus Capital won the Africa Deal of the Year category as the lead issuing house for the N11.4 billion Osun state sukuk issue, which was listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) in September 2013.
This was the first ever sub-sovereign Sukuk in Africa. The issue was oversubscribed by about 20 per cent which was a positive confirmation of the trust and confidence the market placed on the offer.
The Osun state government, represented by the Honourable Commissioner of Finance, and the Solicitors to the Issue, Kola Awodein and Co, were also award recipients for the deal.
Close to 400 transactions were nominated for 2013 in over 30 categories in the IFN Awards Deal of the Year, signifying a 33 per cent rise in the number of nominations and a 20 per cent increase in categories over the previous year.
General Manager, Listings Sales and Retention, Mrs Taba Peterside, who represented the NSE at the event in Dubai, said “The NSE is focussed on broadening investor choice by introducing  a variety of new products to the market
“We are therefore delighted that Lotus Capital has been recognised with this prestigious award in structuring the first sub-sovereign African listed Sukuk. Lotus also developed our first Islamic Index on the NSE and we look forward to a continued fruitful partnership with them”
Lotus Capital Limited had partnered with The NSE in July 2012 for the development and management of a certified Shari’ah compliant Index known as the “NSE Lotus Islamic Index” or NSE LII.
The index consists of companies in conformity with the principles of Shari’ah and was the first index created to track the performance of Shari’ah compliant equities on the floor of the bourse. Investment instruments like Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are expected to be built on the Index which ethically minded investors, both in Nigeria and overseas can invest in.
THISDAY

The people of Osun State are expected to go the polls to elect their governor in August. In this interview, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Chief Sunday Akere talks about the controversial reclassification exercise of schools.

The government is almost four years in office, how would you describe the performance of the government vis a vis its promises to the electorate
With the glory of God, the government is three years plus now and with time it is going to be four years in terms of assessing how we have delivered on our promises to the electorate. To God be the glory, we have delivered on all the promises.
We have even done more than those things that we promised when we were campaigning, when you go round the people will tell you that. The average Osun people living at home can attest to this fact.
You painted a very rosy picture of positive things, haven’t there been challenges along the way since then
There have been challenges on the part of delivering on our promises and the greatest challenge that we have faced is that of fund. When we were campaigning in 2007, we promised a six-point agenda. We promised that we would banish poverty, we would banish unemployment and we promise that we are going to have free and functional education and we are going enhance communal peace, we need money to carry such through. We have tried within the limit of the resources available to us.
In as much as the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola would have loved to do more for the people, he is being hampered by paucity of funds; for example, when we look at what is available for running government it is a far cry from what we need to implement the schools.
We get averagely N4.2billion per month from the Federation Account before but with the dwindling allocation, it is now N2.7billion per month. In July last year we are averaging between 2.8 and 2.9 billion per month when the wage bill is about 3.6 billion.
Does the state only rely solely on allocation from the Federal Government  
We are not relying on what comes from the Federal Government alone; we get funds from internally generated revenue. When we came, the IGR hovered between 200 and 300 million Naira. Today, without increasing taxes and levies, we have been able to increase it to over N1 billion per month. For the first time we have a governor that is able to block all the leakages in government.
We also have this saving scheme that we call Omoluabi Saving Scheme. What we do is that a percentage of what come to the purse is reserved for critical periods like these.
In spite of all these achievements that you have listed the opposition still believes that the government has not done much
That is their own side, what we should ask them is that in the seven and half years of PDP maladministration they should point to a single achievement of their government. There is no local government you will get to in Osun today that you will not see that Aregbesola is working.
Rightfully, Aregbesola has succeeded in turning the whole of Osun into what we call the construction side. It is in their imagination that government is not working but we are not bordered, our commitment is to deliver on what we promised not to the opposition but to the people of Osun who appreciate what they are seeing.
For example, we make the old garage, the railway pack at Osogbo. We met it like a shanty we have transformed it now and it is now what we call Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo, we have not finished the actual transformation because we are working on the second phase now.
To some people the governor seems very controversial; working with him are some of the allegations against him true 
Why some people think the governor is controversial is that this he is a governor who believes the state must run well. In Osun, we are running an unusual administration in an unusual manner and we are achieving unusual results.
For instance, I will give you an example; when we started initially, we told the world that we were going to engage 20, 000 youths within 100 days, many people never believed us. When we did it, the World Bank came to tell us that they’ve never seen a government that has carried out such feat before. The Federal Government even came to understudy what we are doing in that direction. This is what they are using as the template for their SURE-P now.
Yet, some people somewhere will say that the governor and the government are very controversial. When we started the O’ Meal initiative, it wasn’t only Osun State that started the programme, it is only here in Osun that the programme has been sustained in the country today.
You are doing it without Federal Government assistance
Yes! We are not only feeding pupils in primary schools in classes one to four and that is why Osun State has continued to record the highest figures in enrollment in its primary schools in Nigeria today. When we listened to the agitation of the Muslim community which has been on for over 35 years that they wanted a Hijra holiday, people read other meanings to it to say that (Governor) Aregbesola has given a controversial holiday.
This out gone year, about five other states took a cue from us. Even the Federal Government did the same. This is to tell you that in Osun, we believe in doing what is right not minding whose ox is gored. We have been achieving results. If they say that our approach is riddled with controversies, we know that we are out to achieve results and we will not allow anybody to distract us in any way.
Can you tell us more about this schools reclassification exercise that is currently generating tension and controversies
The policy has nothing to do with the religious divide in the state; it is a policy of the government which we fashioned out because we want to change sorry state of education that we met on ground when we came in.
When we came on board over three years ago, what we met was that in every hundred students that we put forward for external exams, only three passed English and Mathematics. As a responsible government, we put in place an education summit and the outcome is what is being implemented today. The summit itself brought together people in the academia, the business world and other relevant stakeholders. In Osun, we now have model schools, the elementary, middle and the high.
Can you break that down sir
The high is for those in SSS One to Three, the elementary is for those in primary one to four  and the middle is for those in primary five to SSS Three. The issue of pitching Christians and Muslims together does not in any way arise at all. It is only people that want the exercise to succeed that are saying yes, that it was aimed at pitching the Muslims against the Christians.
Let me tell you, the facts are clear, over 38 years ago, government took over all schools. What the government only did was retaining the names of the schools. The former owners have been having misconception that probably that they founded the schools, that they (the schools) still belong to them. The issue is that since over 38 years ago, the government took over the schools; the successive administrations have been responsible for the maintenance and other matters in the affected schools.
Under this reclassification exercise, we have promised the former owners that we are not going to change the names, that we will not change the character of the schools. What we are only trying to do is to aggregate the resources.
LEADERSHIP

