Showcasing various projects in Ilesha by the Government of the State of Osun

Holy Trinity Elementary sch, Muroko Ilesa
L.A Elementary School, Imo, Ilesa

St Peter Elementary School,Isona, Ilesa
Methodist Elementary School, Oke Omi, OsuAtakunmosa West

Ilesa Township Roads Rehabilitation

Ilesa Township Roads Rehabilitation

Ilesa Township Roads Rehabilitation

Ilesa Township Roads Rehabilitation

Ilesa Township Roads Rehabilitation

The United State Consul General to Nigeria, Jeffrey Hawkins, on Monday disclosed that he would lead a team of about 30 American observers to Osun State for the August 9 governorship election in the state.
Hawkins spoke at the opening ceremony of a four-day workshop organised by the US Mission in Nigeria for press and public affairs officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), drawn across the country.
He said the U.S will closely monitor the election because it was key to cementing Nigeria’s democracy.
“I will be in Osun on the election day. We will be deploying about 30 observers in similar magnitude with that of Ekiti.

“We have a wide programme working with the INEC through the United States Agency for International Development and through various training sessions to support the work of INEC and we have a close collaboration with the commission’s chairman, Attahiru Jega and others.
“So there is a strong commitment from the U.S to democracy in Nigeria whether it is on a localised level or at the national level,” said Hawkins.
While expressing the U.S satisfaction with the Ekiti governorship poll, Hawkins urged the INEC press and public affairs officers to be open and transparent while they go about their duties during elections.
He said: “Be honest with your immediate colleagues, journalists and the Nigerian public and demonstrate to the Nigerian people that the country is on the right track; that the democracy is moving forward.
“Let the people know that they have an electoral commission that cares about honest results in the elections. It is a big challenge but if you can achieve that you would have done a good thing for the country and you would be great patriots for Nigeria.”
DAILY NEWS AND ANALYTICS

The governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has said that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Iyiola Omisore’s litany of lies would not be enough to earn him victory in the August 9 governorship poll.

Aregbesola, through a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Semiu Okanlawon, said as the state inches towards the August 9 date, Omisore rather than explain to the people of Osun and other stakeholders what he intends to do differently, has dissipated energy trying in vein to discredit the various landmark projects of the Aregbesola administration.

“We acknowledge his capacity for lies, fraudulent claims, innuendoes and fallacies. We however note that these are only the last resort for a candidate who knows the degree of the rejection he has suffered from the good people of Osun.

“Omisore must take the Osun people for being daft to believe they will embrace his lies. In recent times, he has woven a litany of lies around all the projects of the Aregbesola administration such as Opon Imo, roads contracts, school reforms, financial engineering, youths empowerment schemes, environmental development projects and others.

“But what Omisore appears to forget is the fact that the people are at the centre of these programmes and therefore they are the direct beneficiaries. Any attempt to discredit them easily fails,” the statement said.

Reminding Omisore and his listeners how his many lies have been put to shame, the statement demanded from the PDP candidate how he intends to explain his almost one year of dubious claims of heavy indebtedness after the Debt Management Office came from the Presidency and faulted his claims.

“In some other parts of the world, that revelation and confirmation are enough reasons for Omisore to back out of the contest having been found not to be credible in his several claims on the so-called Osun debt.

“But his shamelessness knows no limit. He has moved from one lie to another as if lies are all it takes to win a governorship election,” the statement added

Saying that his penchant for causing disaffection in the state is noted, the statement reminded the people that all the PDP candidate had done since he began his campaigns is to muddle up facts and figures.

“He has sought desperately to set workers against the government. The Osun workers who have witnessed the massive changes in the conditions of service since the Aregbesola administration came would even in the face of the confusion attempted by him, still take the best electoral decision of re-electing Aregbesola for a second term.

Advising him to utilize the little campaign period left to tell the people what ideas he has to improve the lots of the Osun people, the statement added that it is not enough tell lies at rallies and rely on the proposed militarization of the state to capture power.

