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Category: General

Amour Perssonel Carrier-2

Amour Perssonel Carrier-2OSUN State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has   warned  criminals and agents of violence to steer clear of the state or face the law, as the governorship election approaches.

Aregbesola spoke during the launch and handover of 20 Amoured Personnel Carriers (APC) that cost N1.3 billion to the State Police Command in Osogbo, the state capital.

This was in fulfillment of his administration’s promise to equip the command with the APCs.

The governor expressed pains at what he called the Federal Government’s penchant for playing politics with crucial security matters.

Aregbesola urged President Goodluck Jonathan to separate politics from the issue of security by granting the state a short code for its emergency centre.

The governor noted that when government fails to guarantee safety of lives and property, it has no business   being in power.

Aregbesola said security, safety and the welfare of the people are the primary responsibilities of any government as enshrined in the nation’s constitution.

He affirmed that since his first day in Office, he warned his party members and the people that there will be no room for infraction of law and that people should refrain from using their previous experience to persecute their political opponents.

“Politics should not be mingled with security, because security does not know religion, party affiliation or ethnicity.

“The Federal Government just refused to give us short code to make our emergency centre work. It has been ready for the past 13 to 18 months ago. If that centre had been activated, our helicopter will get to the farthest place of this state in 15 minutes to attend to emergency issues.

“It won’t cost the Federal Government a dime, but to just direct the NCC to allow us to use their 122 line. I wrote to the President, he did not even acknowledge the letter, let alone giving us approval,” the governor stressed.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police, David Omojola, who represented the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, praised the courage of the governor in fighting crime.

He pointed out that the IGP has directed that the equipment should be moved to the state Police headquarters for immediate use in fighting crime and criminal activities.

“We are very grateful for your effort at lifting our spirit by providing the Armoured Personnel Carrier. This is the first in the history of the country when a government will be providing such numbers of equipment for the police in one fell swoop.

“The presentation of the APC is the climax of your practical demonstration and support for security in the state, and our effort to fight crime has received a huge boost.

“Criminals no longer have a hiding place in Osun, as we make everywhere secured,” he Inspector General of Police pointed out.

Speaking earlier, the Commissioner of Police, Osun Command, Ibrahim Maishanu, described the  government’s gesture as the first in the state’s history.

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Dad_1Osun State governor and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the August 9 governorship poll, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has disclosed that the desire to serve the people motivated him to go into politics.

Aregbesola said, while others have no ideas of what to do with power, he thinks about policies and programmes that will positively turn the fortunes of the people around positively.

Speaking at the palace of Timi of Ede, Oba Munirudeen Adesola Lawal, during a political campaign to Ede federal constituency, Aregbesola said that a holistic analysis of his administration’s programme will reveal that his government has treated the people and various political districts in the state equally.

Revealing that Ede constituency supported his ambition in 2007 by voting en mass for him, the governor said the Cocoa Industries in Ede will soon be rejuvenated as a government delegation has gone to China to purchas new machines for the industry.

He said: “Ede has been supportive of our ambition and government. Without the votes of Ede North and Ede South local government areas, I would not be governor.

“Without these two local governments, we would not have the two members of House of Representatives and one member of House of Assembly.

“Don’t let the opposition tell you lies, because that is their stock in trade. Ask them to tell you the programmes they have for the people. But we know they have none.”

Saying that what he had done in Osun in less than 40 months surpassed what the opposition did in seven years, both in quantity and quality, Aregebesola assured that this is just the beginning of good things in Osun.

He listed some of the achievements of his government in the constituency to include rehabilitation of 21.3 kilometre Ede township roads, construction of 7.3 kilometre local government roads in Ejigbo council, construction of 7.7 kilometre local government roads in Ede South, construction of 10 kilometre local government roads in Ede North, among others.

Former governor of old Oyo State, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, described Aregbesola as true politician with love for his people, adding that the works of late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo; former governor of old Ondo State, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Chief Awokoya, which had been stagnated has received a boost from Aregbesola.

