Built to improve learning among secondary school students in the State of Osun and also to further prepare them for external and internal examinations, OPON IMO (tablets) are already being distributed to the students ’free-of-charge. Photos Below

Do you have questions for the Executive Governor of the State of Osun?
Will you want to share your ideas on the development and growth of the State?
Have you sought ways to write to him directly and get a response?
Then here is your chance.
The newly improved website of the State of Osun has a feature that enables you do this without hassles. Simply visit the “Meet the Ogbeni’ Section on the Homepage, Click on the link, select what sector(s) your comments are focused on and get writing; he is happy to read from you and  you will get your response within the shortest possible time.
We continually strive for Open Governance and we ask you to be a part of this. Take your chance, Be Heard!
www.osun.gov.ng

Muslim Pilgrims from the State of Osun going for the year 2013 Hajj Operation to the Holy Land of Mecca in Saudi Arabia are to be among the first batch to be air- lifted today, Saturday.
Speaking to the Osun contingent in Oshogbo at the farewell ceremony, Governor Rauf Aregbesola urged them to pray for the peace, progress and economic development of the state while on pilgrimage.
Expressing hope that this year’s Hajj operation will be better in terms of coordination, conduct and performance of the spiritual duties, Governor Aregbesola enjoined them to consider Hajj as a call to duty in the ways of Allah.
According to him prayers should be offered in Particular for the forthcoming 2014 elections in the state of Osun for Divine Guidance before, during and after the gubernatorial Elections.
CHANNELS TV

The Government of the State of Osun  has raised the state’s Internal Generated Revenue from N300 million to N1.6 billion monthly.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola, who stated this on Tuesday at an investment forum put together to drum up support for the state’s N10billion ‘sukuk’, said that the state was raking in N300 million when he took over government in 2010, adding that the new IGR would assist the state to empower more indigenes of the state.
He explained that the state is an emerging investor destination, which all investors in and out of the country should court with opportunities in commerce, tourism agriculture and other sectors of the economy.
Aregbesola, who identified human capacity building and empowerment as effective ways to combat poverty in the country, stated that a nation intends to fail the moment its government’s policies and programmes are not targeted at empowering its citizens.
According to him, “my administration is people-centred, which is why the State of Osun has the least ratio on the poverty index and unemployment rate in Nigeria.
“This is why our government is poised on investing on the people of the state so as to expand the economy and create more wealth.
“Our various investments in education, health, transportation, agriculture and social infrastructures are therefore directed towards achieving optimum level of human production,” he said.
Already, there is massive construction of modern schools facilities going on across the state under the O-School scheme.
The state has also embarked on road construction, which is aimed at creating a new network of roads and reconstructing new ones as part of strategies to accelerate economic growth through smooth public transportation system.
Aregbesola informed investors that focusing on the people is central and cardinal to his administration; telling them to see the state as veritable atmosphere for investment.

The wife of the Governor of the State of Osun, Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, on Thursday, bemoaned the excruciating effects of poverty in Nigeria, lamenting that 70 per cent of the Nigerian women were living below poverty level.
She tasked the three tiers of government, corporate organisations and wealthy individuals in the country to step up measures aimed at ameliorating  poverty in the society, most especially as it affects women and girl child.
Alhaja Aregbesola made this disclosure in Osogbo at the graduation ceremony of 1,500 women who participated in an eight weeks skills acquisition programme, organised by her office, in conjunction with the state Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
The women were trained in hair braiding/weaving, tie and dye, event management, cakes and snacks production, soap and pomade making, hat and turban making, bead/wire works, production of stove thread, rat poison, insecticides, disinfectant, among others.
She explained that the programme, sponsored by the state government, was a demonstration of government’s passion to make women relevant, functional, productive and formidable partners in progress.
According to Aregbesola, “Poverty pre-disposes women to economic hardship, social marginalisation, untimely death, violence, diseases and other menace, while it also heighten the girl-child abuses through practices such as child labour, child marriage and trafficking of girls.”
She stated that: “Women are relegated to the background by societal norms and culture. They do not have equal opportunities like their male counterparts. It is high time issues on gender equalities are brought to the fore and tackled decisively so that the potentials abounding in women would be fully tapped and utilised.”
In her welcome address, the state Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Mrs Mofolake Adetoun Adegboyega, said that the training was deliberately packaged  to empower women and make them socially, economically and politically relevant in the society.
 
(NIGERIAN TRIBUNE)

The Government of the State of Osun has postponed the resumption of public schools by two weeks.

Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, made this known via a statement on Thursday in Osogbo.
“Consequent upon certain considerations, the governor has approved the postponement of the resumption date of schools,” he said.
Schools in Osun were earlier scheduled to resume on Monday, 16 September. Mr. Oyeniran said the new resumption date of the schools was now Wednesday, 2 October.
He enjoined principals, head teachers, parents, guardians, students and pupils to note the change in the date of the schools’ resumption.
Oyeniran, however, advised the pupils and students to make judicious use of the two-week extension of their holidays.
“Necessary efforts are being made to ensure immediate commencement of teaching and learning when the schools resume,” he added

The Governor was in attendance at the Public Presentation of a book titled: Work In Progress, at the National Center for Technology
Management, Obafemi Awolowo, University (OAU), Ile-Ife, State of Osun on Thursday 11-09-2013 and we have the Photos!

From right, Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Ekiti State, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Integretion and
 Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr Alabi Olusesa, representing Governor Kayode Fayemi and Mr. Tony Iyare

From right, Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Ekiti State, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Integretion and
Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr Alabi Olusesa, representing Governor Kayode Fayemi and Mr. Tony Iyare

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (left) and Chairman of the
occasion, Hon Wale Oshin, representing Chief Bisi Akande

From left, Book Présentation Programme Conveyant, Mr Kehinde
Bamigbétan; Chairman of the occasion, Hon Wale oshin, representing Chief
Bisi Akande; Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Mr
Rôtimi Obadofin and Ekiti State, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of
Integretion and Intergovernmental Affairs, Mr Alabi Olusesa,
representing Governor Kayode Fayemi

Yinka Kolawole writes on the valiant efforts of the Osun state government to revamp the poor infrastructure for improved development, starting with urban renewal processes in the state capital, Osogbo

Every major city, like New York, London and Singapore, craves its unique identity, with which the city is known and described by people.

