Osun Oodua’s Farmers Academy; an agricultural institution established by the government of the State of Osun today held its graduation ceremony for its 2012/2013 batch.
In his goodwill message, the Governor of the State of Osun; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola commends the students and managements of the school for their enthusiasm towards the development of the State.
Governor Aregbesola noted that there is a big opportunity for them as young farmers in the country because according to the statistic made available by CBN, Nigeria is using about N600BN to import food every year and if only the ten percent of the food can be provided by the graduating farmers, it means a lot.
“Also in Lagos State, about N3BN is being expended on food on daily basis and if you can exploit that opportunity by providing the ten percent of foods needed in Lagos, it also mean a lot and even in the State of Osun, the meal that is being served at our elementary schools for the pupils of primaries 1-4 is a great opportunity that can be exploited by the graduating farmers” the governor said.
The governor then presented the certificate to the graduating students that performed excellently.
BIOREPORTS

Distribution of free Education Materials by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country  to Students in Public Schools, commemorating 3rd years Aniversary of Aregbesola’s Administration,  at Anthony Udofia Elementary School, Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

From right, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his
Deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; Minister Counselor, Embassy of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Miguelangel Vecchia and wife of the
Governor, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, at the Distribution of free
Education Materials by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country to Students in Public Schools, commemorating 3rd years Anniversary of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Anthony Udofia Elementary School,
Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

From left, Minister Counselor, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, Miguelangel Vecchia; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode
Fayemi; Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his Deputy,
Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori and others, at the Distribution of free Education Materials by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country to Students of Public Primary Schools in Osun, at Anthony Udofia Elementary School, Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

From left, Minister Counselor, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela, Miguelangel Vecchia; Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode
Fayemi; Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his Deputy,
Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori and others, at the Distribution of free
Education Materials by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country to Students of Public Primary Schools in Osun, at Anthony Udofia Elementary School, Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

From left, Deputy Governor State of Osun, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; his Wife, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola and
Minister Counselor, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Miguelangel Vecchia, at the Distribution of free Education Materials
by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country to Students in Public
Schools, commemorating 3rd years Anniversary of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Anthony Udofia Elementary School, Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

From left, Deputy Governor State of Osun, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; his Wife, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola and Minister Counselor, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Miguelangel Vecchia, at the Distribution of free Education Materials
by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country to Students in Public
Schools, commemorating 3rd years Anniversary of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Anthony Udofia Elementary School, Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

From right, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Minister
Counselor, Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,
Miguelangel Vecchia and Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, at the
Distribution of free Education Materials by the Venezuelan Ambassador
in the Country to Students in Public Schools, commemorating 3rd years
Aniversary of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Anthony Udofia Elementary School, Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his Ekiti State
counterpart, Dr Kayode Fayemi and Minister Counselor, Embassy of the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Miguelangel Vecchia acknowledging
cheers from the Pupils, at the Distribution of free Education
Materials by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country to Students of
Public Primary Schools in Osun, at the Distribution of free Education
Materials by the Venezuelan Ambassador in the Country to Students in
Public Schools, commemorating 3rd years Anniversary of Aregbesola’s
Administration, at Anthony Udofia Elementary School, Osogbo, State of
Osun on Wednesday 27-11-2013

Governor Aregbesola’s Cup, marking the 3^rd year Anniversary celebration of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Oba Olasore Oladele’s Royal Park, Playing Ground, Iloko-Ijesa on Tuesday 26-11-2013

Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, presenting a victory cup of 1-0 to nothing to the captain of Orolu Football Club in the State, Master Oladele Afolabi, With them are, Deputy Governor, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; wife of the Governor, Sherifat; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem salami; Secretary to the State government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti and others, during a football competition between Ede South Football Club and Orolu Foothball Club, tagged: Governor Aregbesola’s Cup, marking the 3rd year Anniversary celebration of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Oba Olasore Oladele’s Royal Park, Playing Ground, Iloko-Ijesa on Tuesday 26-11-2013

Shows Football skills which ended in 1-0 in favour of Orolu, during a football competition between Ede South Football Club and Orolu Fooball Club, tagged: Governor Aregbesola’s Cup, marking the 3rd year Anniversary celebration of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Oba Olasore Oladele’s Royal Park, Playing Ground, Iloko-Ijesa on Tuesday 26-11-2013