He said Aregbesola understands the game of politics more than all the governors in the South-West.

Timi of Ede, Oba Lawal, while giving his royal blessings, commended Aregbesola for the massive work going on in the state, saying that the governor, having given a good account of his administration in the first term, deserves to be re-elected to continue the good work.

NATIONAL MIRROR

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Speaker, Osun House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Najeem Salaam has decried the outrageous insinuation that greeted the collapse of a school hall within the premises of the state of art facility of Ejigbo High school, saying that the statement  credited to some political players that substandard materials was prejudicial and an act of sabotage.

In a statement issued by his media office, Speaker Salaam who hails from Ejigbo, the host community of the school, noted that while an investigation team was yet to get to the spot where a loud bang was reportedly heard by the people in site before the collapse of a detached auditorium, some political actors who appeared to be happy with the rubbles of the edifice went on air to pass judgment on the material composition of the building.

Speaker Salaam then challenged those who insinuated on substandard building materials as the cause of collapse of the structure to present their empirical evidence or stop their ill-motivated  politicking on the matter until the result of investigation is out, Saying that he personally monitored the work-in-progress and there was nothing suggesting that something was fishy and for a new building to be uprooted from the foundation, more information need to be processed. So, prejudice is needless.

Besides, Speaker Salaam has condemned the hate and threat speech of the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Iyiola Omisore against a lawmaker representing Atakunmosa East and West, Hon. Babatunde Festus Komolafe at Ifewara few days ago, warning that the parliament has it on tape where he threatened to deal with the lawmaker using soldiers.

He said: “when we listened to Omisore governorship campaign at Ifewara, it is disappointing that he was busy threatening to sack Hon. Komolafe’s home and that he would unleash soldiers on him for daring to mobilize his constituents for the reelection of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola.”

The Speaker then stressed that he would forward the tape of the threat against the lawmaker to the security agencies for the safety of the legislator.

Signed:

