AFTER enduring decades of poor and decrepit classrooms and the general lack of sundry appurtenances in their school, pupils of Baptist Elementary School, Ile-Ife and members of Ilare Community recently thronged the premises of the school to witness the commissioning of the once decrepit structure, now an ultra-modern facility courtesy of the Osun state government.
The newly transformed school, now also plays host to Anglican Central School A&B; St John’s School A&B; Local Authority Elementary School as well as the host school.
Part of the structures that make up the new school include 25 classrooms, offices for two head teachers, two staff rooms, one facility manager’s office, a multipurpose hall, food court, library, sickbay, 12 toilets for pupils, four toilets for teachers, recreational zone and a security house. And from an initial total enrollment of 162, the school now accommodates about 1000 pupils.
Established in 1925 by the Ilare First Baptist Church, the school was taken over by the government in 1975 and has since suffered series of setbacks. Its infrastructure had decayed while quality of teachers remained poor. Eighty-year-old, Pa Amiel Fagbulu, who was part of the arrangement when the government took over schools in 1975 through a decree said: “Anyone who knows what it means for a child to be seated and learning in a pleasant environment cannot but rejoice with those state governments that are bending backwards to provide first-class physical facilities for the children to learn in.”
He further described as heroic and great commitment, any government’s decision to take up the challenge of putting up many purpose-built learning institutions across a state as large as Osun, and at the same time provide food, uniform and instructional materials.
“These children have no reason to yell now because they are provided with almost everything that they need to enjoy learning and securing their future. The quality and quantity of teachers have been assured; parents have also been relieved of the burden of paying for a thousand and one things for their children’s education and children have not had it so good in Nigeria since independence. They should therefore guard what they have been given on a platter of gold jealously,” he stated.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola, in his remarks stated that by design and purpose, the new school buildings are not for Muslims or Christians neither are they for adherents of any other religion. His word: “They (school buildings) are for all children of Osun, regardless of their circumstances of birth. This I expect should be the basis upon which government should be engaged and encouraged. The education of our children should not be a subject for petty squabbles or unhealthy politics about our narrow interests. Indeed, if we are genuinely interested in the future of our children, we should bury our narrow concerns of today in order to assure for them a glorious tomorrow.”
According to the governor, preparing children for the future is a responsibility that must be fulfilled by all. “It is one for which we will never be forgiven if we fail in its fulfillment. The world around us is moving on and at a pace that leaves no room for lack of seriousness or half-measures, especially with regard to education.” Aregbesola, who asserted that the world has been changed radically by technology in the last 20 years hence, “woe betide a nation or a people that is not prepared for this change.
 
“This is why we remain unflinchingly focused on giving the best education to our children in a most conducive learning environment. Since we began the journey a little over three years ago, we have recorded significant achievements that give us the courage to press on,” he added.
On the progress made so far in the education sector, he said that the state has added 10,407 new teachers to the list of public school teaching staff, thereby taking the total 12,715 teachers in primary schools and 7,848 teachers in secondary schools in the state.
According to him, this amounts to a 54.8 per cent increase in the number of public school teachers inherited, in addition to the same non-teaching staff, whose number has also increased by 564. Also, he noted that the salaries and pensions of primary and secondary school teachers now costs the government N16.8b and N10.3b respectively on an annual basis.
THE GUARDIAN

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, commended the Federal Government for its efforts towards providing ensuring sufficient water for the people in the region, particularly Ilesha town.
Aregbesola made the commendation when the Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Reng Ochekpe, accompanied by the ministry’s technical officials, toured the Ilesha Dam after visiting him at the State Government House in Osun State.
The governor also expressed his appreciation to the Minister for her unusual interest in the welfare of the people of the state, explaining that the suffering of the people who searched for potable water would be alleviated as soon as the project gets completed.
He noted that while being mindful of the shared responsibility of the three tiers of government in the provision of potable water to the people, he is conscious of the need for more assistance in the reticulation of water from the dam to ensure perfect completion of the project because of the limited funds from the State.
The Governor stressed the need to continue with the second and third phases of the project towards ensuring the realization of the ultimate objectives of the huge investment. He stated that the State Government on its part would complement the federal government’s efforts and will require support in the treatment of the water as well as its reticulation for public consumption. He promised the State
Government’s support and solicited for further partnership from the federal government on more of such projects in the State.
Ochekpe averred that the President’s intention to get all projects completed did inspire the revisit to the dam which was beneficial to the people.
She said the President was earnestly embarking on projects which would improve the living standard of the people.
The minister said the Federal Government would partner with the State Government towards full utilisation of the dam.
She called on the State Government to ensure that the water was well treated and reticulated before distribution to the community during the second and third phases of the project.
“We believe that after completing the first phase of the project, the FG will continually work with the State Government, in order to make potable water available to the people,” she said.
NEWS24

Wife of the Governor of the State of Osun , Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola will flag off today, a 4-day Oral Polio lmmunization exercise for infants between the age of 0 to 59 months.
Venue is  Atelewo Health Centre at  Old  Panapana in Osogbo local Goverment Area.
This information is contained in  a press Statement issued by the Commissioner for Health, Dr. (Mrs.)Temitope Ilori.
The statement revealed that all Executive Secretaries ,top government functionaries including market women and nursing mothers are expected at the flag off ceremony.

