Otunba Lai Oyeduntan is the Chairman of the two years old Osun Schools’ Infrastructure Development Committee.

In this interview with DAILY INDEPENDENT he spoke at length on the levels of school upgrades and how the needs assessment and implementation had transformed the school landscape in all corners of the state.
What is the mandate of your committee?
Osun State Infrastructure Development Committee is a committee responsible for the development and upgrade of school infrastructure in the state of Osun. The committee came after the need has been identified of certain policy options to reform school and education sector in the state. It is so because by the time Governor Rauf Aregbesola assumed office, the situation on ground was unacceptable and long before the governor assumed office, he has been associated with the sector. He has had personal experiences that were not particularly encouraging.
Can you give details of the scenario before the intervention?
The percentage of qualified students graduating from Osun secondary schools is so low that in public schools it averages between six and five per cent. That is certainly unacceptable. Performances in both external and internal exams are the only yardstick for measuring efficiency in the school system. For a state like Osun as one of the states where education is very expensive is unacceptable. It will be the irresponsible of the government to ignore it especially having reviewed the sector through the education summit the steps taken in previous years by successive governments to ameliorate the situation.
It was obvious to us after the summit that the intervention in the sector will have to be drastic and comprehensive. There are three factors that are germane to an effective education sector. The pupils must be the main reason for schooling. The pupils therefore must be motivated to want to learn, the teacher that will teach must also be sufficiently encouraged to teach and deliver effectively. All of these must come together in an environment that is conducive for the good mix of teaching and learning.
By 2010, none of those ingredients were in place any more. The pupils are not particularly keen on learning as truancy was the order of the day. The teachers were not well motivated to carry out their assignments. The environment in which all of these were supposed to be taking place was certainly poor and all these are not acceptable at all. Having identified all these imperatives the government set out to tackle them.
Firstly, attempts were made to motivate the students’ through the O’Meal and the phenomena of that alone can be seen in the jump in enrolment in elementary school.
The situation analysis at the beginning of the exercise informed the approach being taken in the re-classification of schools. While looking at what will be the ideal, we discovered several schools with less than 100 pupils with three or four teachers and headmaster or mistress who does not teach. There was no consistency in the whole arrangement between either rural or urban centres. In the urban centres where you have the population, you have schools I, II III which is not in conformity with both teaching and administrative functions. All we have done therefore was to research into best practice all over the world and come with the need to have schools that are of optimum sizes and have maximum facilities that will make teaching and learning more interesting.
In the old primary school, primary I to III are fed. When the food vendors bring the food to the schools the pupils in primary IV, V and VI will not be able to concentrate anymore because their brothers in lower classes are eating and they are going hungry. We discovered that the trend all over the world is to apply science and psychology to the management of the needs of the pupils. The psychological requirements of dealing with a six year old are different with dealing with a 10 year old pupil.
Through this we come to the conclusion that it is better to group the children according to their age group. So six years old to nine year old in grades 1 to 4 are now put in elementary school. Primary 5 and 6 are grouped together with junior secondary school age and high school pupils who are in their late teens are now separated from those in the junior secondary schools. There is nothing extra ordinary about this. Many children in private schools are enrolled in secondary by the time they are nine or ten from primary five. It is just like moving the students who will be in a particular address to the other address where they ordinarily would go in another year. This led to the re-classification of schools and focusing of what the needs are at that level in terms of amenities and facilities appropriate for a given age group.
Having identified the needs driven re-classification exercise, what was the estimation of the infrastructural needs of the system and to what extent has your committee delivered on this?
We recognized the need for a total departure from the routine that is in practice within the system because it was obvious it had failed. The previous government perhaps recognized the need for this same intervention but the enormous amount of money required usually frightens successive governments in the state. We have however come to the conclusion that we cannot run away in tackling the challenges. The governor has demonstrated sufficient political will to address the issues. Even if we have all the monies in this world to address and build all those schools at the same time, the journey of 1000 miles has thus begun with one step by bringing the schools up to what is the trend in modern world.