“This arrogant reliance on the powers of the Federal Government-controlled forces to subjugate a people in order to rob them of their rights to choose their leaders and endless lies would not help Omisore. At best, they will make him enter the hall of infamy in the politics of our land,” the statement concluded

It’s not surprising that opposition political parties are using everything, including religion to blackmail Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s modest educational reform in the State of Osun, few weeks to the election. It is expected and it would have been out of the rules of contest for fellow contenders to applaud their opponents selling points.

In actual fact, the opposition parties, especially the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has not denied that educational development has taken place in Osun. They only come short of frowning militantly against the school feeding system; the reclassification of schools, provision of free school uniforms for students, Muslim students wearing Hijab as part of their uniform, which in their own opinion contradicts the nation’s educational system.

I am also sensing, possibly, that the sin of Aregbesola is that he has come with the determination, never seen in any previous government in the state, to salvage the educational system of the State. Initially, it was dismissed as a joke of the political soapbox. But when they started seeing buildings rising up with modern facilities, they became jittery of what would become of the fate of their own private schools. The governor is now seen as a man possessed with a strange spirit that has to be exorcised.

Instead of applauding the innovative way of implementing the country’s educational system of 6-3-3-4, with a sustainable concept of empowering the children beyond literacy to the level of practice in global education standard and self-empowerment, Governor Aregbesola is being vilified for his practical modern that has revamped the sector and lauded by UNESCO; the world body that sets education standards.

In a rare appraisal of the Governor’s achievement in the area of education, the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria Representative, Ms Jean Goueh congratulated Governor Rauf Aregbesola for piloting the state towards education for all. “UNICEF singled out Osun State for recognition as a result of the state’s educational Development and other social protection policies being implemented by the governor. “Several countries of the world and parts of Nigerian states who are still battling with how to go about enrolling kids into schools should learn from the Osun State’s feeding programme that brought about monumental upsurge in the enrolment of school children.

“This idea of governance, driven by human needs should be transported to other countries of the world to make the desirable change and impact the UNICEF craves across the globe, especially now that millions of children of school age are hawking on the streets of Nigeria. “The policies of the this administration has strengthened the weak for meaningful life. “The O’YES programmes should be back and strengthened by legislators so as to integrate the policies and programmes that will outlive the tenure of the governor”, Ms Jean Guoeh said.

The school reclassification process is to automatically lead to changing of the known nomenclatures of Primary school, JSS 1-3, and SSS 1-3 to create Elementary, Middle and High schools without affecting 6-3-3-4 Nigerian educational system. The elementary school will take primary 1-4; the middle school will absorb primary 5-6 and JSS 1-3; while high school will have SSS 1-3. The elementary school absorbs the pupils in the age category of 6-10 years and they are now being fed free by the government.

The structures that are built for this grade are cited within the neighbourhood and they are not only provided with the state of the art facilities but have each the capacity of 900 pupils at ago. Middle school which has the capacity of 900 to 1000 will have the age range of 10-14 years and it is cited within the maximum of 2-3 kilometres radius. This also will be supplied with standard facilities, far and above those in the elementary schools. The high school, however, is for those in the age range of 15-17 years and will have capacity of 3000 because it will be a large complex containing three schools, meaning each school will have capacity for 1000.

This is another conscious way of playing politics with the education and destiny of the children in the state. For the records, there has been wearing of Hijab before, during and after Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s administration as the Governor of Osun. Hijab became an issue during Governor Oyinlola ‘s administration when the Christian communities resisted Muslim students wearing Hijab to Christian schools. The Muslim communities instituted court action against the government with the intention of having their kids where hijab as part of their uniform to school. Till date, the case is still at the High Court, waiting for adjudication.

Governor Aregbesola has cautioned repeatedly that religious tolerance is when a thousand flowers of religions can blossom together and this has happened in the state without any earthquake in the past. Ogbeni is of the view that the sky is wide enough for the millions of religious birds to fly together without any clash. This has accounted for the atmosphere of religious peace in the State of Osun.

