Category: General
The governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Wednesday took a hard look at the state of the nation and challenged some states and local governments in the country on their duties.
While presenting a paper at the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related offences Commission (ICPC), Good Governance Forum in Abuja, on Tuesday, Aregbesola maintained that the lackadaisical attitude of the tiers of government fuelled unemployment, poverty and insecurity in the country
The paper was titled: ‘Good Governance, Accountability and Transformation’.
Aregbesola challenged governments at all levels to develop the capacity of the people to work, stressing: “Getting our productive age group from age 18-35 working for 10 years, that will liberate the country from poverty.”
He further challenged Nigerians to jealously protect and guide democracy, as it is the only form of government that can guarantee good governance.
According to him: “Many of our governments at all levels lack imagination and zeal. We all wait for the monthly federal allocation, which in most cases, is barely sufficient to pay salaries.
“Also, because the federal allocation is more of an unearned rent, it is spent as freebies and this is one of the impetuses of corruption.
“Every state including the Federal Government, should strive for financial autonomy and self sufficiency.
“The federal allocation should not be used for paying salaries and running government. It should be tied to specific development projects.
“Governance is not a mystery. There is science and art to it and it can be mastered and we should begin to demystify it by reducing the notion that we can only have good and qualitative governance in the next millennium.
“We can have it now and we should demand for it. We have heard of the success of the Asian Tigers and the newly industrialised countries of South America.
“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There is never a time when there will be no excuse for failure. The good thing about democracy is that it periodically provides opportunity for us to kick out a government that offers all the time and blames others for its failure”.
Speaking earlier, ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta, disclosed that studies have have shown that there is a strong correlationship between high public sector corruption and pervasive poverty with attendance consequences if not properly addressed.
He noted: “We are interested in strengthening anti corruption processes in public institutions so that they can withstand and repel corrupt individuals.”
The ICPC good governance forum is a non political initiative aimed at promoting good governance. This is the first ICPC governance forum in 2014.
DAILYINDEPENDENT
Aregbesola who was represented by the Commissioner for Commerce, Cooperative, Industries and Empowerment, Mr. Ismaila Jayeoba-Alagbada, gave the cheques to twenty cooperative groups at the Civic Centre, Ifetedo in Ife South Local Government.
The governor, who reiterated the commitment of his administration to fulfilling the six Integral Action Plan of his administration, said his administration remembers those in rural areas and will continue to empower them through soft loans to improve their economy. He stressed that this is to allow women to freely cater for their needs themselves and their children from the profits made from their oil palm business.
The governor therefore advised them to utilise the money for the business it is meant for. He also reminded the women of the need for them to partake in the political process as part of means of enhancing their power to choose those who govern them, just as he advised them to collect their permanent voters’ cards.
Earlier in his goodwill message, the State of Osun House of Assembly member representing Ife South, Hon Folorunsho Bamisayemi, thanked the governor for fulfilling his electioneering campaign to the people of the state. He therefore urged the beneficiaries to utilise the opportunity wisely.
Also speaking, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Tourism and Culture, Mr. Sikiru Adetona Ayedun, recounted that the last administration in the state was biased in distributing such benefits. He then thanked Aregbesola for not bringing sentiment in distribution of dividend of democracy in the state. He therefore advised the people to massively reciprocate the gesture in the next election in the state.
Earlier, Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Quick Impact Intervention Programme (QIIP), Mr. Dele Ogundipe, in his welcome address said for the first time, government is assisting 200 women in twenty Cooperative Societies with ten members in each group. He said this is a pilot programme for women in palm-oil processing commencing from Ife South Local Government of the state.
Ogundipe stressed further that the empowerment is targeted at the weakest and most exploited link in the palm-oil production value chain.
He explained that QIIP has organised pre-disbursement capacity development sensitisation for women to develop their capacity in record keeping, cooperative formation and strengthening, production process equipment and profit improvement techniques. He said they had also been brought to the former banking mainstream as they have all opened savings accounts with Bank of Agriculture (BoA) in Ifetedo.
He therefore thanked BoA for partnering state in empowering women at rural areas. He also promised that all women who have not benefited from this opportunity would have theirs in the second phase of the programme.