Education as important as it is should not be treated with levity. We went through a comprehensive data collection and application and came to a conclusion that there is a difference between school in urban centre and in rural areas. Some schools in rural areas may have to remain there even though the population is low but in urban centres, it calls for the optimum size. Elementary school must remain neighourhood schools. That is, the average elementary school pupils should not do more than two kilometers from home in order to get to school. But again it is not difficult for us to achieve. We have not created new schools; we have not moved a school from its location to another. We have only moved the pupils around within the same number of schools, same number of classrooms and for the same purpose.
When you move primary five and six into another school, vacancy is created into which to move primary 1 to four from other schools and vii-a-vis move primaries 1 to four again and that has been the matter of re-allocation of the pupils within the same number of schools there are already in existence. It is not as if the schools were closed down or construction of new schools somewhere else. All the schools we are building are on existing schools.
On estimation until the last school is built and transformed into a functional esthetically purpose built school our job is not done.
When we started we recognized the enormity of task in terms of funding. Having demonstrated the political will we have received substantial supports from outside of the normal government purse. The national assembly caucuses have put their entire constituency projects together and the fund is being diverted to fund education. Through that 12 schools will be affected this year and another 12 next year. All our MDG projects are now focused on education. This is simply because the governor has demonstrated that passion for the restructuring and intervention in forms of reforms that is taking place. They have bought into the project and any donor agency that is coming into the state is encouraged to support us along this thinking more than anywhere else.
In terms of physical appropriation, how much has your committee expended on this mission to rebuild. I am aware of the Baptist school commissioned recently.
That is the first and would not be the last. What I meant by first is that all others are coming about the same time. We started less than two years ago having the desk work of designing approval and securing funding for the project. The first of the elementary school was delivered at Salvation Army School, Alekuwodo, Osogbo. It used to be middle school and you have that type of upgrade when you talk of middle schools. When you talk of numbers we started as funding is available for our contractors to move to site. Therefore the completion date will be staggered. In the next few weeks we should be able to accommodate at least 10,000 elementary school pupils in brand new schools. In the next few weeks we should be able to accommodate middle school pupil about 14,000 in new schools.
For this year our attention is now shifting to comprehensive renovations instead of building new schools. Comprehensive renovations suggest that roof ceilings, floor, windows and doors will be replaced to the standard of a brand new school. Some structures will have to be removed to bring back sanity that used to pervade such schools where the standard distribution of structures conforms to layout plans unlike what we have in the past, where blocks of three classrooms are constructed on playgrounds without regard to the esthetics of the schools. This is in recognition of the fact that education for us is not about learning to read and write alone but the need to have a complete man come out of the system.
And that complete man must see himself as a major stakeholder in our society. He must appreciate the esthetic decency of the environment that is well beyond the basic functionalities. That is why all our facilities are designed with decency and functionality in mind. The high school is a much bigger school with capacity for 3.000 in the same premises with governance imperative that goes with that number of population. It is meant to encourage the finishing school for the basic education. By the time an average Osun student leaves our high school he or she should not be intimated by any campus or college anywhere because we would have introduced such population and governance that goes with such size of school and functionality esthetics of the environment.
One, when we talk about numbers, you will observed that I didn’t talk about 10 or that number, I went straight to identify the beneficiaries of what we are doing because you track every kobo being spent by the state of Osun to the eventual beneficiaries.
All the sites we have executed we insisted that local vendors and artisans must be patronized first unless such expertise cannot be sourced locally then we look elsewhere. We have deployed about three technologies in the construction models of the schools. We have used light steel model fabrication system where three elementary have been and three high schools will also be built using the system. We have deployed the conventional sand Crete system that is common and we have also used the composite bricks as used by the MDG. All of these were brought in to enhance the accessibility of the state to different methods in construction.
Talking about crowding in school, what are the arrangements put in place to address this problem that is common place in public schools?