In essence, there is an urgent need to appraise the past. What was the state of education as directed by the predecessor of Aregbesola? A cursory check shows that most public schools then were P.T.A-run. It was the parents’ body that employed teachers for the schools, most of whom were secondary school graduates. They were paid seven thousand naira as salaries and classically called P.T.A-teachers. Parents provided chairs and tables for their children to use at schools.

Most often, for the lack of security, the pupils carried the chairs on their heads in the morning to their respective schools and to their homes after closing hours in the afternoon. The parents also had certain amounts they contributed to the schools as development fees. The contributions of the then government were one or two blocks of buildings of low standard in each schools and the payment of salaries to a handful of regular staff. Since there was no provision for toilets or latrines, the pupils eased themselves around the school compounds. By the time the government was packing its bag and baggage in 2010, after seven and half years in the saddle, most of the buildings had become dilapidated and the school surroundings were in total shambles.

Today, the story is different. The high schools have staff quarters, school managers, boarding and modern sporting facilities etc. The pupils of this level are those being given free computer tablets known as Opon Imo. Curiously, all these schools have been provided with medical centres, standby power generating sets, instructional materials and customised exercised books.

However, the simple and major aims of the policy are to group together, in classes, the pupils of same age bracket with each class containing as fewer as possible for easy learning. The proliferation of mushroom schools are gradually becoming a thing of the past with standard and well-equipped schools for all ages. As a result, the scarce resources of the government is no longer over-stretched in an attempt at providing necessary teaching tools and aids for different categories of pupils. More importantly, the government has uplifted the standard of public schools to an elegant standard fit for learning and teaching. These and many more are what the reclassification portends for the people of Osun.

But the political hawks in the PDP and Labour Party who want the good governance of the APC supplanted for politics of retrogression and banditry governance are determined to upturn the gain of the last three and a half years of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration. We only hope that the good people of Osun who are direct beneficiaries of the grand performance of Governor Aregbesola will turn down the enemies of the State at the poll, come August 9th.

Erasmus Ikhide wrote in from Lagos, Nigeria.

The statistical analyses of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the August 9, 2014 governorship election in Osun State have revealed that the state has the lowest figure of double registration in the country.

The INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Engineer Chidi Nwafor, who revealed this at a stakeholders meeting held in Osogbo, Osun State Capital, organised in collaboration with International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES) declared that 2,459 multiple registration were recorded in the state representing 2.7 per cent of all the total voters recorded in the state.

Nwafor said further that women have the highest register of vote in the state, adding that the registration of civil servants were also low.

While displaying Permanent Voters Card (PVC) of some voters and even candidates, the Nwafor assured that the August 9 governorship election in the state would be free and credible.

Also speaking, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in the state, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje, promised to give all political parties level playing ground to operate.

While presenting Certified True Copy voters register to the political parties, Agbaje said the commission had resolved to distribute the remaining PVC on July 26 and 27, 2014.

He however urged politicians to shun do or die politics promising “there will not be malpractices on the part of INEC.”

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has paid N813 million as compensation to owners of properties  affected by  infrastructural development.
Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development Muyiwa Ige toldf the NUJ Correspondents Chapel in Oyo State at the weekend that arrangements had  been made for the payment of the N2billion balance.
Among the property owners and affected traders who got the palliatives, according to the commissioner, are those around the Railway Station corridors as well as shop owners at Ajegunle and Ayetoro.
Ige said: “We have paid over N813 million as compensation in the last 30 months inclusive of palliatives. Yes, we still have about N2billion to pay because of paucity of funds, but we have continued to engage the affected, the claimants to let them know the true position of things, we had a meeting with them a week and half ago. “
The commissioner said a minimum of N100, 000 was given as palliative to the traders who were tenants in the affected buildings to enable them relocate “because the government believed that once they are affected, the businesses would affect their livelihood”.
He said the beneficiaries include 295 shop occupiers and tenants at the Train Station corridor who were given N65million; 581 shop owners at Ayetoro who got N58.1million at N100,000 each;  and some settlers at the Airport area of the city.

