The Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Thursday said that modernising Osun agricultural practices would be a magic bullet with which his administration  can deal effectively with many of the major social and economic problems the state is confronted with.

The governor made this disclosure at the official launch of the Osun Rural Mobility Project and the flag off of the construction of 225 kilometre road in the state in Ira Open Square off Ilesa-Akure road.

The Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP) is a tool for rural transformation which addresses the basic needs of transporting goods and services in the rural areas.

Aregbesola pointed out that with the development of agriculture the festering cancer of hunger, unemployment, poverty, and poor education can be dealt with.

He said, ” indispensable to this agricultural revolution programme is according necessary development attention that had long been denied to our rural areas. This crucially involves opening them up by road.

“Our effort in this area has fortunately attracted the attention and assistance of development partners who have been doing a lot to enhance our road infrastructure development in the rural areas of Osun.

“This project supported by the World Bank and French Development Agency, have gone a long way in furthering our objective of linking our food production centres in the rural areas with their supply centres mainly located in the urban areas both within and outside the state”. The governor told the gathering.‎

‎He emphasised that for ease of administration and more effective implementation, the 225-kilometre roads have been organised into four lots covering four different parts of the state.

The governor noted that the first Lot is in Iwo region and covers 58.74 kilometres, the second Lot in Ife region will cover 58.40 kilometres, adding that the third Lot also in Ife region, extends over 53.87 kilometres while The fourth will be in Ilesha region with 53.61 kilometres of road.

Aregbesola stated that the RAMP road projects will greatly enhance the area coverage of the already massive road construction and rehabilitation exercise that his administration has embarked upon.

‎The governor said, “winning a second term of office is no excuse for indolence or for relaxation. Indeed, it is an opportunity to accelerate the pace of work so that we can cover as much ground as is humanly possible within the time available to us.

‎”It is an opportunity we intend to maximise for the development of Osun and the well-being of our people. Indeed, for us, politics is over. Governance and development must continue, even at a faster rate than before.

“The mandate given to us is for all the people, all our communities and it covers every inch of our soil. It is our fervent desire to bring the blessing of God on all our people and make our state the model of responsible leadership and public administration”. He stressed.

Speaking earlier, the Special Adviser to the governor on Rural and community Development, Mr. Kunle Ige held that government has decided to embark on the construction of Rural roads in a bid to improve the lives of the rural people who depend on farming to earn a living.

He commended the efforts of RAMP, the special Adviser said that, “your collaboration with the state government of Osun in the construction of rural roads will go a long way in banishing poverty, which is one of the major goals of this administration”. He noted.

Also, the National coordinator RAMP, Eng. Ubandoma Ularamu said that the official launch of the Osun RAMP and ground breaking ceremony for the commencement of the rural road construction is very significant because it will go a long way in alleviating poverty among the rural people.

According to Ularama, “today’s official launch of construction and rehabilitation of 225km of road is very remarkable and the Federal RAMP has also concluded arrangements on how to quickly commence the next batch of 300km roads in each of the RAMP state”. The RAMP boss emphasised.

THE Osun Government has fixed October 6 as the resumption date for public and private schools, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Deputy Governor, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori, (who is also the state Commissioner for Education) and made available to newsmen in Osogbo on Thursday.

The statement said that Gov. Rauf Aregbesola had directed all public and private schools to reopen for the 2014/2015 academic session on Oct. 6.

‘’This will enable principals and teachers to receive adequate training to prevent Ebola epidemic in schools and in the state in general,’’ the deputy-governor said.

The statement called on school managers to ensure daily practical demonstration of hand washing by the pupils, students and teachers.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, said government had met with stakeholders on how to contain the disease.
Oyeniran who spoke in Osogbo said the state government had ensured that teachers and health workers were given adequate training.
“Bearing in mind that children will be coming from different homes, it becomes important that teachers are given the basic knowledge on how to prevent the outbreak of the disease.
“Apart from updating them on basic health management issues, they will be refreshed on how to assist students to improve on personal hygiene.
“Two health workers will be on ground in each school, and for them to work effectively, we have bought hand thermometers for their use.
“These thermometers will be used to check the temperature of each student as they come into the school to ensure that anyone who has high temperature or signs of fever will be excused to receive medical attention before coming to school.

It stated that Osun remained free of the dreaded virus.

(NAN)

Osun Government on Thursday directed its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to submit their 2015 draft estimates to the Budget Office, latest Oct. 6.

A statement by Mr Segun Olorunsogo, Permanent Secretary, Budget and Economic Planning, advised heads of MDAs to visit the Budget Office to pick call circulars.

Ministries and all other agencies of Government are to adhere strictly to the instructions in the call circular for the formulation of year 2015 budget.