In his vote of thanks, National President of Ifetedo Progressive Union, Prince Bisi Adesigbin, thanked the government for the good gesture and advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the loan on their palm-oil business.
In their separate reactions, the beneficiaries who were visibly happy with Aregbesola’s gesture, sang praises to God for giving the state such a caring and hardworking governor who remembered women at grassroots level.
The President Oke-Ere Palm-oil Cooperative Society, Mrs. Idowu Olufemi, and that of Oredegbe Palm-oil Cooperative, Mrs. Esther Oluwasegun, who spoke on behalf of others, thanked the governor for given them such rare benefits and promised to make good use of the money on their palm-oil business.
Highlight of the programme was the presentation of cheques and visitation to the oil palm processing centre at Yekemi village among others.
Present at the event were SSA to the governor, Hon Remi Kolajo; Executive Secretary Ife South Local Government, Hon Timothy Fayemi; Permanent Secretary Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Odediran Sunday; Directors in the Ministry, representatives of Bank of Agriculture, APC leader in Ife South Local Government, Elder Ologbenla, APC women leader and hundreds of women in Ife South Local Government.
THIS DAY
After that,we went to education. By the time we assumed office ,we found out that education was not just there. We showed concern and my presentation at the education summit was that the summit participants must look at the possibilities of closing schools for two years, for us to effectively do something about the situation,the capacity of the teachers and others. But my view was not popular in that summit.the summit concluded with some action plans.heading that summit on education was Prof.Wole Soyinka.so,the reforms we are implementing on education,was the directive of the summit which we convened less than two months into office.
We take care of the elderly. We selected 1,000 of them and we ensure we give them N10,000 monthly. It was not based on any sentiment. We also do home based medical care for the elderly state-wide. I only want to paint to you our human-angle approach to governance. There is no class of people that we do not touch. Our administration is the first that can say that no household in Osun exist without an impact from our administration.
We support farmers to increase productivity. Our school feeding has positively impacted the agriculture sector. We have a 25 percent increase in enrollment today, Osun has the highest primary school enrollment in Nigeria, according to NBS data.
Q: Several criticisms have trailed the state’s education sector, especially the perceived Islamisation which has affected your administration negatively.
A: Let me talk about two things that gained some currency in the media. The first is that our school reform is an Islamisation agenda. When they say so, I just laugh. The poorest of the poor are those who send their wards to public schools, not only in Osun but all over Nigeria. People with very limited resources, consider public schools as the only alternative. So, with the recommendations of the summit, came the need to critically examine all aspects of it. In our examination, we discovered that there are students without teachers, whereas there are teachers without student in others. What was left to us was to restructure in such a way that we will have students as well as adequate or near-adequate number of teachers.
Two, we change the structure of education from the popular 6-3-3-4 to 4-5-3. This does not change the curriculum but the age bracket in each level of education. Before our intervention, we had six years of primary school. With our new structure, we now have elementary for pupils between six and nine, middle school for between nine and 14 and high school for student between 15 and 17. For us to now have this, we must relocate pupils. For the elementary schools, you mustn’t move beyond 500 metres to where your parent either live or work, depending on the choice of your mother. For the middle, it may be one kilometer or two. For the high level, there is no limit where the distance of your school can be because that is the adventurous age.
We never thought of any sentiment in all of this. But even at that, we are not unmindful of sentiments. In the re-classification and consolidation, we never moved pupils from Christian named schools to Muslim named schools. I never said Christian schools or Muslim schools. Since 1975, except for states that have done something about reversal, the law is still extant that there is no exclusively public Christian or Muslim school. All the public schools before 1975 were partially owned but after 1975, they were absolutely owned by the public, which is government. It, therefore, surprised us when people say we moved Muslims pupils to Christian schools. That was never done. We ensured that students were moved from Christian named schools.
Let me give you an example. In Iwo, we chose Baptist High School as the consolidation centre for Iwo area. We therefore moved pupils because it is named Baptist but not owned by Baptist and that name is retained. We moved pupils from United Methodist High school and St. Mary Catholic School to make up the required number of students of 3,000 in Baptist High School. But because of the report against our reform, the fact that 19 female students from United Methodist High School were Hijab wearers, which the school had hitherto allowed. Six female students from St Mary Catholic School had been allowed to wear Hijab, long before our consolidation came. We moved all of them to Baptist High School. There are, therefore, 25 female students among 3000 students in Baptist High School wearing Hijab as they were wearing in their previous schools. That was what a section of the parents in Baptist High School resisted that their school was a Christian school that nobody must wear Hijab.