Goke Butika

Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker

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OGBENILEKANSI

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Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola spoke with reporters in Osogbo, the state capital, on his administration, the Ekiti governorship election and preparations for the August 9 poll in the State of the Living Springs. Excerpts:
The governorship election will hold in Osun State next month. How can the APC  avert what happened during the Ekiti poll?
A genuine democrat must be willing and ready to embrace defeat as he or she will embrace victory, provided the election is transparent, credible, free and fair. The real issue is not about you as a candidate, but the quality of the electoral process. Once the quality is good and high, whatever the people say is the final because they are the ultimate decider of who represents or govern them. Democratic choices is expected to be correct, good and right, but it is not always that the choice is good, correct and right. Long before I assumed this office, I prepared so well for the office in a way that, going by the normal run, I should not be working as hard as I am working now for re-election. I am one of the politicians that from day one began my campaign. From the day I entered this office, I started my campaign. How many governors walk the streets with their citizens? I have been doing that since the first month in office. How many governors creates interactive forum in Nigeria before me? There is none. I was the first governor that devoted close to 10 hours of continuous engagement on a quarterly basis with the citizens.
The ‘Ogbeni Till Day Break’ is a worldwide engagement because we take feedbacks from social media. Hardly is there any community in this state that I have not touched personally. In terms of physical and social services, this is the first government that will say that there is no household, be it the PDP, be it the APC and others, that our programme has not reached, there is none. I feed 300,000 pupils every school day at the cost of N3.6 billion a year, I have been doing it since 2012 and I have spent N7.2 billion on that. The students consume 15,000 whole chicken every week and it is served twice. They consume 300,000 eggs every week, one egg a week. They consume 400 tons of fish every week. They consume 35 herds of cattle every week. We gave close to N600 million to the poultry farmers and also the fish farmers.
Also, 1000 new farmers who we raised to produce cocoyam are in this, close to 500  ‘O’Yes  cadets’ are equally empowered to outtake the cocoyam and give to the vendors. Also, tens of thousands are equally engaged providing different items. From this alone, close to one million people are directly impacted from just one programme, ‘O’meal’. We have the second batch of O’Yes cadets, the first batch of 20,000 had gone, the 2nd batch of 20,000 is on and they are from homes. They work two or three days a week and they have the entire days of week left for them to see what they can do with their hands and earn a living because they are taught entrepreneurial training but they earn N10,000 monthly as cadets. On this scheme alone, this administration has spent N9 billion. I tell people what this type of scheme means for national government. You can’t say I don’t have 18 friends who I can give half a billion naira contract to, whether they do it or not, I would have still given it. But, the maximum amount of that investment that will stay here will be less than 50 per cent, yes, you will have the project here but there would still be capital flight because we are talking about direct impact on the economy.  O’Yes have changed the paradigm; 100 per cent of that N9 billion is in this economy.
The programme has huge economic benefit to the state. Every O ‘Yes cadet has a smart card and the issue of anyone handling or tampering with their money does not arise. We are one of the few government that develops a meaningful programme for elderly citizens care. We are not into a blanket social welfare scheme for the elderly, we have a package that did an extensive survey of citizens that are 65 years and above, we have them in our database. We now identified those among them that are without any support, that is the first time any government will so do in Nigeria. We engaged a consultant, who is a professor of gerontology in OAU, Ile-Ife . He developed the programme they used and without sentiment or parochialism, they got elderly citizens that lack support, we called them critically vulnerable people who are aged but have nobody to care for them. If we did not discover them, nobody will know such people exist in Nigeria because they are waiting to die because they lack everything. We identified 1,800 of such people state wide.
The selection was purely based on their conditions, not primodial sentiment. We didn’t do the selection anyway, Professor Ogunbameru of OAU administered everything, gave us the list and the addresses. We have been giving them N10,000 monthly since 2012.Your question is if am bothered about Ekiti, I don’t even think about it. As a loyal APC member, I was disturbed. But, as a head of  a government that has worked so well with the people, I don’t even see the effect. I look at my engagement with the people, the products of my government, which has not left any home unaffected positively, and I said if election is about acceptance, popularity and impact you have made on the people, we are waiting for what the dictate of democracy would be. In a credible, transparent, free and fair election, Rauf Aregbesola does not have any worry at all about what people will say about his administration.
 Is your administration in good terms with four critical sectors, namely teachers, civil servants, okada riders and students?
Let us start with the students. When we came in, students were given a bursary of N3,000 and they won’t even get the bursary on time and it was full of scam. They brought it to me to sign and I said why do I have to sign N3,000 for anybody? We raised the bursary to N10,000 flat. For medical and law students N20,000 while our indigenes in the Law School get N100,000. I don’t see how such students will hate us. I can’t see it. Whoever now hates us has something else against us not for the fact that we have not done the needful. The increase wasn’t solicited; we did it out of our own understanding of the reality of what the students are going through. There was clamor for the reduction of fees. We reduced the fees from a huge amount to something that is comparably affordable. Also, we have been investing in developing the institutions much more than any administration has done in the history of this state.
For okada riders, they have no problem with us. They may want us to do things for them as we have done to some other groups, but it not as if they said, compared to others, these are the problems. The roads here are appreciated even by those who used legs. Has any government succeeded in constructing 200 kilometres of road in all the nooks and crannies of the state? There is no part of this state that we have not constructed a new road and it is not just any road, but roads with concrete drainage, with stone base and kick asphaltic cover and above all, when I get to campaign grounds, I say our roads have tribal marks. We now have special roads. When we complete some of them, they will be tourism attraction and centres on their own. The road we are building in Gbogan, people will be coming to look at it, mark my words. That road you see, Gbongan/Akoda Road will be a tourism attraction because it is not an ordinary road because its a road that took me time to conceive and design and we are taking our time to develop it. We also want to tell the world that the black man is a human being. I have two major objectives on earth. One is to help in the process of eliminating poverty because I hate poverty. I wasn’t born poor, but I feel bad to see people in destitution. Two is that I don’t like how blacks are in the world today. As long as I live, I must be part of the process that will give the black man a good reckoning where they are because sadly, we are in the lowest part of civilisation. I have been everywhere in the World, except the continent of Australia, and in everywhere in the world, the most depressing portion of it is inhabitated by blacks. These are the two issues that motivate me.
