Ayedun Sikiru, the State of Osun’s Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, is a chartered transporter and maritime expert. He believes that tourism can boost the state’s economy. In this interview, he explains the government’s efforts to make Osun a tourism haven, among other issues.

 Tax Officers led by the Director, Investigation and Audit, Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Ishola Oludare embarked on a tour of the Osogbo metropolis to meet business men and women with the mission of assessing their tax payments and educating them on the importance of paying tax.

In his address, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Femi Balogun, represented by the Director of Investigation and Audit, made it known to the public that, tax payment is everyone’s civil responsibility. He further explained that tax paid is used for the overall development of the state. He then urged the people to desist from any untoward act which will hinder the effective collection of tax but rather become ambassadors themselves seeing the great works and innovations going on in the State.

The tour has been a great success given that all the places visited, the people seemed enthusiastic,  taking time to  respond to the questionnaires given to them. Places covered include business locations along Iwo-Ibadan Road, Alekuwodo, among others.

Association of Dietitians in Nigeria (ADN) have commended the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for providing free meals to the Students of Primary Schools in the State of Osun.

Mr. Tajudeen Olutope Ahmed on behalf of the Professional Nutritionists and Dietitians in Nigeria disclosed this in a signed statement.

 The Association considered the state of Osun’s policy on providing free meal to pupils and students of primary schools as a most welcome development highlighting how this policy will contribute immensely to the nutritional status of the pupils and consequently increase their intelligence quotient.

 In the statement, the Association pledged to collaborate with the administration in the implementation and sustainability of the O’meal Scheme thereby urging the Governor ensure the necessary structures are in place for continuity of the free school meal programme.

As part of efforts to ensure healthy living condition among the populace in the State of Osun, the Aregbesola administration on Monday October 28, 2013 commissioned and donated health materials for integrated measles campaign to the 30 Local Government Council and Area Office in order to curb the spread of the disease.
At the commissioning ceremony held at the Ministry of Health, Abere, Osogbo, Commissioner for Health, Dr. Mrs Temitope Ilori, stressed the need for vaccination and immunization among children to help curtail the menace.
The materials donated were; measles vaccines, de-worming drug, vitamin C, mega phones among others. Ilori observed that good health care delivery to the people of the state regardless of their political affiliation is of utmost concern to the present administration, hence the need to visit the remote communities to help kick measles out of the state’’. According to Ilori, Over 10,000 personnel had been trained and recruited in the state and local government levels for the exercise.
The Health Commissioner noted that  the flagging off exercise is expected to come up on November  2, while the sensitization programme ends by November  11. She urged the people of the state to come out en mass to support the government in kicking out measles.
In her welcome address, the State Immunization Officer, Mrs Ade Osun, urged the people of the state to embrace the opportunity, by volunteering themselves to be immunized when the exercise kicked off. Ade Osun said, the exercise is aimed at protecting children from nine  months to five years, against the deadly disease in the state. She urged every member of the society to join in the crusade against measles, instead of staying indoors and dying of ignorance. The State Immunization Officer said ‘’prevention is better than cure’’, it is better to kick measles out before measles kick us out.
In another related development, the Commissioner for Health in Osun, Mrs Temitope Ilori, on Monday said,  quick response to breast cancer, brings about quick recovery which helps to sustain life. Ilori made this disclosed this in an exclusive chat during the breast cancer screening exercise organized for women in the Federal Constituency.
Ilori stated that early discovery is the best way to cure such a deadly disease and the state government has put all machinery in motion to ensure that the screening exercise and treatment of victims are appropriately carried out’’.
The Medical Director of the State Hospital, Mr Ojo Idowu, said the present administration had really done a great job by ensuring sound healthcare delivery to its citizens. Idowu said, the State Hospital have the highest numbers of patients coming from neighboring states and trans-boarder patients for medical treatments. He commended the state government, for the upgrading and rehabilitation of the hospital Infrastructures, as he believes the health of the people is utmost priority to the government.
Speaking on behalf of other participants, Mrs Bashiratu Akibu, from  Masakin’s compound Iwo said, the state government has really done a great thing for the people of Iwo that will surely save lives as the exercise continues. In her words: ”prevention is better than cure and the earlier the symptom is discovered, the better the chances of the patient recovering quickly.
The Commissioner seized the opportunity of the screening exercise to inspect the ongoing renovation at the hospital. Some of the visited units at the hospital include; Infant Welfare and Clinic, Ante-natal Clinic, Dental Clinic and the Kitchen among others.
BIOREPORTS