The National Orientation Agency (NOA), on Monday said it would embark on massive sensitisation of students in Osun against all forms of vices during the governorship election slated for Aug. 9, this year.

Mr Remi Omowon, the Director of NOA in the state, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo that the campaign would mostly target students of tertiary institutions.
The director added that the agency also planned to organise similar programmes across local government areas of the state.
He said, ‘’we have written to heads of all the institutions ahead to fix dates for the sensitisation meetings. The youths have a role to play in the success of this governorship election and indeed all elections. The message we are taking to the students, is that, they should not allow themselves to be used as tools during elections. They represent the very soul of the country’s march to electoral greatness, so they have to be carried along,’’ Omowon said.
According to him, the agency will also be working in concert with civil societies and other stakeholders to spread the message of having a violence-free election.
“Dedicated jingles will also be produced to ensure that citizens are properly mobilised and educated on what is expected of them’’, he stated.
(NAN)

In order to rid the State of Osun and indeed Nigeria of the menace of Polio which is one of the six childhood killer diseases in the world. It has been advocated that children who falls below the age of 0 – 59 months should be immunized against polio.
This is one of the steps that would be needed to kick polio out of the state and the country.
In line with the battle waged by government against this diseases, the government of the State of Osun with the collaboration of its development partners such as World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) had flagged off a 4-Day oral Polio immunization exercise which commenced from Saturday, 1st of March, 2014.
Speaking at the flag-off ceremony which was held on Friday February 28, 2014 at the Atelewo Health Centre, Old Panapapa, Olorunda Local Government Area of Osogbo, the State Capital, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, represented by the Deputy Governor; Mrs. Grace Titi Laoye Tomori stated that State Government of Osun being a children friendly administration was not unaware that many children in other state were affected by polio.
Tomori further explained that the government of the state of Osun is always interested in the affairs of Osun people especially the children.
“As this programme was kick-off, she said, government is aware that many children who are affected by this disease are brilliant and healthy children.”
Reiterating the promise of government to effectively cater for the health of its citizens, the Deputy Governor assured that the present administration was doing all it could to ensure that children in the state were not affected by Polio again.
While admitting that Polio disease was a worldwide phenomenon after its outbreak, she disclosed that the state was Polio free and this was due partly to the response and cooperation of parents to sensitization and immunization programmes.
She explained that the immunization exercise is divided into two phases.
The first being the administration of oral droplets where volunteers would be going from house to house and giving of injections which would be carried out at the government healthcare centres.
In the same vein, the State Commissioner for Health; Dr. (Mrs.) Temitope Ilori also learnt support to the words of the Deputy-Governor that the 4-day oral polio immunization exercise would be carried out in two phases.
She explained that the injection would be administered in the hospital.
The Health Commissioner advised mothers to make their children available both at home and at the government healthcare centres. Although the state was free from Polio but charged that immunization for children under the age of 5 years cannot be considered as too much.
She further explained that there are possibility of contraction of the disease due to interstate travels as the disease was more prevalent in the Northern part of the country and also it is highly contagious.
She disclosed that areas marked out for the exercise included schools, places of religious worship and house to house.
Highlight of the event was the drama staged by a drama group to sensitize the general public on the need for them to conscious and to give maximum support to the government in its bid to kick polio out of the state.
 BIOREPORTS