The measure of a man is what he does with power. Plato

Those who profess to favour freedom and yet depreciate agitation are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Frederick Douglass

My father was not too pleased when I wrote that I wish I was from Osun. For those that read my page you know that I find the Ogbenis leadership inspiring and refreshing. Ogbeni puts his opinion of leadership so well when he said, Indeed, it is my belief that leadership offers a golden opportunity to serve the people and bring improvements to bear on their lives and existence. I also do hold onto the view that leadership is a core pillar upon which a viable and successful human society can be built. And that Indeed leadership is all about rendering service to the people and this.

He continues to create opportunities for all the people of Osun to access education, health and employment. He has laid down a strong foundation and the people can see and feel the difference. This is not a party politics but a call to other states to emulate the Aregbesolas administration. I have always nailed my colours to the mast.

When something works and works well, it is important to admit and admire the process and that is what I do. With well over half of the Nigerian population unemployed, poverty is higher than it has ever been, administrations and the government have promised to improve our lot and they have consistently let us down and not delivered.

The administration has employed the highest number of civil servants in any other states in the country. So, here is an administration that does exactly what it set out to do. It did more and beyond to improve the lives of its people.

One of the few in the country that has consistently improved and laid down solid structures and sound governance. This is essential in order to get the country working again.

Margaret Thatcher was once asked what was her governments top priority, without hesitation she said Education, education and education. Education is the key. That is exactly what Ogbenis administration has done. Making education free at the point of entry means more children are educated. This means that the future of Osun is brighter as more children are given the opportunity to better their lot. They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the people bear witness to the changes in the state.

In the Ogbeni, the people of Osun have witnessed a committed and hard-working governor who is willing to work for the interest of its people. He has single handedly transformed his state and its people. He has produced results for all to see. The feeding programme is a master stroke after all the army matches on its stomachs they say.

No point sending children to school on any empty stomach. So they offer free nutritious meals so that the childrens bodies are optimise for learning and development. The programmes sublime quality is that it considers every aspect of the health of the children as the programme also includes the de-worming programme and distribution of free uniforms and school materials. This means that every child is equal at the point of entry.

As a result of all these innovations, the school attendance has improved exponentially and more teachers are recruited to deal with the demand, Osun government spends more than N3 billion annually on its home-grown elementary school feeding, OMeal. N600 million was spent on about 3,000 community caterers as well as transportation fare to the various schools.

As result of the feeding programme, there has been an increase in the enrolment of children and decrease in absenteeism. The meal programme employs local people; farmers, butchers, fishermen and trained women meal supervisors. You raise the most vulnerable up then everyone benefits. Osun has made big strides and other states should take a leaf from the Ogbenis book. Over the pond, the OMeals programme has been recognised and earned the international recommendation and support of the London-based Partnership for Child Development (PCD). And so it should be.

The OYes youth programme has trained young people by providing and equipping them with employability skills. The standard of instilling good work ethic is highly motivational because it again espouses pride, confidence, self-esteem, motivation and respect for the environment, good health and ownership in their state.

The young people now have a promising future; they are equipped and are able to actively participate in nation building. Unlike, other parts of the country, in Osun the young are part of the planning and at the core of the programme. They are not excluded and disenfranchised. The distribution of OPON IMO (Tablet of Knowledge) to high school pupils is now established and this will bring the young to compete with other young people in the world.

So what motivates the Ogbeni? He said: The improvement of the lots of the people of Osun was therefore a strong motivation for my seeking office and a paramount object of the deployment of my talents. Thus, as a leader I constantly seek for ways of bringing about progress and advancement for my people in every area of their lives. We can no longer use our young as political hoodlums, thugs and professional vagrants and unemployable. We should not allow our young to be ignored for the selfish ambition of the seasoned political kleptomaniacs.