Shows Football skills which ended in 1-0 in favour of Orolu, during a football competition between Ede South Football Club and Orolu Fooball Club, tagged: Governor Aregbesola’s Cup, marking the 3rd year Anniversary celebration of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Oba Olasore Oladele’s Royal Park, Playing Ground, Iloko-Ijesa on Tuesday 26-11-2013

Shows Football skills which ended in 1-0 in favour of Orolu, during a football competition between Ede South Football Club and Orolu Fooball Club, tagged: Governor Aregbesola’s Cup, marking the 3rd year Anniversary celebration of Aregbesola’s Administration, at Oba Olasore Oladele’s Royal Park, Playing Ground, Iloko-Ijesa on Tuesday 26-11-2013

In line with its continuous corporate social investment drive, provider of premium pay-TV services on the DStv and GOtv platforms in Nigeria, MultiChoice said it had provided e-learning facilities for students of 10 public schools in Osun State to allow them have access to world-class learning facilities. The intervention, which comprises a TV set, a HD PVR decoder, satellite dish, a power generator, uninterrupted power system (UPS), a set of chairs and desks for the laboratory, among others, enables school children access educational TV channels.
The channels, according to the company, include Discovery Channel, National Geographic, BBC Knowledge, BBC World, History Channel, Animal Planet and Mindset Learn, at no cost.
The novel intervention has been introduced to 245 schools in 24 states of the federation and has been proven to impact critically on the knowledge levels and understanding, especially of technical subject areas by students. It is now being extended to students of 10 public secondary schools in Osun State, bringing the total to 255 in 25 states across the country.
At a commemorative inauguration ceremony of the 10 new MultiChoice Resource Centres (MRC) held at Ataoja School of Science, Osogbo, recently, the company said the launch marked the commencement of the phase nine of the MRC project, which include scheduled launches in some select states which will soon be announced by the company. Head, Public Relations, MultiChoice, Mr. Segun Fayose in a release, said, “The resource centre initiative has grown from four centres at inception to 255 schools in 25 states of the federation.”
According to him, the technological, economic, socio-political advancement of any country has a direct correlation with its level of educational development and that the future of a country is intrinsically tied to the quality of education that the youths are exposed, a belief which informs MultiChoice’s roll-out of the audio-visual learning aid across the country.
In her address, the Deputy Governor of Osun State, Mrs. Titi-Laoye Tomori, who doubles as the Commissioner of Education in the state, lauded the company and its implementing partner, Innovative Technology Literacy Services Limited, for the initiative which she described as a veritable tool for the provision of valuable learning resource components for public schools in the country.
She noted that the launch of the project in Osogbo had put Osun as the 25th beneficiary state in the country, stressing that the partnership reaffirms the commitment of the state in providing qualitative education to the people of the state.
NATIONAL MIRROR

It was the grand finale of the maiden edition of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola golden cup as football lovers from all over the state thronged the playing ground of the Olasore International School, Iloko Ijesa for the final between  3FC of Orolu and Ede South FC.
The sports ground was filled to capacity as the Governor, his wife, Alhaja Serifat Aregbesola, the Deputy Governor, Mrs Laoye- Tomori, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly ,Rt. Hon. Najeem Salaam as well as other members of the state Executive council were all on ground to witness the final match between  the two best teams of the competition.
The match started at a very frentic pace with both teams trying to outwit and unsettle the other in the early stages of the encounter as players of both teams did everything possible to register the first goal of the tension soaked match.
However, it was 3FC Orolu that got the curtain raiser after a goal mouth scramble and the defenders of Ede South Fc failed to clear their line and it was one nil in the first half.
Speaking during the half time break of the very interesting game, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of the state of Osun re-assured sport lovers in the state that the present administration will do everything within its power to elevate sporting activities in the state.
Governor Aregbesola who said sporting activities play a vital role in the development and health of the citizenry urged residents of the state to embrace love as sports is all about love and fair-play.
He called on well-meaning individuals in the state not to leave the responsibility of sports development to the government alone.
Ogbeni Aregbesola then praised the efforts of the  Omoluabi Support Group who organised the competition and urged them to continue in their quest to promote sports at the grass root level.
The second half of the encounter started with Ede South Fc doing everything possible to quickly cancel the one goal deficit but Orolu fc players defended with all their might until the second goal of explosive game was scored in the dying minutes of the game so the game ended two goals to nil in favour of Orolu Fc which sparked joy and jubilation among their fans immediately the referee sounded the final whistle.
Meanwhile, the third-place match of the competition which had earlier been played  between Ilesa West FC and Ede North FC ended in favour of Ede North FC by one goal to nothing.
The 3rd placed team went away with a sum of #300, 000 and a trophy presented by the Speaker of the state House of Assembly ,Rt. Hon. Najeem Salaam, 2nd placed team got #500,000 and a trophy presented by the state Deputy Governor ,Mrs Grace Laoye Tomori, while the winner carted away #1 million and a giant trophy presented by the Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
Individual awards were also presented to Bolatito Jegede as the Best Goal Keeper, Tijani Ismaila as the highest goal scorer, Kareem Sodiq won the Most Valuable Player award while Ilesa West FC won the Best Behaved Team award among others.
Other dignitaries present were the Paramount Ruler of Ijesa Land represented by two high chiefs, Chairman Uniq FM, Acting General Manager, Osun Sports Council, Special Adviser to the Governor on Youths Sports and Special Needs among others.
OSUN NEWS