“This becomes necessary in order to ensure thoroughness and transparency in the 2015 budget preparation,’’ he said.

According to him, budget preparation and formulation was a serious exercise which should be accorded the deserved seriousness and attention.

All ministries and agencies of government are advised to comply with the Monday, Oct 6 deadline for the submission of the year 2015 draft estimates.

“The draft estimates are to be forwarded to the Office of Budget and Economic Planning, Finance building,’’ the statement added.

DAILY INDEPENDENT

Mr Sunday Owoeye, the Osun Head of Service, said the state government would not relent in training and retraining its civil servants for improved and increased productivity.

Addressing participants at a workshop organised for workers in his office on Thursday in Osogbo, Owoeye said training programmes were aimed at sensitising workers to civil service and commitment to duty. .

He said the government of Osun, under the leadership of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, had done good for workers by providing an enabling working environment for civil servants.

“The government is committed to the welfare of workers in the state, every efforts will be made to ensure prompt and regular payment of workers’ salary to encourage commitment to work.

“Training and retraining of public workers will continue in all departments and agencies so that we can achieve and sustain a productive civil service,’’ Owoeye said .

The head of service charged the workers to take advantage of the training and re-dedicate themselves to duty and productivity.(NAN)

The Osun Independent Electoral Commission, OSIEC, has disclosed readiness to conduct referendum on the proposed creation of new 27 local council development Areas, LCDAs, in the state.

Appearing before members of the state House of Assembly, the OSIEC chairman, Olusegun Oladitan, said the commission was ready to hold the referendum, but was only waiting for the Assembly to give its directive on the issue.

Oladitan maintained that the commission had already conducted training for its staff on how to conduct a peaceful and accurate referendum, adding that the staff had also visited the headquarters of the proposed LCDAs to ascertain their preparedness.

On the awaited local government poll, Oladitan said the commission was ready to conduct election into the council areas in the state, adding that members of the commission had also travelled to neighbouring states that had conducted council elections to get firsthand experience on how it was being done.

He stated that as soon as the Assembly gives its nod and approves date for the exercise, the commission would recruit ad-hoc staff to ensure adequate manpower and other resources are available for the poll.

Speaker of the House, Najeem Salaam, immediately directed the chairman of the commission to liaise with House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs on conduct of the referendum.

He implored the commission to ensure level playing ground was created for all the political parties that would participate in the election, saying the conduct of free and fair election by the commission was necessary for the development of the electoral process in the state.

Governor Rauf Aregbesola had on December 16, 2013, presented a bill to the House for the creation of additional 27 local council development areas from the existing 30 local government areas in the state.

NATIONAL MIRROR

The State Government of Osun, on Tuesday September 16, 2014, called on religious leaders across the state to brace up to the health challenges posed by the importation of the Ebola virus into the country in order to be averted from being spread into the state.

The State Government, through its Committee on Ebola, set up to prevent the virus from spreading into the state said religious leaders have vital roles to play towards ensuring that the dreaded disease does not rear its head in the state.

Addressing the participants who cut across the three religions consist of Muslims, Christians and Traditionalists during the sensitization, organized by the Committee, the State Commissioner of Environment and Sanitation, Professor Olubukola Oyawoye advised them to be conscious of the pandemic by observing personal hygiene at all time.

Oyawoye who acknowledged the roles religious leaders are playing in the development of any society said, they should complement the effort of the state government toward making the state an Ebola free state.

Emphasizing the efficacy of prayer, Oyawoye said people of the state should be more prayerful, just as she said promptly reporting of cases of observable symptoms to health officials was of the utmost important.

Commissioner for Health, Dr Mrs Temitope Ilori while echoing a similar view said the current epidemic, which has taken the center stage in the country and some other African countries, requires adequate and consistent sensitization.

Ilori urged religious leaders to adequately sensitize their people on the need for them to be proactive and strengthen environmental health in their immediate domain.

Ilori said, though, the state had not recorded any cases of Ebola since its outbreak in the country, the state government under leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola inaugurated the committee saddled with the responsibility to work on how to prevent the spread of the disease in the state.

She urged the participants and the entire people of the state to be more proactive in terms of environmental hygiene since the disease could easily be transmitted through the body fluid of an infected person

While Talking about “Ebola Virus infection and prevention”, Dr Kayode Oguniyi, Director of Primary Health Care and Disease Control, Ministry of Health, State of Osun, said there is need for all and sundry to be up and doing in terms of environmental hygiene.

Oguniyi explained that, Ebola hemorrhagic fever was first noted in Zaire, currently, the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976 when the original outbreak was in a village near the Ebola River after which the disease was name.

He added that, the virus was identified in person-to-person contact transmission, stressing that out of the 318 patients diagnosed with Ebola, 88 percent died, saying that, since that time there have been multiple outbreak of the virus in that country.