What about civil servants?
Before our advent, the civil servants never knew that salary could be paid before the end of the month. For seven and half year, salaries were never paid here before the end of the month. But, from when I assumed office, we changed that. Before the year ended when I assumed office, I paid 10 per cent of their basic as the 13th month salary and paid December salary before the end of the year.
The civil servants were dazed. Since that day up until December 2013, I pay salary on or before the 25th of every month. But, as from January 2014, we ran into trouble which we explained to everybody six months before then. In July 2013, the Federal Government began a squeeze. They said 400,000 barrel of crude oil is being stolen everyday. We didn’t know the problem was coming. Instead of collecting N4.6 billion, they gave this government N2.6 billion, 40 per cent slashed. We thought it will be temporary because, after that month, they said the stolen crude has reduced to 200,000 barrel per day. When the oil being lost reduced, would you still expect a 40 per cent cut? From that July to now, the maximum allocation this state has ever received is N3.2 billion, which was in November 2013. I am not making up anything, simply saying the truth. Now ask me how was I able to pay up until December 2013? My people are called osomalo. They are very deft in the management of money and I took this from them. I had been saving through the ‘Omoluwabi Conservation Fund’ in which 10 per cent of all allocation must just go and rest. So, I had money in reserve, which was a build-up from my refusal to form cabinet for 10 months. I had the money. Whereas my income fell to N2.6billion at the lowest and N3.4billion at the highest for a month, my statutory expenditures, which are expenditures that I have no control on, once we have agreed on it, for instance salary, pension and they are N3.6 billion every month, I have no power over it. I can’t say no Iam not paying, Between July and December, I augmented my income with N5.4 billion.  All in the hope that this thing will go, it didn’t go. It has not gone as we speak, it is even worse. Before, when you get your allocation, you will cash it by the 15th of every month, that is why they are paying salaries on the 15th of the month before we came in.To make up the deficit in what I received and what I must pay, I spent extra N5.4 billion. However, I told you earlier that I gave 10 per cent of basic salary for 13th month salary; the second year I gave 25 per cent; the third year I gave 50 per cent; the fourth year, I gave 100 per cent. So, December of 2013, I gave every worker in the employment of Osun 100 per cent of their basic salary as extra income, which I paid before the end of the year. Why should any worker say I am not friendly with them?  Before, workers here were given their leave allowances enbloc at the end of the year, I told them this is unresonable because we don’t go on leave at the same time. So, choose when you want your leave allowance to be paid. Is it at your birthday or the anniversary of your employment into the service. So, whenever you summit your birthday, your leave allowance will be credited to you. I don’t know if any other government in Nigeria that does that. Two, go and visit the secretariat and see what we have made of their work enviroment.  So, if these are things that should motivate workers, I stand tall and proud because I have done my best. As we speak, we have not collected June allocation. They might not give us June allocation until the end of August. But, we will pay our workers, already we have pay June. I am happy to tell you that majority of our civil servants see and appreciate what we are doing. You can to the secretariat and see what we are doing. We increased the car loan by 400 per cent; we increased housing loans by 100 per cent. For 36 out of 43 months we have been paying regularly, let’s even assume that there is a problem of delayed payments now, I cannot believe all the workers will be against us because I have done my best. If the demonstration of interest of workers in their remuneration and allowances counts and with what we have done, I don’t think they will be against us.
I read the advert they published and I laughed because it indicted them. They wrote that my income was N2.8 billion and this is what I have to pay, N3.4billion and pegged it with state and local governments. There is no way I can touch the local government account because it is separate and distinct. I can only give policy statements on that.
What about teachers?
Our teachers in the state are now very well motivated such that you cannot distinguished between our them and bank workers. When you see a teacher in Osun before you know. They are so depressed, unmotivated and absence of facilities. Our teachers now appear corporate and well-motivated. This is the first government that will say that you don’t need to buy textbooks for your children in the high school, Opon Imoand its targeted at 150,000 students. It is a high school a library of 53 textbooks.
Are you prepared for a possible lockdown of the state, few days to the election?
You see, I came here from the street and it is easy for me to go back to the street. My real home is on the street. Whoever will hold me on the street will try. I laugh when they talk about me because they don’t know I am from the street.
What is your perception about the term stomach infrastructure?
To those people who are the elite and are therefore separated from the people, this term may make a new meaning. I am a product of the popular forces, the people. I am part and parcel of them. I emanated from them. Iam a product of their struggles. What is now known as stomach infrastructure is what we know as interaction, engagement, living with the people and meeting their aspirations and needs. That is what we have been doing from the very beginning of this administration; I feed their children every day meal.
My administration does not suffer alienation from the people. It is one and same with the people and that is the basis of our confidence in their ever ready support at all times.
Is there any aspect of the state that you think you have not touched?
There is no trade, commercial or social group in the state of Osun that we have not impacted.  There is no aspect. Apart from Lagos, we are the only state government that has an emergency call center but has been made dysfunctional because the federal government just refused to give us short code to make it work. It has been ready for the past 13 to 18 months ago. If that centre had been activated, we acquired a helicopter that will get to the farthest place of this state in 15 minutes to attend to emergency issues. It won’t cost the federal government a dime but to just direct the NCC to allow us use their 122 line. I wrote to the president that emergency does not know political parties, what we don’t want is needless death because of absence of emergency services and the state of the art facilities is still lying down there fallow.
THE NATION