With August 9th governorship election approaching, I know that the people of Osun will follow their conscience. They cannot afford to do otherwise as their future and that of their young depend on it. I do hope that we get the American style public debate going with Aregbesola and Senator Iyiola Omisore; it will be interesting to hear both out and let the people of Osun decide.

BLOGSPOT

Last year, November, 2013, Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola celebrated three years of his administration. In this report, Adebayo Abdulrazaq sampled the view of the people across the three senatorial districts on the performance of the governor since November, 2010.

I was in Osun state recently and I must confess that I was very impressed when I learnt that the state employment revolution which has taken the youths off the streets and crime as O’YES is partnering with First Bank Nig Plc to make entrepreneurs of the youths also by engaging them as agents of First Monie which is a platform for transacting business electronically for payments such as water bills, electricity bills, DStv, purchase of recharge cards and what have you.
Honestly, this change of the youths by making them to become entrepreneurs through innovative programmes by the Rauf Aregbesola administration is commendable and worthy of emulation.

 Thanks,

Nelson Ekujumi

In a fews weeks from now, the annual pilgrimage to Osogbo, the Osun State capital, for the Osun festival would begin. And as a prelude to the festival, INFOGEM ltd, a Lagos-based tourism consultancy firm presents a glimpse of what to expect in August. 
There in the sky is already a conspicuous mark that the Osun Osogbo festival 2014 would come in a different colour to conform with the Yoruba witty maxim that sign of a beautiful Friday radiates in the preceding Thursday.
The sizeable gathering that converged on the elitist Eko Hotel and Suites on Victoria Island, Lagos last Tuesday, had a mouthful of appetizer of what to expect in Osogbo between August 7 and 22.
The press conference, as the attendees would later remark, literally did a great marketing job for the festival with the attendance cutting across different sectors of the society, especially the corporate and cultural world. The exquisite Iris Hall, which hosted the conference, indeed justified the reason the organiser of the event settled for Eko Hotel this year.
Saturday Newswatch gathered that given the tremendous success so far recorded in previous editions, “the management of the hotel, therefore, woke to the reality that a good number of tourists who would first have a stop-over in Lagos before heading to Osogbo, are involved in the festival.”
The programme was compeered by the Chief Executive Officer of the sponsor-organisation, INFOGEM, Ayo Olumoko, while the task of enumerating the programme of the festival to the media was assigned to Chief Jimoh Ibrahim, and the renowned artist did not put anyone in doubt of his full grasp of Osun Osogbo.
The Asoju Oba of Gbodofon suburb took the podium like a university don before his students, reeling out one event after the other. Ibrahim was so engrossed in the assignment that Olumoko had to tactically, but disappointingly remind him of time constraint.
Even at that, the chief made himself clear to the audience as he asserted the status of Osogbo not as only the capital of Osun State, but also as the culture city according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
“To buttress this fact, Osogbo is the only city in Nigeria with the highest assemblage of artists. We have not less than 70 artists who are doing the nation proud in the art world. These artists are known everywhere participating in one exhibition or another.
The Ataoja, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun, who spoke extemporal in Yoruba language, showered praises on the audience for identifying with Osun Osogbo festival. He particularly commended and prayed for the media for what he called their encouraging coverage of the festival every year.
He said the good publicity had gone a long way in projecting the festival, which according to him, is being monitored around the world through the internet. He recalled his last trip to the United States where he was warmly received even by the foreigners who claimed to have heard so much about Osun festival.
“Those white men were so interested to the extent that they showed me a river they said they wanted to name Osun. I told them Osun cannot be replicated anywhere else. All the same I acknowledged their appreciation of the festival,” the Ataoja said.
In the company of the Ataoja at the event, aside his olori, Adeola Olanipekun, were the Araba Awo of Osogboland, Chief Priest Ifayemi Elebuibon and notable members of Osogbo Progressive Union (OPU), Lagos State branch.
The Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola’s election campaign train which landed in Ede town on Tuesday, did not rob the event of government presence as his Special Adviser  on Culture and Tourism, Ladi Soyede, held brief and delivered a speech, showing a government genuinely committed to make an enduring impact on the festival.