Anybody can still go to inquire about what I have said because the story is still fresh. Is there anywhere in Nigeria where students are admitted to public schools on religious basis? The answer is no. Segregation on the basis of religion is never allowed in any school in Nigeria, public or private. If admission into school is not faith based, where would I now get exclusive Muslim that I will take to exclusive Christian schools? There was nothing like that but it was taken as the truth. Let us ask ourselves, who is at risk, the minority or the majority? There are 25 student wearing Hijab in a school with 3000 students not wearing, who is at risk? This issue happened only in one school. For Baptist High School, Ede, the problem is that its name must not be changed from Baptist High school to Baptist Middle School. Baptist Girls High School. Osogbo its own grouse with us is that it should remain a Girls High School, when the reality on ground does not support a single sex school. Let us assume that there are 10 schools that have hitches in our re-classification programme out of 2000 schools. How could that constitute a threat to that reform? There are actually five and they all belong to one denomination of Christianity, Baptist. Whatever you read about it, just know that those who write about it have their reasons for such campaigns against us. We see it as a campaign of calumny and we leave them to their conscience.
Q: Why haven’t you considered returning school back to missionaries?
A: Have you considered or studied why the schools were taken over from the missionaries in the first place? The schools were taken over because several years before the complete take over, government was actually running the school especially in Western Nigeria. I attended a catholic primary school and government was responsible for the teachers, the grants for running the schools. It was the year I was leaving school that government finally announced the takeover. The missionaries protested that they must be compensated; governments agreed but let us do a balance of how much we have spent overtime for teachers, infrastructure and other investment. That was how they bowed out.
In my broadcast to the state early this year, I said as we are progressing the new school structure, spaces will be created and there will be no question of returning schools or not. It is not as if I am against return of schools, but it is the practical impossibility of it now, until I have alternatives for the pupils, declaring that I am returning schools to the original owners would simply mean irresponsibility.
Q; So there is no Islamisation agenda?
A: Not at all. In the composition of my cabinet, over two-thirds of members of my cabinet are Christians. I chose them myself.
More than three-quarters of permanent secretary are Christian. All the judges in Osun over 90 per cent are Christians I didn’t appoint those ones.
Sixteen House of Assembly member are Christians. So, where would anyone sustain this argument of Islamisation. I struggle to be devout Muslim.
The charge is more of the charge is more of my appearance and being than any reality. Rather than come out to say why we labeled you as an Islamic is because how you appear, you wear beard, you put on this cap and others. They know they can’t say that because it is uncivilized, they now tell lies.
Q: Would you really say that these all allegations emanate out of mischief?
A: You’ve hit the nail on the head. Mischief, biased and reckless affiliation to a tendency used to judge every issue.
No government in Nigeria has ever done what I initiated in religious balancing in Osun state. The day I was sworn in, I decreed that all major religion in Osun must have equal official treatment. In official function in Osun, traditionalist, Christian and Muslim prayed together.
From that alone, there should not be any basis for religious affiliation allegation against me.
Muslim where enraged on that decision. Christian fired the first salvo on me that I was encouraging traditional religion, that I am taking society back. I told them that the oath I took was to be fair to all.
Till today, no other government has joined me on this. When I recognized the Muslim New Year, that further fuelled the allegation of fundamentalism. The Muslim New Year has always been part and parcel of Islamic celebration long before Christianity and the modern trends. To causal observers, it doesn’t matter.
Q: Are you nursing any fear about the August 9 governorship election, especially when the opposition said what brought you into the office was judicial coup? And maybe all these baggages would affect your electoral chances.
A: There is no baggage at all. I always want the critical minds to visit Osun and assess the impact of administration on the people.
I am confident because I have the support of a majority of our people for my re-election. Why, we have serve them with the way they have never been serve in their history.
If election is about recompense to the administration, I told you that there is no household that we have not impacted positively in this state.
Let me tell you this, a man met me in mosque and struggled to let the Imam of the mosque to engage me.