We are aware of the so called ratio of 25 to a teacher standard. But if you are coming from a background of having about 80 in a classroom then getting 50 in a classroom would be a record. The target is to achieve 25 and rebuild every classroom in Osun but the reality is that yes we have a school year with 25 full classrooms with each classroom measuring 50 square metres that is the capacity for 50. Before now the same size of classroom is where pupils are crowded. Crowding is not uniform. In rural communities you can have less than 20 in a class. But In urban centres the pressure is on accommodation and that is where our intervention comes in. It is the analysis of the number of pupils to a classroom ratio that informed the need to have a well spaced out purposely designed schools. What used to happen is that because of the pressure of enrolment population, a block of three classrooms are built at any available space thus leading to destruction of playground and even construction of classrooms close to highways.
We have a purpose designed the average capacity of a school is 1,000 from what we have before and we still have some of them with 300, 500 and 60 pupils in primary one to six. That is the kind of range and disparity that we have seen that informed the need to have a controlled approach to the distribution and location of the schools.
What is the distribution of the schools?
We do have an even spread and politically it is even smart to concentrate. You must have political spread because there are constituencies. Every constituency will demand for its share any way. But let us be pragmatic because those schools are there to address a problem and to serve the people. Rural areas may not be able to accommodate the standard size of schools we are building. If am building five schools and I want to accommodate 5,000 pupils, I will go to where the population is thick. Like you have rightly observed that overcrowding usually occurs in urban centres so if this others states if you go back to how they did their own planning they must be trying to reach a large number of pupils within the limited resources available to them.
We have here our own statistical background to the planning for the distribution of the schools, the distribution of enrolment, the clusters of population density and where the needs are more pressing. I have a rural school with only 60 pupils from primary one to six all I need to do is to clean it up for them because it does not attract the kind of resources and allocation a school in town with about 1,000 students of 50 in each class. This is pragmatism. But politically speaking even by law you must have spread. When you talk of distribution we are reaching all sections of the state. Presently we are building 14 for elementary and 15 for middle schools.
 Talking about meeting the infrastructural deficit in Osun schools, what is the benchmark for construction to ensure that quality work is done?
We spoke of classification for elementary school pupils from age 6 to 9, middle school pupils from ages 9 to 15 and high school pupils from 15 to 18. We got architects and our brief was quite clear. We have structures that are designed to suit the needs of the respective age groups. Our schools are designed with functionality and esthetics in mind. Functionality is the size of the classrooms, and the spatial arrangement of the buildings that comes with security. Talking about access, control nobody gets into the new schools without being screened and once you are inside you cannot regress from the premises without being attended to and screened. So the average child that comes into school is bound to stay unless authorized to go out. The schools are fenced with controlled entry and exit points. The designs were purpose driven and directed.
The middle school is a story building in U shape and fenced. You cannot drive into the learning arena because there is a parking lot. All visitors and staff of the school access and exists the school through the same points. The elementary schools are neighborhood schools; the middle is a bit further not more than what they used to do in going to grammar schools.  The high school on the other hand is for adults at the age 15 or 16 who able to do a few things by themselves. The high school addresses heavy population centres. In the whole of Ilesa there will be two and in Osogbo there will be three at Olorunda and Ejigbo to absorb the identified high population of high school students. But the issue is by the time am done with this sets of high schools; we will be able to accommodate close to 40,000 students translating to about one third of the high school population.  If the cost of the facilities, the concentration, amenities that will be provided and the governance in place we can them to perform better, we would have increased the fortune of this number of young adults. Rather than trying to please 100 people and getting nowhere why don’t I concentrate on 30 and deliver and end up with 25 per cent performance. Whereas using the mega resources o face 100 was getting 5 per cent. We realize that we must concentrate our efforts on building these building blocks for the future of our society and education.
In totality what are the gains of infrastructural rebirth in Osun schools?
The governor came prepared to focus on education because of the importance of the sector that underpins every aspiration of man and society. A situation where our people start off life with a disadvantage is certainly unacceptable and no responsible government should ignore whatever it takes to effect a change.