The Government of the State of Osun has again been commended for its commitment to the employment of youths thereby reducing the rate of unemployment in the state and Nigeria at large.

Mr Bunmi Otegbade, a representative of a US/Nigeria non-profit organization which specializes in the training of youths, empowering them to be self-employed and employers of labour  gave the commendation recently at a programme held at the Executive Lounge of the State Secretariat, Abere.

The programme which featured the pitching of sixty O-YES cadets who have been trained in different businesses had as its main targets audience, individuals and youths who did not have University Education

 Mr. Otegbade said youths who were admitted into the O-YES scheme and have been given exit opportunities will forever be grateful to the present administration under the leadership of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, saying that the programme is another exit point for the O-YES cadets.

He further urged Investors to be confident in investing in the youths as all they need to know have been instilled in them and can be sure of success in their respective businesses. The Director-General, Office of Economic Planning and Partnership in the state, Dr. Charles Akinola lauded the efforts of the youths, saying if many join in the race of being self employed and employers of labour, the unemployment rate in the country will be greatly be reduced.

The programme afforded the youths the opportunity of showcasing their wares, the type of business they are into, the amount they have invested, the profits made so far within the period of 3 months and amount needed from investors.

OSUNNEWSPORTAL

The merging of public schools in Osun State has generated a considerable dissipation of sentiments bordering on needless controversy in the media lately. While a critical section of the public to which the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has lent its face by giving the government an ultimatum to rescind its decision, has condemned the move as being tendentious, a handful of others including experienced educationists like Dr Modupe Fagbulu and Professor Olasupo Ladipo have pitched their tents on the side of rationality and endorsed the move.
On separate occasions, both eminent persons have given reasons why the present intervention of the government in public education in the state was not only necessary but urgent. Professor Ladipo said in an interview; “The educational system went bad because we had too many schools and were unable to equip them adequately. Education is expensive and requires equipment. Modern education requires expenses on all the modern amenities. If we do not merge, we will not be able to afford to give sound education to our children who are the future of this nation.”
Before the merging of these public schools that are exclusively financed with public funds, service delivery in the sector had ebbed terribly. Even the so called poor people avoided public primary schools like a plague despite the fact that the more experienced and better trained teachers are there. They would rather send their children to private nursery and primary schools where they imagine their children stand the chance of a head start. Many of these public primary schools lack pupils to justify their existence and they have been visited by such dilapidation that they have become death traps.
If the poor can struggle to avoid public primary schools, they may not be able to sponsor their children and wards to private secondary schools where the fees are steep. Besides, public education is the only avenue through which any society can hope to replenish itself with a better generation and develop its human capital because it offers education to the rich and poor alike. Private education can only take care of the rich who, as it has been proved throughout human history, do not have the exclusive preserve of genius. What will society do to its members that are geniuses but poor? Are they to be left to waste and become human debris? What will be the implication of that on social security? Avenues like public education are what the society use to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor and prevent the anarchy that may result when the number of the social malcontents increases in geometric progression.
This is the premise for public education through which the government can hope to deliver the greatest good for the greatest number to its citizens. But for a long time now, these public schools have failed dismally in this function. The public institutions have gone to seed and any pupil in any of these schools will have to be exceptionally brilliant to pass out with enough credits to earn a place in any institution of higher learning that is worth its salt. It is against this backdrop that the reclassification of schools in Osun should be seen as expedient in order to bring back the glory of these public schools.
Dr Modupe Fagbulu, a retired education planner observed while speaking with reporters recently that when it was obvious that some schools were not viable to operate alone they had to be merged for efficiency and optimal performance in order to restore the lost glory of these public primary and secondary schools which he described as a crucial foundation for any child. It is better to have few schools that are delivering in terms of imparting knowledge to the students and developing human capital than having many schools that cannot answer for the name they are called and churn out massive failures.
Many of these schools lack infrastructure like libraries and laboratories that are crucial to learning. Perhaps the government will seize the opportunity of reclassification to employ seasoned teachers and school administrators and guidance counsellors for these new mega schools at all the levels of elementary, middle and senior schools in order to ensure that the service delivery is both comprehensive and successful in terms of the quality of students passing out from these institutions.
The critics however have based their resentment of the reclassification of schools on sentiments. Although sentiments can have a powerful effect on public perception and politics is in the main perception, yet it is more important and positively functional to eschew sentiments now for the overall need to rescue these public schools from the dysfunction which they represent as they are currently.
The people in Osun really do not have a dilemma to my mind in making a choice between improving the schools through merging and reclassification and thus restoring the glory of public education or retaining the old schools based on sentiments like the alumni’s sense of nostalgia or the odd chance of former single sex schools becoming co-ed or not.
The government of Osun State should see the resistance only as a normal response of the people to change.  It should allay their anxiety and prove itself as a trustworthy outfit that would make the revolution replicable in other states as a result of its success.
TRIBUNE

