On Saturday, the 16th of November, students from across the entire length and breadth of the state of Osun assembled in the Open forum hall of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC), Osogbo. The agenda for the day was “The-Bait” – a tournament of debate competitions organized by a team of corp members.

Corp member, Martin Chisom Ojukwu, state coordinator of the project in his opening address intimated that the event was only the second stage of the three-tier project aimed at education, development and youth empowerment.
The first stage was an essay competition which served as a screening process into the second stage. The second stage – the event for the day – was a training course aimed at preparing the students for the debates proper which were scheduled to come in the third and final stage.
The first course was taken by Corps member Oroghene Chokor, Osun central coordinator of “The-Bait”; he guided the students through a writing drill aimed at sharpening their writing skills. Next up was Corps member Alor Omotayo, “The-Bait” ambassador with OSBC, who delivered a very interactive lecture on ‘The media and English language’. Finally, a lecture on ‘The science of debating’ was delivered by Corps member Martin Chisom Ojukwu. Questions abound, expectedly, and were adequately treated.
The program ended with the announcement of the names of nine finalists based on the essay competition results, who would advance into the finals. The nine students were split into three groups and intimated on the modus operandi of the debate. The final debates will take place towards the end of November.
This project is in line with the objectives of the NYSC programme which includes inculcating discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work, and of patriotic and loyal service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves and to contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy.
INSPIRENAIJA

At this point, it is important to commend the State Assembly of Osun for its proactive nature by putting series of monitoring mechanisms in place to see the state transformed.
The development in the parliament in the recent times has shown that the state legislature is not a rubber-stamp as some people think.
Before now, so many people had described the state legislature as a rubber-stamp, because they approve whatever the governor brings before them, but I have heard members of the Assembly say that it was because the governor is a listening leader and will always follow due process.
Infact, some of them have said on many occasions that they had had course to advise the governor on some of his policies and the need to revert it, which he consented.
If truly that is the case, I think I go along with the honourable members and I don’t see why the House should reject a proposal for policies that will be beneficial to the people, especially when due process is followed.
I have also heard members of the Assembly acknowledging the fact that Aregbesola is a respecter of the legislature and since that is the case, I don’t see any reason for conflict between the legislature and the executive, since respect is reciprocal.
Most of the time, when there is conflict between a governor and the lawmakers in a particular state, it drags development backward, as such, a governor would not be able to concentrate on his job.
However, the Assembly needs to be commended for the monitoring mechanism it put in place to ensure that the state government delivers. The recently-concluded budget performance review by the House was a clear testimony that the interest of the state lawmakers is the transformation of the state and not ego.
In the course of the review, those that needed to be sanctioned were sanctioned, those that needed to be warned were warned, while those that needed to be advised were given their doses.
This is a plus, and I think that is the path the House should continue to follow.
INFOMISTER

The Government of the State of Osun said on Monday that it had immunised 777,779 children in the just concluded Integrated Measles Campaign.

The exercise was conducted between Nov. 2 and Nov, 6 in the state.In a report released in Osogbo by the Commissioner for Health, Dr Temitope Ilori, the state government said the figure represented 107.2 percent coverage.
The report indicated that the government had targeted about 725,573 children below the age of five. “It was a huge success as the exercise was well received by the people across the state.
“Apart from measles vaccine, the children were immunised against polio; vitamin A was also administered,” the report said.
According to the report, the campaign covers 111.6 per cent in the case of vitamin A supplements as 738,063 children have been covered.
The report attributed the success of the exercise to the commitment of the state government and the readiness of parents to raise healthy children.
“We are also appreciative of the huge support received from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.
“The well being of the children is an investment in the future that should not be toyed with by any government,’’ it stressed.