The totality of the reform in the education is that the infrastructural enhancement is just but one of the intervention mechanisms. Teachers have been motivated, more teachers have been recruited; arrears of leave bonuses and entitlements have been paid. Teaching in the state has been professionalized. Teachers in the state can now rise to the rank of permanent secretary. The issue is not all about tangibles.
The intangibles are even more important than the tangibles. The tangible is the mind and what determines the man himself. His self esteem, his own estimation of self worth, if he sees himself as a significant member of the community of the society he lives in he will strive to make the community better. He would strive to be a good citizen. We have had a lot of rots out that must not continue. So if we have been able to arrest the rot, we can now think and clam for the growth period. Right now, we are at the point of arresting the rot while waiting for the growth to come naturally because the ground has already been prepared. The objective is to bring Osun back to that competitive edge it has as a supplier of critical manpower, quality of human capital within the committee of states and nations. A people that have grown to realize that they potentials and attain that within an enabled environment though we ranked so low in terms of revenue but rank high in the distribution of wealth.
Are the schools with hostel accommodation and safety?
The high school will come with hostel facilities to be run by private developers and individual but superintendent and controlled in terms of quality and standard by the state. People will be encouraged to build hostels for the schools based on set standards so that students coming to high school can stay within the hostel. We have seen the need for hostel because many parents did not know what their children do after 2 in the afternoon when schools have closed until the parents return in the evening. Hostel environment helps to manage and mould these young adults.
The kind of social re-engineering we are doing will reduce extremism to a minimum because hopelessness breeds the kind of extremism that is threatening the unity of the country and our lives. All of these have been taken into account. The size of the courtyard has something to do with safety. In case of emergency there must be sufficient space as muster point.
The size of the school will obviously make it impossible for the school head to manage in terms of emergencies, what we have done is to engage a school manager for each of the school. His responsibility is to ensure the safety of the students’ and facilities. Ensure the school is neatly kept ensure the functionality of facilities available in the school. This responsibility leaves the teachers to concentrate with academics. By the time the schools are in place it our responsibility to let people have the drills in order to be able to recognize danger and at least knock off the alarm in times of emergency. There will be fire drills because what is important under such situation is the reaction time for people to recognize the need to escape to safety in an orderly manner.
DAILY INDEPENDENT

Arrangements have been concluded between the State Government of Osun and the European Union to organise a training programme for the Community Management Component of the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme (WSSSRP -II).
The training programme ,which will focus on community management ,is expected to be declared open by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Water Resources, Rural Development and Community Affairs, Mr Adekunle Ige on Monday 17th of April, 2014 and will run for four days.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Rural Development and Community Affairs, Engr Adelere Oriolwo.
According to the statement, the training programme which has been tagged: Training of Trainers(TOT) will hold at Atlantis Suit in Osogbo from 10 in the morning while calling on
Participants and concerned members of the public to participate fully so as to become good facilitators in their various communities.
OSUN NEWS

Another laurel came the way of the Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, at the weekend as he was named winner of the coveted 2014 AD King Prize for Achievement in Public Service in an award in London, United Kingdom.
The award, which took place at the just concluded Commonwealth Observance Day also coincided with Nigeria’s Centenary Celebrations in London.
Aregbesola was also bestowed the Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award endowed by the GLEEHD Foundation in partnership with the Commonwealth Democracy Initiative.
According to the joint organisers and promoters of the three-day event led by the Lord Watson of Richmond, the awards are meant to celebrate leaders, who have performed exceptionally and touched the lives of their people.
According to the organisers: “The awards aim to grace the lives and achievements of Nigerian luminaries of the last 100 years, leaders who have shown exceptional imagination, foresight or resilience in a number of key fields – especially leaders that have reversed trends, shaken off traditional limitations and acted as an example and inspiration to others.”
The award was received on behalf of the governor at a colourful Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony the Director General, Office of Economic Development and Partnerships, State of Osun, Dr. Charles Akinola.
In his remark, Akinola congratulated and thanked the organisers and the global jury of the awards, who had recognised the sterling performance of the governor in delivering democracy dividends to the people of the state.