The Commissioner for Local Government, Barrister Kolapo Alimi has commended the efforts of the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola over the inauguration of the Local Government Service Commission which according to him was long overdue.

Barrister Kolapo Alimi disclosed this while playing host to the Chairman of the Local Government Service Commission and his team who paid him a courtesy visit in his Office.

Barrister Alimi stated that the inauguration of the Commission could not have come at a better time and tasked the commission under the chairmanship of Dr. Peter Babalola to live-up to expectations given its onerous task of correcting the wrongs embedded in the Local Government administration in the state as well as summoning up enough courage to proffer solutions to the numerous problems that have bedeviled the system.

Dr. Peter Babalola had earlier confirmed that his team was not out to witch-hunt any local government workers but to collaborate with the government in bringing and restoring good governance at the local level.

Dr. Peter Babalola stated further that his visit to the Ministry is to reinforce inter-sectoral collaboration as well as joining hands with the Ministry of Local Government to check the lapses that have become the bane of the Local Government administration and to restore discipline to the Local Government system in the state.

OSUNNEWSPORTAL

Wife of the State of Osun Governor, Mrs. Sherifat Aregbesola, has said that the poor attitude of women to screening was responsible for the high rate of cancer amongst them.
Speaking in Osogbo at a seminar to sensitise women on the need to carry out self- examination and the screening for breast cancer detection, Aregbesola said that cancer vaccines should be made available in hospitals and health centres to assist in the prevention of the disease.
She added that cancer could be cured when detected early, noting that most cancer patients die of the disease because their cases were detected very late.
She advocated for a free distribution of routine human papilloma virus vaccine for boys and girls at ages 11 and 12 to prevent cancer in later years.
“Though largely preventable, cervical cancer kills more women in developing countries than any other cancer in any other parts of the world.
“Cervical cancer is highly preventable, because screening tests for cervical cancer and vaccines to prevent the human papilloma virus, which is the main cause of cervical cancer, are available. HPV vaccines offer the greatest benefits to persons who receive all three doses before sexual exposure to HPV through sexual activity,” she said.
In her address, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Temitope Ilori, explained that women who were screened and detected early of breast cancer had 90 per cent survival rate, adding that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among African women.
She said, “Five hundred thousand new cases of cancer of the cervix occur every year in the world, but over 250,000 of these result in deaths. We should also note that majority of the cases occur in developing countries.”
THE NATION