He said he came to thank me that his son, an NCE holder, had been at home for 10 years without any form of employment.
He said the day that boy came to give him something as his own share of the first salary he receive as an O’ YES candidate. He ask him, where he got the money , he said the new governor gave him the employment as an O’ YES candidate , and that is his own share of the salary, he said he has assumed that he will serve the boy till he die; but I change that.
See, we are affecting life. When you enter Osun from anywhere, you will see changes in the environment.
No tension, no harassment, people now sleep well.
For anybody to aim at disrupting that system, that person must be super- powerful. It can not be those who have had the opportunities for 90 month but fail to do anything for our people.
As we speak, we are working on a minimum of 210 kilometer of road in all the local government; we have done close to 500 kilometer of road and doing landmark road work.
I tell people that the only way the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) can win is to kill a lot of people. They have to march on the blood of the people to displace us. Again, God is a God of justice not injustice. You cannot reward good with bad and vise versa. We started campaigning for this election since the day we were sworn in. I do community work with our people every month, through physical exercise-Walk to Live. You see how popular this initiative is among our people; it’s a momentous carnival. I also engage them on a quarterly basis on Ogbeni Till Daybreak, close to ten hours of critical engagement. Lately, we have introduced another one called ‘Gbangba Dekun’, where we are in each federal constituencies to take questions, comments and opinions from people. If you add our people-oriented approach to governance, God be with us, I am looking at how they will do it. Jimmy Cliff had a lyric, ”the harder they come the harder they fall’.
Q: What is the financial state of Osun against the insinuation that the state is in huge debt?
A:During the campaign in 2007, I wrote it that we are going to run government unusual.I have increased the revenue base of Osun from N300 million to N1.6 billion. I have been very prudent in the way I handle small-small surpluses I had that still use it to augment whatever inadequacies I have. I had the best experience of governance particularly learning from the person I believe is the best public fund manager in Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tiunbu. The combination of my background and the experience I garnered from him, made it possible for me to manage the resources of the state in such a way that before we can be said to be insolvent, the entire nation must be down.
The debt we have is within the capacity of the state to cope. That is why we never appeared in any of the report of those mentioned as insolvent by concerned institutions. I want to assure that we are operating within the limit of the law of Nigeria. We are not insolvent, we are not indebted. We run project that are un-burdensome. Our projects are done on flexible financing scheme and its paying off. We have not exceeded the threshold. The financial institution can not be manipulated. We must be commended for taking Osun from its financial rot to even start having financial relationship with institution. We are in the Capital Market. Our first appearance at the market for bond fetched us by far what we sought. Our second attempt, we were oversubscribed. These people criticizing my government are bad in their relationship. They are not honourable.
Q: What is your take on the Rivers State crisis and 2015 elections timetable released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)?
A: On the Rivers crisis, the best answer is to use Obasanjo’s word paradoxically, I dey cry o. why I may not laugh is that the situation is gory.
On the timetable ,when you are in the situation we found ourselves in Nigeria, the less you say about something, the better for you . Well, my concern is for us to have credible, free and transparent elections. The best thing would have been to have all the elections in one day .But whichever way it is, what is very germane is the need to give democracy full, genuine and unadulterated expression in
Nigeria .Because if we can give democracy genuine expression in Nigeria, there won’t be any problem. But because we know that under a free and fair process, some people cannot even smell public office, the best is to complete the process in a single day. Nigerians have demonstrated the resilience and capacity that handing five ballot cannot be a problem. They know what they want to do with the ballots .If you want it to be easy provide different boxes for the offices.This will. eliminate all collateral effects.What I am concerned with is the fairness and transparency process.
Look at Ghana;they were able to do a fairly free election .Nigeria has no business not to replicate the same. That is why some of us are waiting for biometric. Let it be impossible for anyone who didn’t register to vote. The day we can eliminate proxy voting, ensuring that the votes that are cast are counted and announced, that is the end of all shenanigans in all elections. We believe we will get there,and we will struggle to get there.
BIOREPORTS
Behold the faces of pupils of AUD Elementary school, Isale Osun, Osogbo; one of the state-of-the-art public schools now springing up across the State of Osun under the education reform agenda of Aregbesola. Looking Good, Radiant, Happy, Promising, Attentive and full of Hopes for a Brighter and Rewarding Future.
Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday urged Nigerians to use their vote to remove leaders who always offered excuses for their failure to deliver dividends of democracy.
He spoke in Abuja while delivering a lecture at the Good Governance Forum organized by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The ICPC chair, Ekpo Nta, said the forum was for governors, professionals and public officials “who are adjudged to have impacted meaningfully on the lives of Nigerians”.
Speaking on the title, “Governance, Accountability and Transformation”, Aregbesola said with education reforms and good policies, “Nigeria can achieve more success than the Asian Tigers and the newly industrialised countries of South America”.
According to him, government has no meaning if it does not translate to welfare of the people, their security and improvement in their conditions of living and beautiful things they aspire to have.
In a veiled reference to President Goodluck Jonathan’s comment that he inherited the rot in education, Aregbesola said, “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There is never a time when there will be no excuse for failure.
“ICPC don’t be annoyed oh. I won’t mention name. One government said ‘I didn’t bring the rot in education, I met it’. Baba Obasanjo said ‘I dey laugh o’. Me too I said I dey laugh o. We know that was why we elected you to change it. If this is how you met it then change it.
“The good thing about democracy is that it periodically provides opportunity for us to kick out a government that offers excuses all the time and blames others for its failure.”
Explaining the situation in Baptist High School, Iwo, where students wore masquerade attires and choir gowns because some wore hijab to school, the governor said he would have suspended 92 of the 2000 students responsible for the crisis.
He said, “Because I am a humanist that believes in the right of the people to protest, I allowed them to have their way. As a matter of fact, if you want to go to the root, there are over 2000 schools in Osun and more than one denomination of Christians; but the Baptist group for whatever reasons chose to be recalcitrant. We are still engaging them.”
The governor said he could not be labelled a fanatic because in the past he had been accused of promoting traditional religion.
“A personality that is fanatical will not recognize traditional religion. Osun is the only place where Ifa people do their things officially. I am a Muslim and I am serious about it; but beyond that, you can be anything.
“I don’t even discuss religion with my wife. Look at my wife, she does not wear hijab. If my wife does not wear hijab, how can I force another person to wear it?
“Which one do you want to accuse me of? Take your mind of this. Osun is at peace with everybody. I am a Muslim; there is no doubt about that.”
Aregbesola boasted that Osun was a trailblazer in education for providing free uniform for over 750,000 students which had generated 3000 jobs, providing one meal daily for over 250,000 students with 300,000 eggs, 15,000 chicken and 15 herds of cattle weekly.
“We are not deterred by the antics of our detractors, who being mortally afraid of our success in this area, are raising storm in a teacup by shifting the focus of our reform, imputing religious motives and fictively inventing a religious crisis when they could not rouse one,” he said.
The governor lamented that corruption had become a national albatross that had made government irrelevant to the people and therefore defeated the purpose of governance in the country.
He said accountability, legitimacy of government and transparency in democracy were needed to ensure good governance.
“The point must be made very clear that democracy only guarantees the people choice – in determining their rulers and in policy-making. It, however, does not guarantee good governance.
“In spite of its imperfection, democracy offers the highest assurance of a very high probability of good governance.
“This is because it is only in a democracy that the rulers can be most accountable to the people. It therefore follows that when governance is accountable and transparent, it would bring about positive transformation in the lives of the people, which ultimately is the end of government and governance,” he said.
Aregbesola advocated for financial autonomy for states to check mismanagement of public funds.
He said, “Many of our governments, at all levels, lack imagination and zeal. We all wait for the monthly federal allocation which in most cases is barely sufficient to pay salaries.
“Also, because the federation account allocation is more of an unearned rent, it is spent as freebies and this is one of the impetuses of corruption.
“Every state, including the Federal Government, should strive for financial autonomy and self sufficiency. The federal allocation should not be used for paying salaries and running government. It should be tied to specific development projects.”
OSUN DEFENDER
Photos from the First 2014 Independent Corrupt Practices & Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Good Governance Forum, at ICPC Auditorium, Abuja on Tuesday 11/03/2014.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr (Mrs.) Temitope Ilori has declared that, henceforth, the State Ministry of Health would be having regular workshops, to sensitize Osun Traditional Medicine Practitioners in the state.