“It is commendable that the organisers of the awards recognised the trail blazing efforts of Governor Aregbesola in delivering public value and impacting positively in a brand new way on the lives of the people of Osun,” Akinola said.
The three- day event  and Awards Ceremony was attended by eminent members of the British political class including, Baroness Lynda Chaulker of Wallasey; Lord Watson of Richmond; Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, British Business Group, which included Simon Walker, Director General of the British Institute of Directors (IOD); American civil right leaders, Naomi Ruth Barber King, widow of the Rev A.D King in whose honour one of the key awards was endowed and the Rev Joe Beasley of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
Distinguished Nigerians at the event also included, former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon; Governors Emmanuel Uduaghan’ Adams Oshiomohle, Isa Yuguda, Abiola Ajimobi and Jonah Jang of Delta, Edo, Bauchi, Oyo and Plateau respectively.
Others included Minister of Power and Steel, Prof Chinedu Nebo;
Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Mr. Foluso Phillips;  Managing Director of the Bank of Industry, Evelyn Oputu; HRH Otunba Adekunle Ojora; Dame Ojuolape Ojora and Director of GLEEHD Nigeria, Mr. Dayo Israel.
One of the high points of the three-day event was a reception hosted by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew at the Buckingham Palace where Governor Aregbesola, represented by Dr. Charles Diji Akinola participated at top level discussions on bilateral trade and investment issues as well as bilateral cooperation.
The Osun delegation, which also included the Special Adviser to the Governor on Women and Children Affairs, Mrs. Funmilayo Eso Williams, was hosted to Lunch at the House of Lords by the Lord Watson of Richmond and Founder Commonwealth Democracy Initiative.
The Osun delegation also attended a Nigeria Business Round table at the London Institute of Directors to discuss potential investments and partnership opportunities between UK businesses and the State of Osun.
 

The Iwo community in Osun West Senatorial District of Osun State was a beehive of activities last Sunday, as Christians, Muslims and traditionalists held a joint concert in support of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s efforts to unite the various religions in the state.
At the concert with theme “Peace and Unity Inter-religious Concept” organised by Pax Nigeriana International, a non-governmental organisation, throngs of Christians, Muslims and traditional worshippers converged on the town hall, singing ‘hymns of unity’ and dancing.
Speaking at the occasion, coordinator of the group, Apostle Dipo Okeyomi said “Governor Aregbesola has demonstrated his love for all religions in the state and that is why we are gathered to debunk insinuations that he is a religious bigot.
“As the son of an archbishop, I attended a Muslim school where I interacted with many Muslims who remain my friends till today.
“That is exactly what the governor has been doing in wanting children of all religious background to attend school, eat and live together, thereby promoting harmony.”
Okeyomi said the ongoing religious crises in some parts of the North are traceable to the failure of both Christian and Muslim parents to allow their children interact in childhood days.
He urged Christians, Muslims and traditionalists in the state to see each other as partners in progress. Corroborating him, the caretaker chairman of Iwo Local Government, Alhaji Kamorudeen Alao, said the massive turnout was a clear demonstration of their appreciation of the governor’s desire to promote peace and harmony in the state.
He thus urged them to support Governor Aregbesola, for a second term in office. The group’s inter-religious concerts, which will be organised throughout the state, will be concluded with a grand finale at the Oshogbo cultural centre on Sunday, March 23.
NATIONAL MIRROR

The Nigerian Economic Summit Group may have found the Opon Imo, the Osun’s Tablet of Knowledge a veritable learning tool whose content and framework need to be examined and propagated across the country.
The Group has invited the state to be part of its 20th summit to share the experience of its innovative e-learning device with people across the country.
The summit with the theme: “Transforming Education through Partnership for Global Competition,” holds from 18th to 20th March at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.
Opon Imo’s Project Manager, Mr. Bambo Bashorun, will lead the state’s delegation to the summit where he is expected to share his experience with other participants.