A look at governance in the state of Osun since the inception of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola brings home once again the essence of governance. Considering the focus and the gradual multi faceted transformation going on in that state, one is bound to conclude that the new approach/orientation brought by Aregbesola into governance throws a challenge to the mimetic that being welfarist puts impossible ‘financial burden’ on the government for which the abdication of certain responsibilities are inevitable. Needless to say his is a challenge to the status quo of how we have come to understand governance in Nigeria.
An overview of Ogbeni’s governance will reveal the followings: (a) a peoples’ oriented programs and policies (b) a focus on cost effectiveness and long term benefit (c) a balanced approach in the employment of societal resources where the tide of ‘private accumulation’ is stemmed by a proactive collectivism that is as effective, competitive and protective of the weak, and (d) a strive to reach the largest number of people with programs and policies that cut across all the strata, all the divides of the society.
There is no doubt that Ogbeni intends to follow the steps of the late sage, Pa Awolowo when he brought out his SIX-POINT INTEGRAL ACTION PLAN as his ‘pact’ with the people. The link between the contents of the pact shows that it goes beyond just employment of catchy words to defraud the people, when in substance such so called programs could be lacking. Essentially the programs in his ‘pact’ are integrated (related to one another which affords for leveraging), and also connects the various grades of people in the society – the young, elderly, men and women. Again the content of the pact which is six in number shows not only the centrality of the people in the ‘thought processes’ of the program, but also the link between peoples’ empowerment and societal growth. The ‘Action Plan’ contains basically the following: to banish poverty; to foster communal peace and progress; to promote functional education; to banish hunger; to restore healthy living and to create work and wealth.
The centrality of the people: To start with, hunger and poverty no doubt stifles rigorous thinking which militates against the germination of ideas and holds a people down. Every right thinking government ought to be concerned about how hunger and poverty are banished or reduced to the barest minimum in order to extract the full potentials in the individual. This kind of concern (unlike some bourgeoisie formulations which expects the ‘magical’ hands of a thoroughly manipulated market to ration resources, leaving the weak vulnerable) connects the various needs and potential growth areas of the society. For instance, the ‘O Meal’ ‘food-subsidy’ program which targets around 254,000 school children for feeding on a daily basis connects farmers (of whatever size) to government’s patronage, provides an avenue for moderate income and wealth, and gradually reforms and repositions the agricultural sector of the state.
Through this singular initiative the support structures and institutions needed for a thriving agricultural sector are expected to start picking up such as the agricultural boards, the River Basins, the silos, and other elements associated with agro allied industries – the forward/backward integration between the industry and agriculture that has eluded the country for long may gradually return! In this way, farmers have ‘backers’ (the government) which serves as ‘lender of last resort’ to them by ensuring that harvested crops are not allowed to waste or get sold below their value out of fear of their perishing. India recently in its bid to stamp out hunger and revive its agricultural sector floated a record $200 billion bond ‘food security’. With such initiatives in the state of Osun, the era of ‘Agro-Dollar’ may be beckoning!
In the area of education the government not only decided to make it free and accessible but equally strives to take out some of the inherent burdens on some households which may make the assimilation of knowledge on the part of some pupil difficult; and this explains the ‘O Meal’ program. For the secondary school students, the Opon Imo has become a program which every serious minded government is thinking of copying as a sure way to resuscitate the fallen standard of education right from the secondary school. Students not only have all their subjects compiled in one piece, but also have access to a ‘virtual’ class room and library. The ‘tablets’ are not only cheaper and more durable than the normal books, but through it an ‘entrepreneurial’ base dedicated to providing back up services could develop. These are multiplier effects of a genuine endeavor to improve the lives of others. With the Opon Imo tablets, the state has an edge and is positioned to outclass others by the time the results would start to trickle in