Dr. Amiel Fagbulu, 80, who was part of the Federal Government’s arrangement to take over schools in 1975 has said that the arrival of a new child should ordinarily be a thing of joy not only for the lucky parents but also for those around who love them and know the hazards and hardships of child-bearing.
Fagbulu who wrote this piece on the launch of Baptist Central Elementary School, Ilare, Ile-ife said those who know what it means for a child to learn in a pleasant environment cannot but rejoice with those state governments that are providing first-class physical facilities for the children to learn in.
He said that most people take for granted the fact that governments are only doing what they need to do by providing functional, spacious and convenient facilities for the children in schools, adding, “they hardly pause to think of the extreme cost of those facilities and the juggling of budgets that has to be done to meet other needs of parents for good roads, health centres, safe drinking water, and to some extent, work.
According to him, those governments that are shunning cheaper, less safe and effective school structures and are at the same time increasing the number of children going to school are not unaware of the need to ‘feed and clothe’ these children who need to be attended to properly
. It is a heroic act and one of great commitment for anyone to take up the expensive challenge of putting up many purpose-built learning institutions across a state as large as Osun, and providing at the same time food, uniform and instructional materials that are delivered at the cutting edge of technology.
“Fortunately,” he continued, “these children have no reason to yell now because they are provided with almost everything that they need to enjoy while schooling, learning and securing their future. The quality and quantity of teachers have been assured; parents have also been relieved of the burden of paying for a thousand and one things for their children’s education; and children have not had it so good in Nigeria since independence. They should therefore guard what they have been given on a platter of gold, jealously.”
Comparing the situation of schools decades ago to what it is in Osun now, Fagbulu said: “I taught at the Government College, Ibadan. I was Principal of Edo College, Benin City. As an inspector, I visited educational institutions from Warri to Ilaro. As a Chief Inspector, I knew intimately all secondary schools in the old Western Region. Above all, I was part of the Aiyetoro Comprehensive High School dream. I feel qualified therefore to say that the standard of the provisions being made systematically for children of the State of Osun match and in some respects, surpass what those schools of the past that have become legends had.”

Photos from the Courtesy Visit of the Zonal Director South West, National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to the Governor in Osogbo on Tuesday

From left, Deputy Governor State of Osun, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; Governor,
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; and Zonal Director South West, National Directorate
of Employment (NDE), Mr Ola Martins, during a Courtesy Visit to the
Governor in Osogbo on Tuesday

From left, Deputy Governor State of Osun, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; Governor,
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; and Zonal Director South West, National Directorate
of Employment (NDE), Mr Ola Martins, during a Courtesy Visit to the
Governor in Osogbo on Tuesday

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (3rd left); his Deputy, Mrs
Titi Laoye-Tomori (2nd left); Zonal Director South West, National
Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr Ola Martins (3rd left); State
Coordinator NDE, Mr Sola Daramola (2nd right); Deputy Director South West
NDE, Mr Omiwale Taiwo (right), during a Courtesy Visit to the Governor in
Osogbo on Tuesday

The Osun State Government has ordered the reopening of the Ansar Ud Deen High School, Osogbo, for full academic activities.
The government gave the directive in a statement made available to newsmen in Osogbo. The statement, signed by the Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, said that the school should re-open yestetday.
The school, located on the Resting Ground, Osogbo, was shut by the government on December 17, 2013, following an uprising by its students. The statement advised parents and guardians to guard against unwholesome behaviour by their children and wards.
“Any student of the school who fails to conduct himself or herself within the established school rules and regulations will be disciplined.’’
NIGERIAN OBSERVER

Osun State Governor Mr. Rauf Aregbesola said his administration has expended N14.8 billion on the construction of new schools in the state.
The governor made the disclosure while commissioning the Baptist Elementary Primary School, Ilare, Ile-Ife.
He said the sum of N1.2 billion was spent on the purchase of books which were distributed to public senior secondary schools in the state, free of charge.
Governor Aregbesola said government was committed to the development of young individuals in the state, adding it would continue to invest in the education sector.
He urged people of the state to support the new education policy of his administration, saying “the future of our children should be paramount.”
He stated that the hallmark of the new education policy in the state was an enhancement of better welfare for both the teachers and students of all public schools in the state, adding that “we have resolved to make our public schools better than the private ones.”
DAILY TRUST