Other people invited as members of the panel, according to the NESG’s letter to Osun signed by its Director General, Mr. Frank Nweke, are the Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Plc, Gerald Ilukwe; Country Director (Nigeria) of Microsoft, Mr. Kabelo Makwane; Country Manager, Google Nigeria, Ms. Juliet Ehimuan; Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya and Chief Executive Officer, ICX Solution, Mr. Khalifa Imama Galandaci among others.
Mr. Bashorun is expected to take the audience on a journey of how Opon Imo was conceived and transformed into reality as well as its impact on the state’s education sector in the last one year of its deployment.
According to the organizers, it is their belief that Mr. Bashorun’s “experience as the Head of Opon Imo would be invaluable at the 20th Nigerian Economic summit. We would like to hear how its deployment has improved learning outcomes in the State of Osun and what are the challenges facing the use of IT in the classroom.”
It will be recalled that Osun pioneered the e-learning, which was adjudged one of the first across the world, tablet last year to expose its students to information technology as it is being done in the developed countries of the world, where education has gone digital.
And since its debut in 2013, Opon Imo has won awards both at national and international levels as one of inventions of the 21st century contributed to humanity by the State of Osun.
Through initiatives such as Opon Imo, the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has won many laurels both within Nigeria and abroad.
These include, the ICT State of Year 2013 by the Nigerian Telecom Development; World Summit Award E-content initiative; Africa’s Most Innovative Telecom Product of the Year (Opon Imo), by the Nigerian Telecom Development; Governor of the Year on Social Responsibility Award; 2013 from the SERAs at its 7th Annual award;  the Award of Excellence for Pragmatic Leadership, Environmental Management and Youth Empowerment; Information Technology Brand of the Year from Brands in Nigeria Award and others.
The Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) was established in 1996 to serve as a platform for public-private sector cooperation on Nigeria’s economic development.
It was an offshoot of the Nigerian Economic Summits (NES), which was introduced in 1993 by the Chief Ernest Shonekan-led Interim National Government.
Since then, the summit has an annual event. Mainly, the NESG concerns itself with how to foster open and continuous dialogues on Nigeria’s economic development.
Hence, its vision is to become, strategically, “The Nigeria’s leading private sector think-tank committed to the development of a modern globally competitive economy.”
Through this, it therefore, seeks to focus its activities on policy advocacy, research, communication and education.

The primary objective of a good government is to impact positively on its citizenry through policies and programmes that would have direct bearing on their day-to-day living. Those great men and women that brought about a welfare society must have thought completely out of the box in favour of those within the society that are really struggling to make ends meet in  areas that are as basic but essential to human existence and dignity such as food, housing, health and education.
I was privileged a few weeks ago to experience a gathering of experts at the Parliament Building, United Kingdom where deliberations were centred on Home –Grown School Feeding for primary school children and challenges some nations are facing in putting food on the tables for these leaders of tomorrow most especially in Africa and some emerging economies globally. Eminently seated with these world renowned technocrats from  the World Bank, World Food Programme, African Union, Members of Parliament and other professionals around the globe was this familiar face in his usual “Dashiki” flowing white apparel, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who to the surprise of his foreign audience, were jolted and shocked not only with the presentation but most importantly with the content, implementation and outcomes of his  government O’MEALS programme in far away rural setting of Osun State, Nigeria.
There and then, his was the good reference point by all the participants of what a welfare programme should be both in delivery and achievable set goals of alleviating hunger while supporting education, nutritional heath, economic development and empowerment at the local/ communities’ level.
Questions propping through my mind during and after the session were implicit and explicit tangible economic benefits in Osun State and why such opportunities are not being embraced by other states and the Federal Government of Nigeria?  If a state that easily fits as one of the poorest in terms of federal revenue allocation could boldly feed Two Hundred and Fifty Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety Three (252,793.) pupils on a daily basis (Monday to Friday) on nutritious menu that includes fish, egg, chicken, meat, juice/ fruits and carbohydrates (all locally produced, processed, delivered, prepared and consumed); what could that figure of beneficiaries be across the 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja?