Oguniyi who corroborated the two commissioners, also laid emphasis on the earlier symptoms of Ebola which according to him were typically include, fever, severe headache, muscle pain, diarrhea, vomiting, abnormal pain among others.

He added that, the symptoms may appear anywhere from 2 to 21 days after exposure to Ebola virus, saying, though 8-10 days is most common.

He therefore charged people on the need for them to heed to medical advises given to them in order not to fall victim of the viral disease.

Responding to the sensitization programme, the representatives of the religious groups, Chief Folaba Fagbongbe, Rev Testimony Oriade, Chief Atanda Awofisade Abegunsola, Chief Adifase of Ife, the Naibu Imam of Osogbo among others eulogized the state government for organizing such an enlighten programme, saying Aregbesola deserves commendation over his efforts at making state inhabitable for all.

The highlight of the event was the demonstration of hand washing led by the commissioner of environment, and her co commissioner from the ministry of health, which was later demonstrated by one of the participants.

BIOREPORT

Osun State House of Assembly has passed the bill for the establishment of Special Offences Courts in the state.

Leader of the House, Timothy Owoeye, who disclosed this while reading the policy thrust of the bill which seeks to create special court that will hear matters bordering on environmental offences, pointed out the purpose was to ensure speedy administration of justice.

He said when passed into law and special offences court is created, it would bridge the gap created by regular courts.

He argued that the establishment would reduce the burden of work on regular courts, urging speedy passage of the bill into law.

The Deputy Speaker, Akintunde Adegboye, Mr. Kamardeen Akanbi, representing Ede North, Kamil Oyedele representing Orolu/ Irepodun, Folorunsho Bamisayemi, representing Ife South among others, supported quick consideration and passage of the bill.

They concurred that the bill could not have come at a better time, insisting that the bill would reduce crime rate in the state.

NATIONAL MIRROR

The former Osun State Police Commissioner, Ibrahim Maishanu, now Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) on Tuesday commended Governor Rauf Aregbesola for making him to succeed while in charge of the state command.

Maishanu commended the Governor Aregbesola for providing security equipment with which he was able to do his job well.

He gave the commendation while handing over to his successor.

The new Osun State Police Commissioner, Mr. Abubakar Marafa, has assumed duty in the state.

He took over from the former Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Maishanu, who was recently promoted to the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG).

While handing over the mantle of leadership of the command to Marafa, Maishanu expressed happiness that he was leaving the state police command better than he met it.

He particularly commended the Governor Aregbesola for providing logistics including several Armoured Cars with which the command was able to operate and fight crime rate to the barest minimum level.

He noted that though there were several challenges faced by the command under him especially the just concluded August 9 Governorship Election in the state, crisis which emanated as a result of lynching the suspected kidnappers and few others, Maishanu expressed satisfaction that the command under him was able to bring the situation under the control and maintain law and order in the state.

Maishanu said he was leaving the state happy, adding that he enjoyed officers and men of the command that worked with him.

He said they contributed to his success in the course of his official duty in the state.

He also commended other security agencies in the state for their co-operation and assistance to the command.

Brigadier General Adeyemi, the Commandant of Army Regiment in Ede who spoke on behalf of other security agencies in the state described Maishanu as unassuming, brilliant and gentle officer that always carry other security agencies along in security matters in the state.

DAILY INDEPENDENT

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola with the Chairman United Democratic Party (UDP) Osun State Chapter, Prince Adesoji Adeleke and the Chairman National Conscience Party (NCP) State of Osun Chapter, during a solidarity visit to the Governor at the Government House last saturday

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (middle); Chairman United Democratic Party (UDP) Osun State Chapter, Prince Adesoji Adeleke (left) and Chairman National Conscience Party (NCP) State of Osun Chapter, Alhaji Waheed Lawal (right) , during a solidarity visit to the Governor at the Government House last saturday

From left- Chairman United Democratic Party (UDP) Osun State Chapter, Prince Adesoji Adeleke; Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Chairman National Conscience Party (NCP) State of Osun Chapter, Alhaji Waheed Lawal (right) and others, during a solidarity visit to the Governor at the Government House last saturday

From left- Chairman United People’s Party Osun State Chapter, Dr. Idowu Omidiji; Chairman United Democratic Party (UDP) Osun State Chapter, Prince Adesoji Adeleke, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Chairman Mega Progressive People’s Party(MPPP) Osun State Chapter, Chief Adetoro Babatunde, Chairman New Nigeria People’s Party(NNPP) Osun State Chapter, Prince Adegoke Adefore and African People’s Alliance(APA), Alhaji Azeez Agboola, during a solidarity visit to the Governor at the Government House last saturday