NAN

The Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, has commended the administration of the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, saying the governor’s performance has been a sterling one.
The Sultan made the commendation when members of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum under the chairmanship of Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, paid him a courtesy visit in his palace.
The governors were in Sokoto State for the second Nigeria Governors’ Forum two- day retreat. The monarch stated that Aregbesola has been performing wonderfully in the past three years. According to him, the governor cannot but continue the stride with which he is working so as for the state to be self-sustaining.
The Sultan, who said he has visited Osun four times and was elated with what he saw on ground, expressed willingness to visit the state again.
“My brother, Rauf Aregbesola is here with all of you. I was in Osogbo, his state capital sometimes this year. I think I have visited his state four times and I am still willing to visit again. There is no doubt that he is doing wonderfully well. I want you to continue the way you are doing. The Almighty Allah will be with you,” the Sultan said.
The monarch, who presented the NGF chairman a book written by the late Sultan Muhammad Bello, said the books are good resource materials for both Muslims and Christians, who wish to know what Islam said on fundamental issues such as war and peace.
He affirmed that Islam is totally opposed to shedding innocent bloods of fellow human beings, saying in Islam, killing of one innocent soul is tantamount to killing a whole generation.
“Sokoto is the centre of Islam even though I know that Islam had reached some other places between 500 to 600 years ago.
He said: “Today, I am surprised at the way some people are behaving. Islam is the opposite of violence. I don’t know where those who kill and shed blood of innocent people got their own ideology because Islam is averse to killing fellow human beings. In fact, in Islam it amounts to killing a whole nation if one kills just one person.”
He admonished leaders at various strata of government to serve their people with full capacity when they are in power, saying power is transient and leaders would not be there forever.
He continued: “When you are here as leaders, be it a President, Governor or chairman of a local government, please do your best for the people you govern. We will not be in this leadership position forever; we will not be in this world forever.”
Also in attendance were the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, and former presidential candidate of the ACN, Nuhu Ribadu and others.

Convener of Game 2013, Abiola Salami recently revealed that TV mogul ,Mo Abudu and Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola are the two distinguished personalities that will be honoured at this year’s conference.
Explaining the reasons for his selection, he said:  “These two eminent and distinguished Nigerians  have made great inroads in their chosen fields of endeavour. We are honouring Governor Rauf Aregbesola for his outstanding contributions to education in Osun State. We are also honouring Mo Abudu, the CEO of EbonyLifeTV, for her giant strides in entertainment and empowering African youths.”
GAME 2013, which holds on November 29 and 30, at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, has been described as Africa’s number one conference on workforce productivity and would attract businessmen, captains of industry and women leaders.
Professor Pat Utomi, Prince Julius Adelusi Adeluyi, Jimi Awosika, Sir Ademola Aladekomo and Amina Oyagbola are on the faculty for this year’s conference with Dr. Christopher Kolade as Chief Host. The conference will also host The Senior Professional Ladies’ Panel Discussion which will x-ray issues affecting women with a view to increasing productivity in the work place.
THISDAY NEWSPAPERS

Constant and effective training of school administrators has been described as major prerequisite towards attaining efficient and effective service delivery in the education sector, the deputy governor, State of Osun, Mrs Grace Titi Laoye-Tomori, has said.
Mrs Laoye-Tomori stated this in Osogbo, while declaring open a three-day workshop organised for school leaders and administrators in Osun State.
The deputy governor, who is also the state Commissioner for Education, said the present administration in the state places high premium on training and re-training of its work force with a view to imparting them with knowledge and skills needed to bring out the best in them.
She noted that the state government was aiming to achieve rapid transformation in the state’s education sector through the distribution of Opon-Imo, O-Meal and construction of state of the art high, middle and elementary schools.
While noting that constant training of school administrators and heads would have multiplier  and positive effects on the students in public schools, Mrs Laoye-Tomori charged teachers and other stakeholders in the educational sector to explore the opportunities of the workshop to shore up their knowledge and potentials.
In his  remark, the Permanent Secretary in the state’s Ministry of Education, Mr Lawrence Oyeniran, said leadership and management training was an essential tool in the development of the education sector.
He said the training was targeted  at assisting school managers to clearly identify their roles as administrators and help them to improve on quality of teaching, learning and service delivery in school environment.
In her remark, the Chief Executive Officer and founder of the International Centre for Leadership and Entrepreneur Development, Dr  Olajumoke Familoni, whose organisation handled the training workshop, said the training will enhance the knowledge of teachers in handling school affairs which will lead to students’ learning improvement.
According to her, 128 school leaders, six Zonal Inspectors, 31 Local Inspectors, 13 Principals, 13 Vice Principals and 65 Heads of Department from 13 selected schools will participate in the three-day workshop.
TRIBUNE

The Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Friday said that the introduction of the Tablet of Knowledge (Opon Imo) is among others to ensure that all public school students in the state are integrated into the technologically driven and knowledge-based society.
The governor who was represented by Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, stated this while flagging off the distribution of Tablet of Knowledge to teachers in Ijesa zone at Ilesa High School, in Ilesa. The deputy governor explained that the distribution of Tablet of knowledge was to enhance teaching and learning in public schools as well to reduce the financial burden on parents in buying textbooks for their wards in various public schools.
While appealing to the teachers to embrace the new innovation for their benefit and the students, she noted that the tablet of knowledge has been recognised as one of the four best learning tools in the world.
According to her, “I want to use this opportunity to appeal to students to take the best advantage of this innovation by government to be at their best so as to make the government and their parents proud and happy by coming out in flying colours in their examinations.
“This is also an opportunity to appeal to parents and stakeholders to be patient with government on its re classification exercise. This is an innovation by government with the sole aim of improving the standard of education in the state.” The deputy governor stressed. Madam Laoye-Tomori however, commended the teachers for their support for the present administration’s education policy.
Earlier in his address, the Tutor-General and Permanent Secretary, Osun East Education District office, Mr. Kola Buari noted that the present administration under the leadership of Governor Aregbesola has taken education to a world class standard where students can conveniently compete with their peers across the globe.
Mr. Buari advised the beneficiaries to make the best use of the Tablet of Knowledge and guide it jealously against damage and theft.
He said, “No government in Osun had it this good like what we are experiencing. It is on this note that I advise beneficiaries to take advantage of this world class innovation to improve their lots in admission to higher institutions of learning in Nigeria and beyond.” The Tutor-General appealed.
Speaking with journalists at the event, the Project Management Officer, Mr. Oyekunle Odelola, said the distribution of Opon Imo to all students in Grade Twelve would have been completed by the first week of December, 2013 as directed by the State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.
According to Mr. Odelola, students in Grade Ten and Eleven would get their tablets in another phase of the distribution exercise.
Mrs. Kikelomo Akande, a teacher who also spoke to journalists at the occasion  described the gesture as first of its kind in the history of education in the country saying it would enhance effective teaching and learning.
She held that teachers in Osun will use the Tablets of Knowledge judiciously to achieve desired objectives of the present administration in the state.
Mrs. Akande said that, “The re-classification exercise has removed the financial burden of education completely from parents through provision of modern facilities, furniture and improved funding; to democratize education and provide equal opportunities for pupils without discrimination.
“This single action will make public schools comparable to the private schools in terms of facilities and to reduce pupils/students to teacher ratio from the current abnormal rate of 60-100 students to a teacher to the UNESCO standard.” She said.

 