As a guess estimate, Nigeria could have helped over Seven Million school children out of hunger and into healthy, happy learning future leaders. This to me is what a welfare-caring society should do.
Not only that, what about job creation and business opportunities this kind of O’MEALS provide that could also be replicated in the 37 states in my beloved country? Osun state, through this global laudable programme, has created Three Thousand and One Hundred (3,100.)  Professional Chefs (caterers); Four Hundred and Sixty Two (462) fish farmers; One Thousand (1,000) Pink cocoyam farmers all within the state economy. That  alone could have eliminated a total figure of close to Two hundred Thousand self employed people into Nigerian economy with a likely multiplier effect in sundries or allied trades and businesses. One has not added the 15,000 whole chicken and 35 heads of cattle per school week into this calculation.
When the history of a welfare state is finally written in the not –so- far future, the one name that will be written in gold is this same man who has transformed technology to a local, accessible and available companion of Osun state secondary school students through OPON IMO ipad-like Tablet of Knowledge). He is the same governor that is making school attendance an upward swing with a 24% increase in school enrolment within a period of less than a year; feeding primary school pupils with nutritious menu and making lives more abundant to those who could have remained peasant, poor and miserable without a gainful employment in his state. His name is Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
Take politics out of it, I am of the candid opinion that Nigeria as a country, with her multiform complexities and challenges, has the responsibility to take adequate look at what is happening in that South West state of the country with a view to replicating some of them.
Last year, I read online from my base in the United Kingdom here Senator Uche Chukwumerije, a Peoples Democratic Party representative in the upper chamber of the National Assembly was in Osun and his recipe to Nigeria’s education’s quagmire was a replication of the new initiatives that are changing infrastructure and personnel of the education sector. These are said to be yielding bountiful results as indicated in the geometric rise in the better results now being recorded by school children in the public examinations.
Chukwumerije’s confession, to me, is the insight required by the PDP-led Federal Government to examine the Osun example towards solving many of the emergent problems bedevilling Nigeria and Nigerians.
I doubt if Nigeria’s Bureau of Statistics has any reliable figure on the number of deaths recorded in the last one month. But the avalanche of reports from home suggests Nigeria to look like a terribly war-torn zone where what happens in the next minutes tragically is anybody’s guess.
The gory killing of sleeping students in college hostels; the sacking of villages in Kaduna, Katsina, Plateau, Bauchi, Yobe to mention just a few put my country at its precipice. This orgy of violence stems, no doubt, from the failure of the system.
But it must be stated point-blank that where hunger, ignorance, injustice subsist for a long time, the fabric of the society is stretched beyond its capacity and the carnage being witnessed today is result of the snap of the social order.
My country needs a rethink; a new roadmap to first, halt this mess and move on to greater things that will ensure the happiness of our people. The picture of Osun that I see shows some potential for a greater Nigeria.
*Mr. Aderemi Idowu, a Housing and Management Consultant lives in London and writes through remidowu@yahoo.co.uk

The Osun Movement for Peace (OMP), a non-governmental organisation, on Wednesday, March 12th , organised a symposium in Osogbo, tagged: “Osun education policy in perspective: Issues, challenges and imperatives”. The symposium was organised with the aim of examining the education policy in the state, to allow for a more informed and objective assessment.
Speaking on the Topic: ‘Understanding Aregbesola’s Education Reforms in the State of Osun’, the Vice Chairman, Osun Schools Reclassification Committee, Dr. Isiaka Ayodele Owoade said that the Osun education reforms have probably been the most discussed public policy in recent times.

According to him: “In terms of benefit, although it is early but we are already beginning to see some positive benefits that can be attributed to the reforms. One of such, is the students’ performance in WAEC which has improved by 43% between 2010 and 2013. Our objective is to reach 100% pass rate”.
Other benefits pointed out by Dr. Owoade are the reduction in students’ drop-out rate and the curbing of indiscipline among students. “When Chief Obafemi Awolowo introduced the Free Primary Education policy in 1955, some people opposed very strongly, but today we all thank God that the late sage did not revert the policy, and the policy has been applauded by posterity,” he stated.