Farmers across the state of Osun have been urged to be fully prepared for the new planting season which is fast approaching through the prompt clearing of their farmland.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security in the state, Hon.Wale Adedoyin .
The statement stressed further that farmers should avail themselves the opportunity of getting their various farm inputs at subsidised rate under the  O-REAP programme which is an initiative of the   Ogbeni Aregbesola administration aimed at banishing hunger in the state as entrenched in the six integral action plan of the government.
He then enjoined farmers in the state to visit Agro-centres under OSSADEP in towns like Iwo, Ilesha and Oke Osun in Osogbo to get their  farm inputs such as maize seed, N-P-K, fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and sprayers so as to be ready for the new planting season.
OSUN NEWS

Photos from the signing of the memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on power generation with the Vergnet Group of France in Abuja, at the weekend

From left, Chief Executive Officer of Vergnet Group, France, Mr. Jerome Douat; Minister of Trade, Mr. Olusegun Aganga and Director General, Economic Development and Partnership, State of Osun, Dr, Charles Akinola, at the signing of memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on power generation with the Vergnet Group of France in Abuja, at the weekend

President of France-1 From left, Chief Executive Officer of Vergnet Group, France, Mr. Jerome Douat; Director General, Economic Development and Partnership, State of Osun, Dr, Charles Akinola and Special Adviser to Osun Governor on Federal Matters, Hon. Idiat Babalola, at the signing of memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on power generation with the Vergnet Group of France in Abuja, at the weekend

President of France-1 From left, Chief Executive Officer of Vergnet Group, France, Mr. Jerome Douat and Director General, Economic Development and Partnership, State of Osun, Dr, Charles Akinola, at the signing of memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on power generation with the Vergnet Group of France in Abuja, at the weekend

The Government of the State of Osun has signed a 29Million Euro memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the establishment of a 13 Megawatt Solar Power Plant in the state with an output of 16.5 Megawatt hour/ year.
The MOU between Osun and Vergnet Group, a French industrial company which specialises in sustainable and renewable energy development took place at the International Conference Centre in Abuja last Thursday.
The Director General, Office of Economic Development and Partnerships (OEDP) Office of the Governor, Dr. Charles Diji Akinola signed the MoU on behalf of the State Government of Osun while Mr. Jérôme Douat, Chief Executive Officer of the Vergnet Group signed on behalf of the French Group.
The ceremony was witnessed by President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and the French President, Mr. François Hollande, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, Minister of Trade and Investments, Dr Segun Aganga, representatives of the State Government of Osun and the Vergnet Group and members of the diplomatic corps were also in attendance.
Speaking at the signing of the MOU, Dr. Akinola who represented governor Aregbesola held that the ceremony is another demonstration of the resolve of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s administration to utilize partnership initiatives to bring sustainable development to the State.
According to him, “the administration of Aregbesola in Osun is that of the people, that is why the people come first in everything the administration wants to do and will ensure such project will give life abundantly to the masses.
“This project when completed will increase the power supply to the people of Osun, boost economic activities in Osun and further attract foreign investments and investors”. Akinola noted.
He pointed out that the project which is scheduled to commence this year will be sited near Osogbo while Vergnet Group will provide technical expertise, advisory services including the project design, project planning and financing plan.
Akinola also added that the french group will facilitate the financing of the project from the French Government.
He said, “On the other hand, the State Government of Osun will be responsible for identification and allocation of land for the project, contractual clearing with administrative authorities and for developing the necessary infrastructure such as access roads, among other necessary requirements”. He emphasised.
The Director General (OEDP), on behalf of the State Government commended the Vergnet Group for considering the State of Osun for the project.
He assured them that the State will continue to partner with them and other reliable companies to realise other areas of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s Six Point Integral Action Plan for the development of Osun.