Indigenes of the State of Osun in Sokoto have lauded the Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, for his sterling performance.
The people under the umbrella of Osun State Indigenes Association, Sokoto Chapter, said this at a rousing reception they organised in honour of Aregbesola on his arrival in Sokoto for a two-day Governor’s retreat.
The people, who had trooped to the Sultan Abubakar International Airport early in the morning for the governor’s arrival, said though they were meeting Aregbesola for the first time but were daily intimated with his administration’s achievements, activities, mode of governance and laudable policies and policies.
In his address, the spokesperson of the association, who is also its Legal Adviser, Barrister Muhammed Adeleke, said Osun is lucky to have Aregbesola as governor of the state.
They commended the governor for his numerous people-oriented programmes but particularly singled out the Opon Imo (Tablet of Knowledge) initiative and the promotion of Yoruba Language usage and culture.
“We are happy to have you amidst us today (Friday). You are indeed the best thing that has happened to Osun at this critical time.
“Even though we are meting you physically for the first time, yet, we can boldly say that your achievements had preceded you. And with the report coming to us from Osun, we are mostly very happy to hear the giant strides you have taken in the attempt to develop the state.
“Particularly, we commend your vision for the Opon Imo initiative and your government’s strife to return Yoruba Language to its pride of place in the South-West,” Adeleke said.
He asked for government assistance in form of bursary to students of tertiary institutions in Sokoto, who are indigenes of Osun.
Besides, he noted that the people are ready to support the re-election of Aregbesola for second term so that he could continue the good work.
According to Adeleke, though they registered for election in Sokoto, yet he said they have called upon their relatives back home in Osun to brace and re-elect Aregbesola for a second term.
In his response, Governor Aregbesola commended the people for believing in his government even without meeting with him.
He said the reception they put up in his honour would linger on in his memory and act as elixir for his government to do more for the people.
“I am extremely happy to be in your midst. I commend your courage, commitment and support for our administration despite the fact that you live far away from us.
“I am also happy that you did not allow distance to deprive you of the love and concern for your state of origin.
“I promise that the reception you gave me today would remain with me forever and act as catalyst for my government to do more for our people,”Aregbesola said.
He also promised to look into the bursary request for the students, with a view to helping them in their academic pursuits.
The governor enjoined the association to be a good ambassador of the state in whichever part of Sokoto State they are residing as well as be law-abiding at all times.

Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has directed the appointment of facility managers to manage and maintain the new schools being constructed by the state government.
He has also directed that guidance and counseling should be revived in schools in the state, by creating Department for Guidance and Counseling in all the schools, as means of assisting pupils to fulfill the state government’s vision of becoming good ambassadors of the state.
The deputy governor, Otunba (Mrs) Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, disclosed this in Osogbo on Tuesday, while declaring open, the Teachers’ Establishment and Pension Office (TEPO) Retreat for Osun Secondary School Principals, tagged: ‘Managing for Superior Performance in our Schools’ which was organised by the Excellence Management Support Services Limited.
She stressed that some selected principals in the state’s public secondary schools will be trained as property managers to manage those schools.
“It is one thing for the government to provide educational facilities and it is one thing to see that those facilities are well-managed. It is for this reason that Mr Governor directed the appointment of school managers to manage our schools.
“To ensure that we have these school managers from within our schools, we are proposing to send some selected principals on training with emphasis on school management,” she said.
The deputy governor was optimistic that the training programme, which is educationally-based, will prepare school principals to meet up with current global trends in property management.
Reacting to the increase in the spate of juvenile delinquencies being witnessed in schools across the country, Laoye-Tomori said that principals, as parents and role models, should closely monitor their pupils, deal with the situation headlong and adopt corrective measures, aimed at impacting good virtues in the pupils.
She re-emphasised the 90 per cent attendance policy for any SSS 3 pupil to be allowed to sit for the Senior School Certificate Examination.
In his welcome address, the TEPO Board Chairman, Mr. Tope Ogunleye, said the retreat was put together to refresh knowledge of school principals and update them on their awareness of issues and current trends in efficient school administration and prudent management.
Also speaking, the Managing Consultant for Excellence Management Support Services, Prince Kola Afolabi, said that the idea behind the training was to get the best out of the pupils.
The training, according to him, will set target for the principals, saying that the challenges of each of the participants would be identified and find ways of addressing the problem.
Afolabi said that part of the package of the training programme was to monitor the effect of training on the principals, teachers and their pupils.
On a quarterly basis for the next one year, he added that there would be interactive sessions with the leaders of the participants to ensure that the training has the desired effect.
OSUN DEFENDER