Osun State government has expressed its readiness to make people at the grassroots level actively contribute to the decision-making and development projects through Community Information Board (CIB).
The Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti, who doubles as Vice Chairman, State Planning Commission (SPC) made the remarks at a two-day training workshop on the use of Community Information Board organised by the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Osun State Government in collaboration with UNICEF, held in Osogbo.
Adeoti, who stressed the importance of collection of data for the benefit of the communities said that it is imperative to organise the workshop in order to train the NOA officers, key community operators and local government officers on the implementation of CIB.
He added that the information and data collected from the CIB would be used for community development.
According to him: “It is imperative to organise this workshop in order to train the NOA officers, key community operators and local government officers on the implementation of community information board. This will enable them to use information for community development and to enhance communication for analytical reports and collection of data from identified data sources to the benefits of their communities.”
Adeoti added that the workshop would build the capacities of the  participants for systematic monitoring, documentation and to make use of information to bring about social change at community level and to get what they need to improve their own lives through the use of community dialogue.
Earlier, the state director of NOA, Mr Remi Omowon said that the workshop was necessary and designed to afford all participants the opportunity to be trained on skills for information gathering in their localities and also acquire knowledge on how to make use of information for community for development to demand for their needs from policy makers.
Omowon added that the workshop would make the stakeholders to understand the need for the CIB as a tool for close monitoring of the well-being of children and women by communities and for them to know what action to take against negative trends and sustain positive ones.
TRIBUNE