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The government of Osun on Thursday fulfilled its promise to further equip the state police command with additional 20 sophisticated Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs).

This was just as Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, expressed pains at what he called the Federal Government’s penchant for playing politics with crucial security matters.

Aregbesola, before the leadership of the Police led by a Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to separate politics from the issue of security by granting the state a short code for its emergency centre.

The governor read the riot act to criminals and agent of violence to steer clear of the state or face full wrath of law as governorship election approaches.

Aregbesola said these during the launch and hand over of 20 sophisticated Amoured Personnel Carriers at the cost of N1.3 billion Naira to the Osun Police command in Osogbo.

The governor held that when government fails to guarantee safety of lives and property, such government has no business to be in power.

Aregbesola stated that security, safety and the welfare of the people are the primary responsibilities of any government as enshrined in the Nation’s constitution.

He affirmed that since his first day in Office he warned his party members and the people that there will be no room for infraction of law and that people should refrain from using their previous experience to persecute their political opponents.

According to him, “security is the most essential responsibility of a responsible government. When a government fails to provide security, it has no business in power.

“Politics should not be mingled with security, because security does not know, religion, party affiliation or ethnicity.

“The Federal government just refused to give us short code to make our emergency centre work. It has been ready for the past 13 to 18 months ago. If that centre had been activated, our helicopter will get to the farthest place of this state in 15 minutes to attend to emergency issues.

“It won’t cost the Federal Government a dime but to just direct the NCC to allow us to use their 122 line. I wrote to the President, he did not even acknowledge the letter let alone giving us approval”. The governor stressed.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police, David Omojola who represented the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar saluted the courage of the governor in fighting crime in the state.

He pointed out that the IGP has directed that the equipment should be moved to the state Police headquarters for immediate use in fighting crime and criminal activities.

“We are very grateful for your effort at lifting our spirit by providing the Armoured Personnel Carrier, this is the first in the History of the country when a government will be providing such numbers of equipment for the police in one fell swoop.