She made this declaration during a press conference which held at the Ministry’s conference hall in Osogbo, the state capital.
Dr. Ilori added that, the purpose of the Osun Traditional-Medicine Conference is to create awareness, and to establish good relationship with the Traditional-Medical Practitioners in the State.
Highlighting the theme of the Conference which is “Taking Traditional-Medicine to the Next Level in the State of Osun”, she stressed further, that the state government has done a lot in the health sector through the Ministry of Health.
She then enjoined all Traditional-Medicine Practitioners in the state to participate in the maiden programme by obtaining the registration forms from the Ministry free of charge.
The Commissioner also used the medium to laud the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola over the series of health programmes aimed at the turning their lives for the better.
She added that, the forthcoming Osun Traditional-Medicine Conference is the first of its kind in the state of Osun, and that it would be of help to all, just as nature is important to mankind.
OSUN NEWS
A socio-cultural organisation in Osun State, Osun Movement for Peace, has urged residents to resist attempts by “unscrupulous persons” to disrupt the peace, unity and progress.
Speaking with reporters yesterday in Ede on a symposium organised by the group on the state’s education policy, the Coordinator, Comrade Temidayo Bankole, said some “politically-advantaged elite” have perfected plans to wage a media war against the government and “bastardise its laudable people-oriented projects and initiatives.”
The symposium holds today in Osogbo.
Bankole said: “We are worried about the misrepresentations and tension being created around important but delicate issues, such as education, religion and unity in our state by a tiny but vocal segment of the political elite, who seem to have mastered the art of infiltrating and recruiting allies in the media to drum up war beats in Osun, where religious and cultural tolerance is a desirable bedrock of the unfolding new rebranding and developmental order.”
He said it was unfortunate that a unique and rich policy as the Education Policy, which could have translated into a national strategy for the bail-out of the “shambolic” public school sector, has assumed religious and political colouration, fuelled largely by mischief and partisanship.
Bankole said: “With what one could note from the trend of discussions relating to the Osun School system in circles expected to churn out informed opinions, there are obvious politically-motivated effort to play down the beneficial impact of the components of policies, such as the O’Uniform, O’Meal and Opon Imo, which have been adjudged as revolutionary concepts in public school management.
“We see attempts to get the media to focus solely on the reclassification of schools (even this is clearly misrepresented) and undermine the wider public spirit and mission of the policy that the ordinary Osun people are describing as the best intervention in the education system since the era of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free education policy.”
He said the symposium, themed: “Osun education policy in perspective: Issues, challenges and imperatives”, is the group’s contribution towards garnering support for the policy, “which is a sure strategy for the state’s socio-economic development.”
The media, civil society groups, religious groups, academia and rulers are expected at the symposium.
Bankole said: “We hope the symposium will be able to dissect the rejuvenation of public schools in Osun as a strong rebranding project and see how the project has begun to impact positively on the education management profile, as well as the state’s economy in key areas as job creation, empowerment and agricultural development.
“Where there is need to help the government in fine-tuning the policy with regard to the sustenance of its vision for the transformation of the state, the symposium will serve as a veritable platform.”
THE NATION
Citizens in the State of Osun should expect heavy rainfall on Wednesday 12th March, 2014. This is contained in a weather forecast obtained by the state’s Ministry of Environment and Sanitation.
According to the forecast, there would be misty early morning weather and partly cloudy and moderate breeze in the morning, which shall usher in rain showers and thunderstorm later in the day and night on Tuesday 11th March, 2014.
Misty early morning weather, gentle breeze is also expected on Wednesday morning of March 12, 2014. Although there will be prevailing wind of light breeze, thunderstorm and heavy rain pour occur in the afternoon, evening and night of Wednesday.
The cloudy weather with dusty haze, slight harmattan cold of Thursday, March 13, 2014 shall precede the wind and dry thunderstorm later in the day, while thunderstorm, heat and rain showers would occur in the latter hours of Friday, March 14, 2014.
The misty morning on Saturday March 15, 2014 shall be accompanied by moderate breeze; thunderstorm and rain showers of the day which shall extend till the night.
Sunday March 16, 2014 and Monday March 17, 2014 shall register the same weather conditions as Saturday March 15, 2014. Farmers are advised to start planting maize as from March 15, 2014.