Today, Osun State marks its 25th year of existence. The state was created alongside 11 other states, (Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Taraba and Yobe), on August 27, 1991 by former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida.
 
 

 
For Osun, a state which has faced lots of drama in recent time, the ruling party in the state, All Progressives Congress, (APC), positions the state for a contemplative 25th anniversary .
 
According to the party, the mood of the moment calls for every individual’s deep reflection rather than festivities to identify and assess the progress made thus far, economically, educationally, , agriculturally and infrastructurally in order to correctly determine how these have impacted the present and would potentially influence the future.
 
‘Of the 25 years that Osun has been created, the last six years have been the most dramatic and monumental, even if partially controversial, the APC declared.
 
Fortunately, the decision made by the state to reflect on the strides recorded so far, mirrored the legacy side of Osun’s, which clearly painted the future gains would expect from from the many sacrifices invested in the state by its people and government.
 
Following many debates, comments and posts that trailed #Osunat25, a top trending hashtag on Twitter yesterday, which was centered on the 25th anniversary, many of the state’s critics were astonished at the state’s legacies.

Obviously elated by the wonderful performance of pupils at the calisthenic displayed to mark 25th anniversary of the creation of Osun State, Governor Rauf Aregbesola expressed his commitment to all round development of every individual in the state.
 

 
Aregbesola who spoke at the State Stadium venue of the programme in Osogbo noted that silver jubilee is worthy of celebration especially for a state that is moving like Osun.
He gave assurance that his administration is committed to the  development of every individual physically, mentally and socially to make them productive in the society.

He likened education to power which must be acquired by every individual saying that  was why his government has not only developed the individual intellect alone but also provide them with befitting physical learning environment to motivate and enhance their learning and teaching.
Aregbesola pledged to do all he could to make the state educational programme an outstanding and pace-setting one to distinguish it from other states.
The governor stressed that, the anniversary was centered on the state youths to encourage them to be self reliant and productive in any given society.
Speaking on the introduction of Calisthenics exercise into the anniversary programme, Aregbesola explained that, participants in the show learn and develop a high sense of aesthetics, derived from the rhythmic motion, colouful costumes and patterns that are the outcome of their joint motion.

Four thousand Osun State pupils drawn from 17 schools on Saturday dazzled a capacity-filled Osogbo Township Stadium with captivating calisthenics displays to mark the creation of the state.
 

 
The State was created on August 27, 1991 by the regime of retired General Ibrahim Babangida.
At the colourful event, former administrators of the state were full of praises for the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as they gathered with other dignitaries to mark the epochal event.
Colonel Theophilus Bamigboye and Navy Captain Anthony Udofia, who spoke on behalf of previous administrators of the state, commended Aregbesola for what they described as unprecedented developments witnessed under his administration.
This was just as Aregbesola said “worthy legacies” of previous leaders should be sustained, while saluting the late Governor of the old Oyo State, Chief Bola Ige, for introducing the idea of calisthenics during his time as Governor.
The two former administrators said they were pleased with the level of transformations and developments that have taken place in the state since they left as military governors.
They stated that there was little or nothing to show for the state when it was first created, adding that today, the state has grown in leaps and bounds and can rank favourably with other states of the federation.
Bamigboye said: “In 1991 when the state was created, there was little or nothing to show that a state actually existed.
“Today, we are very proud to see this state the way it is.
“When we first came, there was a ramshackle school in the heart of Osogbo.
“We tried our best to change the situation in our own way.
“Then the action man (Aregbesola) came and change the terrain significantly.
“He said he was interested in education, he changed everything.
“Osun is working.
“We are proud of the Governor, Ogbeni Aregbesola, for the wonderful work he is doing.
“This state will continue to progress.
“We want you to keep the flag flying.
“We were very impressed with the colourful calisthenics event the children displayed.
“This is wonderful, marvellous and fantastic.
“We say well done on behalf of all past executive governors of the state.”
 
Earlier in his address, Governor Aregbesola, while congratulating all on the 25th anniversary of the creation of the state, noted that the Osun State School Calisthenics is not a frivolous brainwave that will be swept away by the tide of time.
 
The Governor emphasised that the programme is well-conceived as part of the overall redesign and reorganisation of the education system in Osun State.
 
He held that his administration views physical education with all seriousness, regarding formal education as incomplete without its physical development component.
 