“The presentation of the APC is the climax of your practical demonstration and support for security in the state, and our effort to fight crime has received a huge boost.

“Criminals no longer have a hiding place in Osun as we make everywhere secured”. The Inspector General of Police pointed out.

Speaking earlier, the Commissioner of Police, Osun Command, Ibrahim Maishanu described the gesture from the governor as the first in the history of the state.

He assured the governor and citizen that the equipment will be properly put to use and Osun will be one of the most peaceful state in the country.

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In its continued bid to make life more meaningful for the people, the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has launched a N4billion micro-credit scheme for the operators of small scale businesses.

The governor also distributed 40 mini-buses “Korope” to transporters at the Nelson Mandela Freedom Park in Osogbo at the commissioning ceremony of Osun-Micro Credit Agency through the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, Co-operatives and Empowerment.

The transporters were so elated that they confessed that the twin task of purchasing the buses and tarring the roads have solved commuting hitches for the people.

The governor said welfare, security and empowerment of the people are primary responsibilities of a good government

The governor averred that any government that brings hardship rather than succour to the people is a devilish government.

The governor of Lagos, Mr. Babatunde Fashola who graced the occasion held that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is a party of the masses and will at no time consider any policy that will be against the people.

According to Aregbesola since the inception of his administration, he has pursued welfare, peace, progress and development of the people of the state.

Aregbesola said: “It is on the other hand a chance for our people to reap the benefits of their trust and support for our government.

“Our own way of serving our people and showing our gratitude to them is not by sharing money which they will spend within a very short time. Rather, what we do is give them the means and capacity to be able to make money by themselves and for themselves. In other words, we empower our people to be economically productive and financially independent.

“In this way, we tell our people certain things about us: that we are a government of responsibility, accountability and transparency.

“We are a government that is truly committed to the welfare and well-being of our people; and we will continue to serve them to the best of our abilities.”

Fashola told the gathering that is it absolute lie that his government banned Okada from Lagos.

He stated that what his government did was to merely restrict the operators from plying highways as a way of protecting their lives.

He disclosed that since the restriction about six months ago, Okada-induced deaths and injuries have almost varnished on Lagos roads.

“We want what is good for our people, including security and protection of their lives.

“Don’t let the opposition tell you lies that we banned Okada on Lagos streets. We have welfare of our people at heart.

“In fact, one of the cardinal policies of APC is to guarantee the welfare and well-being of our people,” Fashola said

Speaking on behalf of the transporters, Asimiyu Oladejo, President Cooperative Transporters, said “No government has ever bought a vehicle for us in the history of this state. Government did not only by the buses for us; the government also tarred the roads so that the buses will be durable.”

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Photos of the Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,  his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam and others at the commissioning of Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Cross section of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier distributed to the State security officers by the Administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Insert: Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others during the commissioning in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Cross section of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier distributed to the State security officers by the Administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Insert: Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others during the commissioning in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Cross section of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier distributed to the State security officers by the Administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Insert: Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others during the commissioning in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Cross section of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier distributed to the State security officers by the Administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Insert: Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others during the commissioning in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola after test driving one of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) his Administration distributed to the State Security Personnel,. Insert: Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others, during the commissioning of Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola after test driving one of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) his Administration distributed to the State Security Personnel,. Insert: Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others, during the commissioning of Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others, during the commissioning of Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (Middle in white); his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye_Tomori; Speaker of the House of Assembly, Hon. Najeem Salam (left); Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone 11, Mr David Omolaja (2nd left); Osun Commissioner of Police, Mr.Maishanu Ibrahim (5th left); Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Barrister Amos Adekunle (6th left) and others, during the commissioning of Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola after test driving one of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) his Administration distributed to the State Security Personnel, during the commissioning in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola after test driving one of the newly commissioned Amoured Personnel Carrier (APC) his Administration distributed to the State Security Personnel, during the commissioning in Osogbo, the State of Osun on Thursday 11-07-2014

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OPINION: 'Osun Poll – Many Lies Of The Oppositions'

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 fi
t 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. 