It would be recalled that in less than two years in office, the government gave Osun groove a facelift by constructing a befitting pavilion, which has provided the needed relief to the Ataoja who is accompanied to the groove by a large crowd of dignitaries from within and outside the state.
To demonstrate the government’s support, he said the government is introducing marathon walk, Tourism ambassadors, festival trade fair, food festival as well as festival concert in the 2014 edition.
Like his principal, who is noted for refreshing the memories of his audience with details of his achievements, Soyede said that since November, 2010, the Aregbesola administration has been in the forefront of promoting matters that have to do with the renaissance of Yoruba culture as a means of reducing poverty.
“Solid progress has been made in this regard in the past three years, which had made Osun Osogbo festival to become the biggest festival in Nigeria. From our records, the 2013 edition of the festival recorded 21,713 domestic tourists including 123 international tourists while Abuja Carnival 2013 recorded 19,015 domestic tourists which includes 113 international tourists as N147, 250 was recorded as the expenditure,” he stated.
Given the large turnout at the festival, Soyede promised a water-tight security, not forgetting a clean environment and emergency service personnel to ensure a peaceful festival.
To underscore the cultural significance of the event, Ayo Ewebiyi Cultural Group thrilled the audience with their traditional music and dance. Their performance, which clearly exceeded the time allotted to them, was worth the while as they exhibited their dance prowess to the heavy bata percussion.
The Apala maestro, Musiliu Haruna Isola, also added to the entertainment segment of the event. Besides, the late Kennery exponent, Orlando Owoh’s baritone voice rented the hall when a young musician shocked the audience with a brief performance that perfectly mimicked Owoh’s. The audience acknowledged the performance with an ovation that accompanied him back to his seat.
Of special interest was the moment the renowned female artist, Chief Nike Okundaye, was called upon to offer prayers for the success of the festival. The woman, whose blue adire batik flowing gown was the cynosure of all eyes, especially with her special head gear, showed the audience that her foray into art is not a happenstance.
She danced from her seat to the podium with the Ataoja’s olori providing a beautiful partnership alongside another female guest. Ekundaye thanked the guests and promised them a spectacular Osun festival. She was said to have introduced Osun children cultural fiesta to give the young ones equal opportunity at the festival.
“The white would say the best way to bequeath a tradition to the youth is to catch them young. What we have so far achieved in the world of art today should be exposed to the young ones to teach them that our culture is richer in content and outlook,” she said.
Corporate sponsors of the festivals had their representatives in attendance to address the audience. The platform offered them the needed opportunity to market their products and encourage the audience to be in Osogbo to evaluate their respective contribution to the festival.
Olumoko, who was in full control of the proceeding, traced the history of corporate sponsorship of Osun festival to 2002. Olumoko revealed that sponsors were approved based on merit, saying that Osogbo people don’t compromise merit.
“I have been doing business in the town for the past 15 years, and I must tell you that I always feel at home. Same goes to a lot of non-indigenes who have done wonderfully in the town. I must mention someone like KSA (King Sunny Ade) among others who passed through the town,” he said.
Chief Elebubon, in his usual calm disposition, urged the youth to know their root to appreciate their existence. He said celebration of traditional festival is an appeasement to the deities, who oversee the world.
The Ifa priest, who is also preparing for the Ifa festival coming up on July 17, said return to root is a way to find lasting solution to the social malaise plaguing the nation.
“No nation can develop without identifying with its root. This is one area where we are not getting it right. But since the constitution gives equal right to religions, nobody would force others to embrace his own. But I am happy and fulfilled that what we are doing is giving us joy on daily basis,” he said.
Light refreshment was served at the end of the programme with Olumoko urging the media to continue their partnership for the success of the festival.
“I always say it that the role my colleagues in the media play in this project is great and appreciated. We are friends and we shall always be. Let’s do it together once again. See you in Osogbo,” he concluded.
DAILY NEWSWATCH