Aregbesola emphasised that the calisthenics programme is not only an out-of-school sports activity but a lifestyle-change project for building a new generation of students who are physically fit, mentally sound and socially well-adjusted.
The Governor also stressed that the programme is supported by practices in other lands and climes, adding that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation regards physical education programmes as part of its crucial brief.
 
According to him: “The importance of physical education in the development of healthy and wholesome human personality has been realised as far back as ancient Greece where, for instance, the human body was regarded as a temple that provided a sacred abode for the human mind and soul.
 
“The Greeks of old therefore believed that gymnastics and Calisthenics were necessary to keep this temple-abode healthy and functional. This tradition eventually gave birth to organised sporting activities.”
 
Aregbesola reminded all that Ige, as governor of the old Oyo State, introduced calisthenics in the Second Republic to the delight of all, stating that it was regrettable that it was discontinued as a result of military incursion into government.
Aregbesola held that reintroducing the programme in Osun State is just continuing with the worthy legacy of a great colossus.
 
The Calisthenics display to celebrate the silver jubilee of the creation of the state, involved 4,000 pupils between the ages nine and 14, drawn from 17 Middle Schools in Osogbo and Olorunda Local Government Areas.
Aregbesola stated: “We began this programme in 2012 with the assistance of Cuban duo, Francis Rodriguez and Raiza Guerra, who trained the first set that performed during the 21st anniversary of the creation of Osun, four years ago. They also trained the trainers as well.
 
“We are happy that our people trained by the Cubans are the ones coaching the next generation and are responsible for today’s feat.
“In 2012, a total of 8,000 athletes drawn from 24 schools and 60 coaches were trained in the nine federal constituencies in the state. The calisthenics programme has been well received in our schools and communities by the students, teachers and parents.”
 
Other dignitaries at the anniversary included former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Oluseyi Petirin (rtd); former Deputy Governor, Sooko Adeleke Adewoyin; wife of Ogun State Governor, Olufunso Amosun; and the Deputy Governor of Ogun State, Yetunde Onanuga.
Other are former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof. Wale Omole; Lagos All Progressives Congress leader, Cardinal James Odunmbaku; Senators Jide Omoworare (Osun West senatorial district) and Prof. Sola Adeyeye (Osun Central); and Senators Olu Alabi and Mudathir Hussain.

The state Government of Osun is set to recruit more Physiotherapists to improve the quality of physiotherapy services to the people of the state of Osun. The Physiotherapy departments in all the State Hospitals would also be rehabilitated and equipped with modern facilities for better services.
 

 
The Head of Service (HOS) state Government of Osun, Mr. Sunday Owoeye gave this assurance as the guest of honour at the programme for the Luncheon and Award ceremony to mark the end of the 3rd Bi-ennial Workshop organized by the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy (N.S.P), Osun State Chapter, held at Leisure Spring Hotel.
The HOS who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Hospitals Management Board (HMB), Engr. Olusegun Aduroja also doubled as the Chairman of the occasion. In his keynote address, the Chairman enjoined the Physiotherapists who are into private practice to register fully with the state Government of Osun and pay their taxes
regularly as and when due.
The Awardees of the day were: Professor Akeem Lasisi, the Chief Medical Director of LAUTECH and Professor T.O Bello, the Head of Department of Radiology, LAUTECH Osogbo. The two Awardees pledged their continued support for the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapists.

The free feeding and health programmes introduced by the Osun State government to encourage school enrolment, attendance and rate as well as enhance pupils’ health has not only become a model for the federal and state governments, but also a platform for agricultural development  and food production. SINA FADARE reports.
 

 
 
At the onset, the primary objectives of the free school feeding programme introduced by the Osun State government was aimed at increasing school enrolment, encourage attendance as well as enhance pupils’ health in all public primary schools.
Farmers appear to be the major beneficiaries of the programme as they embarked on massive food production as well as having ready market for their produce.
The programme has also enhanced the income of local farmers; thus reducing poverty level as all goods are sourced locally.
On weekly basis, no fewer than 40 herds of cattle; 10,000 crates of eggs; 20,000 chickens, over 400 metric tons of fish are needed to feed the pupils.