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People gather at the Osun sacred river to collect water during the annual worship festival of a river goddess in Osogbo

People gather at the Osun sacred river to collect water during the annual worship festival of a river goddess in OsogboMalam Yusuf Abdalalh, the Director-General, National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) on Thursday said the Osun Osogbo Groove would be developed to become the best tourists’ destination in Africa.

Abdallah said this in Abuja when the committee on the 2014 Osun Osogbo festival paid him a courtesy call.

He said that the groove would be developed to attract patronage by tourists from all over the world.

The director-general said that the commission was managing the site to ensure that it retained its pride on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Abdallah said that the commission would involve the private sector in managing the site.

“We want to get the private sector involved in the management of the Osun Osogbo festival, also Sukur site in Adamawa so as to make them appealing to tourists.

“We want to also make the Osun Osogbo festival one of the best tourists’ destination in Africa and the commission will leave no stone unturned to achieve this noble project,’’ he said.

The director-general lauded the efforts of the Osun Osogbo festival committee in ensuring that the festival retained its pride of place among the Yorubas.

Abdallah said that the listing of Osun Osogbo festival on the World Heritage List had improved the image of the site.

He said that the participation of private sectors had equally made it gain a lot of attention.

Abdallah said that the site was not only about artifacts and monument but had also helped in enterprise development, which had provided employment for the people of Osun.

He said that this had reduced the level of poverty and helped to put food on the table of the people.

“The contributions of the festival have been very significant in the state,’’ he said.

The Principal Coordinator, Osun Osogbo Festival, Chief Jimoh Braimoh, commended the NCMM for maintaining the highest standard in the management of the groove.

Braimoh said that every family in Osun was committed to the festival, adding that both Muslims or Christian were usually involved in the success of the festival.

He said the groove had been modified to wearing a new look and called for proper funding to maintain the standard.

He said that the committee would not deviate from pursuing standard in the groove.

“We are looking forward to ensuring that Osun Osogbo gets better.

“We will not deviate from the normal thing that is required of us to do to ensure that the 2014 festival is a success,’’ Braimoh said.

VANGUARD

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OSUN 2014: Aregbesola Will Create More Jobs And Not Sack Workers

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun said on Wednesday that his administration was aimed at improving welfare packages of civil servants and creating more jobs, without any plan to retrench or sack any one.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Environment & Sanitation, Honourable Bola Ilori, on behalf of the governor, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Osogbo.

Ilori said,” With the ongoing rumors that the present administration would sack or retrenched civil servants, should be debunked and considered as mere tools being used by political opponents to lure electorates.”

He said,’’ Aregbesola had set up plans to recruit more civil servants in the state, with the establishment of more agencies and also improved welfare packages of staff.’’

“Looking at cocoa industry in Ede, the ultra modern Abattoir within the state, and other government establishment yet to be commissioned, shown that more jobs would be created.

“More agencies would be established, to monitor and ensure that the beautification and construction projects are maintained to international standards.” Ilori said.

According to Ilori, ‘’ The diversification of the economy had really made Osun to be recognized internationally and also regarded as the fast growing economy in Nigeria.’’

He said, ‘’ the present administration increased the number of staff from every sector of the economy, and also ensure that those at the grassroots were not denied the dividend of democracy.’’

The SA called on party faithful who are yet to get permanent voters’ card at their respective local governments, to collect their voters’ cards, in order not to be disenfranchised in the forthcoming August 9 governorship election.

He decried the negative effect of not collecting voters cards before the election date, and called on party supporters group within the wards, to enlightened and educate people on the essence of having their voters’ cards at hand.

Ilori, however, urged supporters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Osun and people of Osun, to come out en masse and also enjoined them to shun any act of violent, during and after the exercise.

NAN

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