Barely three days after the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola bagged the 2013 man of the Year of one of the leading national dailies, Daily Independent, another laurel has come the way of state as its innovative Islamic bond, Sukuk earned bagged the Islamic Financial News Deal of the Year Award in Dubai, United Arabs Emirates Monday night.
It was an evening of honour for Osun and Lotus Capital, the issuing house that handled the Sukuk deal for the state as the Managing Director of IFN, Mr. Andrew Morgan, presented the award to the team from Nigeria.
Andrew Morgan, who is also the Publisher of the RedMoney Group, presented the award to the Nigerian team which comprised Osun Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro;  who represented Governor Rauf Aregbesola, Mrs. Hajara Adeola, the MD Lotus Capital Limited;  Mrs Taba Peterside , the General Manager and Head Listing Sales and retention of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE); Dele Oladunjoye of Kola Awodein and Co., solicitor to the Sukuk deal and Alhaja Lateefat Okunnu, Director Lotus Capital Limited.
Speaking Monday evening, Bolorunduro attributed the award to Governor Aregbesola’s penchant for exploring new ways to solve problems.
“Kudos should go to Ogbeni Aregbesola for this award. His three years in office have shown that here is a man who stops at nothing to embrace novel ideas as long as those ideas further he interests of the common man. The state has provided the platform for Lotus Capital to prove that this can be done. We are grateful for this recognition,” said Bolorunduro.
The State of Osun is not only reaping a bumper harvest but also getting international recognition, rewards and laurels for the pioneer achievements being recorded by its government. For breaking new grounds and introducing new ideas in governance, the sky appears to be the beginning for Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s government. After deep, thorough and adroit thinking, the government arrived at a viable alternative of fund sourcing for the development of the state’s comatose infrastructural facilities.
Aregbesola found a more convenient source of fund in the Islamic-oriented bond system (popularly called Sukuk), specifically meant for part funding re-construction of the state’s educational infrastructure. Thus, in November   2013, Osun set another record of being the first state in Nigeria to go for the Islamic bond (sukuk).
Besides, the successful completion of this bond issuance also made such transaction the first in the West African sub-region.
The good news is that less than three months after this novel deal, Osun Sukuk and the leading issuing house, Lotus Capital Limited, had been nominated for an international Award. It was gathered that Lotus Capital Limited was singled out for having successfully pioneered the Osun sukuk, a maiden sukuk issue in the country. The globally recognised Islamic Finance News (IFN) last month nominated the N11.4billion Osun Sukuk as the African deal of the year 2013, and  Lotus Capital, being the issuing house of the Sukuk, is being recognised for the unprecedented transaction.
The award came on the heels of the leading role Lotus Capital played alongside forty two (42) other issuing houses in Nigeria in the successful completion of the Osun Sukuk. With this nomination, Lotus Capital, a pioneer Islamic finance organisation in Nigeria, which specialises in handling equitable  interest-free financial services (popularly known as Islamic Finance), has been invited   by IFN to receive the 2013 edition of the global award.
The grand finale takes place at the Ritz Carlton (DFIC) Dubai, United Arab Emirates on February 24, 2014.
Lotus Capital Limited was established in June 2004 and registered with the Nigerian Security and Exchange Commission as fund managers, Corporate Investment Advisers and Issuing Houses.
It has as head the former Managing Director of Guarantee Trust Bank(GTB), Mr. Fola Adeola.
Going by world financial record, Lotus, which successfully introduced and completed Osun Sukuk, is now adjudged as one of the world’s fastest growing financial organisations with over 200 billion US dollars in assets across the world.
Again, the company is said to be growing at an annual rate of 20 per cent. Some of the company’s directors and management members expected to lead the team going to receive the award in Dubai include Mrs. Lateefat Okunnu, Mr. Muhammad Nuruddeen Lemu, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola and the company’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mrs. Hajara Adeola.
Representing the Executive Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola is Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, the Commissioner for Finance, accompanied by the Acting Director General of Osun Debt Management Office, Mr. Tunde Adejumo.
It will be recalled Osun, under its N60billion bond issuance programme, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commisison (SEC) in 2012,  went for the N14. 4 billion Sukuk (14. 75 per cent) fixed return in November 2014. The maiden Sukuk which was oversubscribed has on record forty two (42) investors, cutting across a blend of corporate, institutional as well as High networth investors, under the auspices of Lotus Capital Limited as the leading issuing house and Augusto and Co, one of Nigeria’s rating agencies, as the rating agent.
The Sukuk was issued in accordance with the Osun State Bonds, Notes and Other Securities Law 2012. A special purpose Vehicle company – Osun Sukuk Company Plc, a duly registered public liability company anchored the issue.
While authorising and approving the offer at the Company’s board meeting in November last year, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said his government embraces Capital market funding for most of its infrastructure development projects (such as the building of new schools and renovation of some old one, road constructions, healthcare services, commercial infrastructure) given its associated benefits such as lower cost, and stability of interest rate over the transaction tenor.
He appealed to the people to see the bond option as an avenue to attract development to the state for the benefit of all and sundry. According to the governor, “The Sukuk is a veritable avenue for us to access capital to develop our state and it will be used to finance building of schools across the state”.
The Governor re-affirmed that his administration is passionate about the welfare of the people as well as tangible development in the state state. He further remarked that ” the paucity of funds accruable and so available to the state can do little of the developmental agenda of the current administration”.  Corroborating the Governor, the state’s Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, maintained during the completion meeting on the issue (held last year November),  that “raising fund under the  current financial condition in the country  is like drinking water from fire-hose, the changes in the market are too rapid, but Osun in its characteristic innovative financing has been doing it.” Bolorunduro  reiterated that “the over subscription of Osun sukuk is a positive confirmation of the trust and confidence, the market placed on Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who has brought prudence, purpose and performance to government”.
The chairperson of Lotus Capital, Mrs. Hajara Adeola, also while reacting to the successful completion  and over-subscription of the issue noted that the sukuk’s success represented a clear vote of confidence in Governor Aregbesola’s administration, the State of Osun and its people.
Adeola said that the governor had become unique for his penchant for exploring novel ways of doing things, adding that the sukuk represented another instance of Aregbesola’s exploring new ways of seeking for the development of the state.
Since the successful issue of Osun Sukuk, states’ governments  and Federal Government of Nigeria have been looking at the direction of Sukuk as an alternative of funding their capital projects.
To Aregbesola, it is a bumper harvest of award for excellence and innovations. Just last Friday, Aregbesola’s penchant for exploring alternative perspectives towards achieving growth earned him a noble award – the Daily Independent’s Man of the Year Award. The national newspaper premised it’s decision to award Aregbesola on what it called symbol of alternative perspectives.
Obviously, Lotus Capital Limited has won the award, but the fact is not lost on the company that the state offered itself as the platform upon which Lotus rose to this enviable height.

The state government of Osun has nominated a former Chief of General Staff during the military era and elder statesman Gen Alani Akinrinade, former Speaker of the House of Assembly in the State, Prof Mojeed Alabi and four others to represent the state at the national conference being organised by the Federal Government.
Others on the list of nominees are a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence Mr. Femi Akande, former Commissioner for Justice in the State,  Chief Gbadegesin Adedeji, Director General Development Agenda for Western Nigerian Commission Mr. Dipo Famakinwa and Mrs. Bola Ogunrinade (mni).
The Deputy Governor of the state Mrs Grace Titi Laoye Tomori acting on the directive of the Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had forwarded a letter to the office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation Chief Anyim Pius Anyim.