About 500 unemployed youths were trained and empowered for mass fish production under Osun Fisheries Out-Growers Production Scheme (OFOPS).
The scheme supplies well over 400 metric tons of fish regularly for the school feeding while cultivation of cocoyam through a cocoyam rebirth programme was also encouraged.
Over 1,000 cocoyam farmers (selected across the nine federal constituencies) were trained and assisted to mass cultivate pink cocoyam for inclusion in the school feeding menu.
Today, the number has risen to over 15,000, as more women and young adults have taken to farming; cultivating cocoyam, vegetables, tomatoes and melon.The programme, which began in 2006, has become a success story and indeed a reference model for many states and countries as pupils from kindergarten to primary four in public primary schools are fed daily with balanced foods such as fish, meat, vegetables and fruits that are rich in protein.
The pupils are de-wormed twice a year. A comprehensive menu which, among other things, would help to develop the brain capacities of the growing children in their formative years was drawn up by stakeholders in the education sector.
The team argued that a well-fed pupil is likely to be healthy and more attentive in class than those on empty stomach.
Addressing delegates from all the states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on the school feeding programme, Osun State Deputy Governor, who doubles as the Commissioner for Education under whose supervision the school feeding is carried out, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori noted that the programme began in 2006 as one of the 13 pilot states (Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, inclusive).
She explained that the Aregbesola-led administration extended the beneficiaries of the school feeding programme in 2012 to primary four pupils and rechristened it Osun School Feeding and Health Programme (O-Meals).
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori maintained that the free meals in public schools has led to sharp increase in enrolment from 155,318 to 194,253 after four weeks of its implementation, saying that currently over 252,000 pupils are being fed while they remain in school until closing time.
She said: “According to the Federal Bureau of Statistics Report of 2013, Osun State has the highest primary school enrolment rate in the country and the lowest number of children of school age being out of school.”
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said that through the programme, the state was able to capture the actual figures of school pupils being fed under the programme which costs the government the sum of N18 million a week.She said a total of 3,007 food vendors were engaged, trained, kitted with uniforms and made to undergo medical screening.
The vendors, according to her, were given loans to procure cooking utensils and organised into 124 functional co-operative investment and credit societies for effective administrative purposes.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori noted that the success of the programme has attracted compliments and accolades from both local and international forums.
In 2014, the British Parliament invited the Governor Rauf Aregbesola to talk on the implementation of the school feeding programme for which the Parliament praised him.
She explained that commendation also turned in from government of South Africa which sponsored her visit to the country.
While praising the delegates for the visit to have a requisite insight into the dynamics of the school feeding programme, Mrs. Laoye-Tomori advised them to sit back and fashion out what will work for their respective states and people.

Osun State All Progressives Congress has urged the people to reflect deeply about the state created about 25 years ago.
 

 
In a statement by its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, in Osogbo, the state capital, the party called on indigenes to prepare for the 25th anniversary of its creation, which comes up on Saturday.
According to the party: “The mood of the moment calls for every individual’s deep reflection rather than festivities to identify and assess the progress made so far, economically,  educationally, agriculturally and infrastructurally to correctly determine how these have impacted the present and would potentially influence the future.
“Of the 25 years that Osun has been created, the last six years have been the most dramatic and monumental, even if partially controversial. It is a period that future generations will recall with nostalgia as when Osun was jolted from its slumber as a so-called ‘civil service state’ to a potential commercial hub of the Southwest.
“The socio-economic, educational and infrastructural development recorded by the state between November 2010 and now, which continues as you read this, is unprecedented in the history of the state. However, the gross indiscipline and economic mismanagement that characterised Nigeria’s Federal Government between 2013 and 2015, compounded by the collapse of crude oil prices at the international market over that same period,  hugely impacted Osun negatively.

“This calamity notwithstanding, the people of Osun can look back with some pride at what has happened in the last six years of ACN/APC government-led by Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola. The progress this state has made in the last six years is more than double that recorded in the last 19 years before Rauf Aregbesola came to power in 2010.”

Job seekers from the State of Osun will have some relief of getting their desired jobs as the Governor of the State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola during the week commissioned a multimillion naira job centre for the indigenes of the state which would serve as hub of job information to unemployed youths and employers of labour in the state.
 

 
The j commissioning of the job centre  which took place at Osogbo, is an initiative of the government of Osun State to tackle unemployment rate in the state and also to meet one of its Six-Point Integral Action Plan which is to create wealth in the state.
During the opening ceremony  the governor said  his administration is taking job creation to a greater height with the establishment of the job centre where  finding jobs will become easy for the unemployed and better jobs for the youths.