Giving the keynote address, Mrs. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, the Deputy Governor who also doubles as the state Commissioner for Education, spoke about the education policy implemented under the Aregbesola tenure, highlighting some of the benefits derived from them. “According to the National Bureau of Statistics December 2013, report, the State of Osun has the highest increase in public school enrollment in Nigeria” said Mrs Laoye-Tomori. She stated that the State of Osun has spent N900 million on the O’Uniform project, providing students with uniforms at subsidized rates.

“We now pay WAEC fees for all students in Grade 12, and have spent N400 million on WAEC fees for 32,035 students. School fees for students in University of Osun has been reduced from N198,000 to N100,000. Every student in law school is now entitled to N100,000. We were ashamed of what we met on ground, and are happy with the huge improvements we have made over the years,” said Laoye-Tomori.
While speaking on the topic ‘Media social responsibility and the non-partisan communication of government policies (with reference to the Osun State educational policy)’, Prof. Ayo Olukotun, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Lead City University, Ibadan, said, “Journalists need to be wary of politicians who might want to use them to cause disaffection. That you have a good policy or programme does not mean it will be widely accepted. All sides should be allowed fair play for their ideas and policies to be tested,” he advised.
The scholar and Punch Newspapers columnist went on to highlight the major objectives of the Osun Education policy, which include: Overhauling school infrastructure, Standardising school uniforms, and deployment of innovative teaching materials and learning aides, among which is the award winning ‘Opon Imo’. In his closing remarks, Prof. Olukotun said “newspapers and the electronic media are free to take positions; what is crucial is that in doing so, they should be scrupulously fair and ensure that whatever position they take is based on verifiable facts”.
Present at this event were representatives of all major media platforms, heads of major governmental and non-governmental organisations, dignitaries from the Osun State Ministry of Education and other relevant stakeholders.
YNAIJA

Osun State government has declared that it will simplify the process of obtaining Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) for land owners.
The Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Uban Development, Muiwa Ige, stated this to journalists in Osogbo.
He said the decision to simplify the process of obtaining Certificate of Occupancy by landowners was to aid development.
Ige said the state government is ready to issue C of O to would-be investors within one day as part of commitment to attract investment.
His words: “Unlike before, we are now making it easier for people to get certificate of occupancy for their land and the process is now being simplifies to the extent that we can even issue a C of O in one day especially if the land is meant for investment”.
Ige pointed out that the current administration in the state has succeeded in removing certain administrative bottlenecks that usually delay the issuance of C of O for years in the past and that the situation has changed in the state.
He noted that the government of Governor Rauf Aregbesola is running in an unusually manner and that this has compelled people working with the governor to think out of the box and explore unique initiatives that will better the lot of the people of the state.
He said the ongoing efforts of the state government to give the state capital a befitting look is already yielding appreciable result and that the new roads constructed including the ongoing ring road will boost commercial activities in the state.
He disclosed that the state government has paid compensation to owners of property affected by the massive road construction in the state while ship-owners were equally paid to assist them in relocating their businesses to new sites provided for them to do their business.
Ige added that the urban renewal programme of the Aregbesola’s administration designed to change the face of nine cities in the state simultaneously is attracting supports from the global community as the project which was planned in collaboration with the United Nations Habitat.
DAILY INDEPENDENT

Osun State Government has concluded plan to organise maiden marathon race for public schools’ students as part of efforts to catch them young and put them in proper physical and emotional condition.
The Special Adviser to the governor on Youth, Sports and Special Needs, Hon. Biyi Odunlade expressed the commitment of the Aregbesola led administration to sports development
Odunlade who noted that Aregbesola’s administration has promoted sports and healthy living through programmes like the Monthly Walk To Live, adding that the marathon will provide avenue for the participants to showcase their talent.
He noted various innovations government has introduced to stimulate people’s interest in sporting activities and stressed the importance of regular body exercise for sound mind and body.
LEADERSHIP