Prudence: One common thing about the above stated programs (the O Meal and the Opon Imo tablets) is their cost effectiveness, which is a product of both a rigorous way of thinking and an innate sincerity. It is the lack of these factors (rigorous/critical thinking and sincerity on the part of most leaders) that has made some people to pronounce that free education is impossible and that welfarism as a state policy is outdated. As a landlocked state with a moderate income level, the state strives to improve its most feasible resource base – agriculture- with a target to reach 10% of the Lagos food market part of which was responsible for a leap in its internally generated revenue (IGR) from a meager 300 million to a whooping 700 million naira!
This explains why it was one of the first states to quickly key into the railway revamping project of the federal government by making the stopovers in the state ‘hubs’ for transporting agricultural produce to Lagos. The partnership with UNICEF in the area of agriculture also shows his ability to sense opportunities where some exist. Around 1830 rural farmers have access to farm inputs through the partnership. Besides UNICEF is a big spender on foods and grains for the numerous impoverished children around the world; a symbiosis that connects the state to the world food market may be emerging!
Accommodation: Communal peace and progress is another impressive area of Ogbeni’s administration and this was why we said that his thinking and imaginative ability challenges existing beliefs about governance. While some states in the country are thinking of obliterating the cultural/religious differences amongst their people by substituting for that a ‘stony secularism’ that bears semblance to no one, Ogbeni taught accommodation of all elements in the society based upon the principle of equal consideration. This ensures that the various socio-religious elements are provided avenues as well as resources to ventilate their conviction. If one could recall, this was once one of the things that made America a cultural ‘melting’ pot until recently when some inept leaders abandoned this principle and embarked upon a racial/religious chauvinism. For equity, justice and peace among a diverse people, a study in Ogbeni’s method is recommended!
Flexibility: With his reputation as a socialist notwithstanding, Ogbeni has demonstrated the flexibility necessary for achieving good governance through adaption of useful elements from rival ideologies, not the least because of their insufficiency. If socialism had crumbled and capitalism wobbles, he has employed a middle course which focuses on achieving results amid the prudent utilization of resources for now and the future. In line with the cautious opening up of the economy of the state, there is a partnership base for individuals to thrive even as the government plays the role of a balancer cushioning socio economic disparities that may arise.
The outright employment of over 40,000 youths through the O YES program is a direct intervention in the redistribution of state resources. As for economic drive, the state of Osun assumed its essential role by putting itself at the center of development as a practical correction of the misunderstood concept of ‘private sector’ driven economy. The private sector would only be able to drive an economy that is already developed and well articulated through a roadmap that only the government can formulate if all must be protected, and if economic growth must translate to economic development which in the ultimate means getting economic gains to the largest number of people.
As Harold Laski said ‘the title of (or the entitlement) of the state to obedience lay in its performance of three functions: (a) it secured order, (b) it provided a technique of peaceful change, and (c) it enabled demands to be satisfied on the widest possible scale’. Aregbesola obviously continues to strive about how the demands of the citizens would be met far and wide; he has without reliance on the use of force secured order. Although the content of the order secured is usually a source of friction/tension in societies especially when under such ‘order’, primitive accumulation goes on by those who secure the order.
Transparency and fairness has been demonstrated so far with regard to the utilization of state resources and this explains why security is not brought about by heavy security/military presence in the state, but rather by the confidence and trust which not only the government command from the people, but also one which is shared among the people themselves. As to a peaceful technique of change, the people will definitely expects a man of similar orientation when the time comes for him to leave the saddle; and if what has been achieved in the state is a reflection both of his ingenuity and the position of his party, the people may not be willing to change a winning team soon!
In the final analysis, the elements of people’s empowerment, equity and accessibility to socio economic opportunities, peaceful communal relationship, provision of support for the otherwise vulnerable ones in society and a high educational target are some of the most visible aspects of Aregbesola’s governance in the state of Osun that stand him out among his colleagues. A repetition of some aspects of these elements in other states of the federation would definitely move us closer to the Nigeria of our dream.
We therefore salute such towering courage and believe the sky is just the beginning!
Hon.Olumuyiwa Jimoh is a member of Lagos State House of Assembly representing Apapa 2