He mentioned that the centre will provide an interface between applicants and employers by maintaining a database that will be made available to employers who need to recruit, adding that it will also keep record of job vacancies which applicants can consult.
Aregbesola stressed that before the coming of his administration there was a high and frightening level of youth unemployment which brought about the O-YES that engaged 20,000 youths in public works in less than 100 days after inauguration.
According to him, “Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme, O-YES policy, brought great micro-economic impact on the state with N200 million monthly allowances given to the youth under the programme.
‘’All the programmes we have implemented and the one of today have been captured in the Green Book which we entitled: “My PACT with Osun“. Today, if you open the book, you will find all we have done and are doing. If anybody had told you that in Osogbo there would be the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, would you have believed it was possible?

The Osun Government has declared Monday Aug. 22 a public holiday to mark the annual Isese Day.
 

 
The Isese Day, or Traditional Worshipers’ Day, is the celebration of the peak of festivities among adherents of traditional religion, which is also known as, “Odun Nla’’.
A statement by Mr Semiu Okanlawon, the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Governor’s Office, Osogbo, said, “The Osun Government wishes to announce that Monday, Aug. 22 is hereby declared a public holiday.
“The holiday is in recognition of the annual Isese Day, which allows the adherents of traditional religion to come together for the annual celebration.”

The Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has called on the Federal Government to embrace tourism in the face of dwindling revenue from oil.
 

 
Speaking at the grand finale of the grand finale of the Osun Osogbo Festival in Osogbo on Friday, the governor, who was represented by the former Commissioner for Culture, Tourism and Home Affairs in the state, Mr. Sikiru Ayedun, said government and other stakeholders should explore the opportunities embedded in the festival.
He said government should incorporate the festival in its diversification plans, noting that tourism could be used to generate more revenue for the government, especially at this period that oil, which is the mainstay of the nation’s economy, was not yielding fruits like it used to.

“We unfortunately do not celebrate our culture the way we should,” he added.
Other dignitaries at the event, including the National Coordinator of the Oodua People’s Congress, Chief Gani Adams, and the governor emeritus of the Rotary International, Dr. Mike Omotosho, also called on the government to make the festival more attractive to tourists.
Adams said government and the organisers of the festival should do more to promote it in order to attract more visitors, saying that could attract more tourists to the event and boost the economy of the state. He said many countries where tourists often visit do not have as many interesting places of interest as Nigeria but lamented the neglect of promotion of culture and tourism in the country.
He said, “The Federal Government should collaborate with the state  government and the people of Osun in creating a platform where the Osun Festival could  be showcased for the world to embrace.
“Osun is a goddess that has been strong and honourable for ages. If well organised, festivals like Osun Osogbo Festival can boost the economy of any country. The cost implication of getting to this place is N5,000 and if we multiply this by the thousands of people who attended the festival, it will be a huge amount.
“I am not happy with the way the number of participants has been decreasing. This is an indication that the organisers are not doing enough to woo tourists to the festival. Osun Festival could be promoted more in many ways.
“Nothing stops major television stations in the country from covering this event live. This will whet the appetite of those who are not there and the strategy would increase participation in subsequent ones.”
“I am not pleased in any way with the organisers of this event for their way of not arranging anything to eat. We don’t celebrate Christmas without eating anything and Ileya ( Eid el Kabir)  too. How can we call this a festival when you don’t give the people just a sachet water.
Omotosho said the groove should be developed to make it more appealing to tourists from within and from outside the country to come and visit the place.
The Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Mr. Yusuf Abdullah, lauded the organisers of the event for the facilities put in place to make it a hitch free event.
The festival was held with no major incident despite the rumour of the plan by some persons to kidnap the ‘Arugba Osun’ which is the cynosure of all eyes during the procession to the shrine.
        

The Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has approved the appointment of Prince (Alhaji) Dauda  Ajolola Akinfalabi from Lagbedu Ruling House as the new Olowu of Orile-owu, Ayedade Local Government and Prince Kazeem Adio Orioye of the Aroyehun Ruling House as the Onigege of Igege in Olaoluwa Local Government.
 

 
This was contained in the appointment letter to the monarchs which was signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy, Water Resources, Rural and Community Affairs, Mr. Muftau Oluwadare.
The Permanent Secretary explained that, the appointments are in line with Section 20, sub – section (1) of the Chief’s Law of the state of Osun 2002. While congratulating them on behalf of the government of the state, he added that arrangements are being made to publish the appointments in the Government Official Gazette.