The identity is based on the orderliness and creative patterns/arrangement of physical, commercial and residential structures; hence the need to ensure physical planning and renewal of structures.
While some cities are known for skyscrapers, others contain arrays of commercial structures neatly arranged after stipulated setbacks. This orderliness must always be maintained through renewal programmes. The current renewal of the capital city of Osun (Osogbo) is not an exception.
Fresh Concept
Urban renewal, which is synonymous with development of cities, is rapidly gaining popularity in some state capitals in the country in recent times. This trend seeks to cope with and contain unbridled rural-urban migration and the associated challenges of same on infrastructural facilities in these urban areas.
Urban renewal, in a simple definition, means a system of preventing the premature obsolescence of urban neighbourhood, assemblage of facilities for the restoration of declining areas, as well as the recreation of worn-out areas.
It is also a relatively comprehensive community redevelopment programme through which a particular city seeks to re-fashion and rebuild the physical structures of a particular segment of the city in order to enable it to cope more successfully with the problem confronting it, according to the lexicon.
In another way, urban renewal has been described as a process of upgrading the status and structure of a particular section of a settlement, with a view to making them “new” through modernisation.
Setting the Trend
Following the peculiar developments associated with developed nations like the United States of America, and Europe, some states in the country such as Cross River, Lagos, Edo, Ogun, Ondo, Akwa Ibom, Osun, Oyo, and Ekiti, are aggressively pursuing environmental upgrade and unprecedented cities re-alignment.
While the state of Osun hosts some of the biggest towns across the South-west, no fewer than a dozen of its towns are bigger than many state capitals in the country in landmass and population.
Yet virtually all these towns are nothing more than glorified villages, with dilapidated houses, crumbled infrastructure, phenomenal encroachment of statutory set-backs along roads and highways, as the enduring memories of maladministration, especially during the previous era in governance.
The capital city of Osun, Osogbo, is often described as one of the ugliest capital cities in Nigeria with its appearance and identity way behind other state capitals, that were created after Osun; it is pathetic!. This concern, no doubt underlines the current administration’s agenda to give the capital city and other notable towns across the state some face-lifts through the administration’s urban renewal programme.
Renewal Process
The ongoing urban renewal in the state involves transformation of nine cities to give a facelift to the state, as well as to improve the living standard of the people in the cities. The cities under focus are: Osogbo, Ilesa, Ile-Ife, Iwo, Ikire, Ikirun, Ede, Ejigbo and Ila Orangun.
The urban renewal projects are considered highly essential as the environment contributes to the level of spiritual, social, economic, intellectual and cultural development of the people.
The specific scopes of the programme are as follow: city beautification by installation of street lights; new granite & limestone pedestrian walkways, such as already being witnessed in Olaiya-Okefia axis, Osogbo (renamed Freedom way); creation of green areas, gardens and parks, (such as freedom park at then-Old garage, Osogbo, now called New garage).
Others are renovation of Obas’ palace; renovation of Town halls, Schools, State General hospitals, and Religious sites; roads upgrade and maintenance; clearing of drainages; renovation of dilapidated properties/infrastructure; dredging of streams and rivers traversing the city and lining of such waterways.
Vital Essence
The essence is to replace the various degree of old, decayed and congested buildings and infrastructures which are characteristics of old cities. It is also borne out of passionate desire to restore the master plans of the cities as envisioned by the founding fathers.
The numerous physical infrastructural redevelopment ongoing in the states such as construction of modern educational infrastructures, unusual road network construction /reconstruction, upgrade of health facilities, renovation of state general hospitals, courts, dredging of various rivers and streams, construction of recreational centres and upgrade of tourist centres in the state are targeted at creating an ideal habitable environment capable of engendering safety of lives and properties.
Pull Factor
Aside from ensuring an ideal habitable environment, the ongoing urban renewal in the state is meant to attract new investments into the state. One of the thrusts for attracting business is security, and security cannot be guaranteed in a dis-organised and dislocated environment. As a matter of fact, the way an environment is perceived goes a long way in determining the kind of signal sent to potential investors.
Given that industrialisation engenders job opportunities such as desired in Osun, the city planners believe they cannot afford to ignore the deteriorating and next-to-slum state of habitation while continuously wooing investors both locally and internationally.
New Leaf
In terms of the socio-economic impacts, the woes and affliction of yesteryears caused by traffic jam in places like Kuto, Adatan, Lafenwa (in Abeokuta, Ogun state), Mokola, Iwo Road, and Challenge (in Ibadan, Oyo state), as well as the Oshodi nightmare in Lagos, that have all become history, are magical results of urban re-development initiated by the various state governments.
Osogbo is already experiencing traffic bottlenecks in addition to its rusty appearance, therefore the proactive sense of Governor Aregbesola in this direction deserves commendation.  The separation of illegal structures from roads and other bonafide physical infrastructures to enforce physical planning and to create proper commercial spaces are inevitable.
Rather than perceiving the on-going aggressive transformation of the state as a mere beautification exercise, it should be noted that urban renewal engenders socio-economic development by spurring commercial and business activities through attraction of investments.
This consequently catalyses employment generation, it also gives room for enhanced tourism activities, improves security (as a result of the ensuing social order in the state), and ultimately ensures restoration of healthy living.
The current separation of unauthorised stalls and buildings encroaching the statutory set-backs along major roads in the state, is unavoidable, if the ideal habitable environment we all crave is to be achieved. The financial implication of enforcing such statutory standards of building would have been eliminated on the part of the government if we had all embraced the spirit of self regulation, by obeying the basic environmental rules relating to building.
Best Practices
The immediate urban renewal intervention and log-term structure plans of these nine (9) cities of Osun are governed by global best practices and under the watch and guidance of an international agency (United Nations Habitat- UN Habitat).
The programme takes care of all stakeholders and project affected people (PAP) like market women, traders, mechanics, etc. They are being compensated where they have genuine claims or being relocated (for instance, the plank sellers in Alekuwodo were all relocated).
While speaking on the renewal programme the state Commissioner for Finance, Economic Planning and Budget, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro, said, “I see urban renewal as a tool and of course, a nexus of sound and virile economic development framework, on which hinge various policies capable of leap-frogging the economy of the state.”
Osun is moving to set a new pace in development via urban renewal and that can only portend good for the citizens of the agrarian state. That is a nice way to deliver the gains of democracy.
THISDAY NEWSPAPERS

Osogbo the capital of Osun lies on coordinates 7°46′ North 4°34′East with an area of 47kmsq. According to the 2006 Population and Housing Commission Census, the city has a population of 156,694 people. Osogbo shares boundary with Ikirun, Ilesa, Ede, Egbedore and Iragbiji and is easily accessible from any part of the state because of it’s central nature. It is about 48km from Ife, 32km from Ilesa, 46km from Iwo, 48km from Ikire and 46km from Ila-Orangun.
Osogbo is a commercial and industrial centre. This started in 1907, when the British Cotton Growing Association sited an industry for growing and ginning of cotton. The Nigerian Tobacco Company (NTC) built its first factory in Osogbo. In this same year, a major turning point for the city which helped in its industrial and commercial development occurred, the railway tracks were constructed linking it to other parts of Northern Nigeria.  This really attracted people to Oshogbo from far and near.

The Ataoja of Osogbo is the traditional title of the King and he is the political and spiritual heads of Obas and Chiefs in Osogbo and Olorunda Local Government Areas.
Osogbo is famous for the annual Osun Osogbo Festival which attracts tourists from different part of the world. In spite of the advent of Christianity and Islam and their influences which have led to the decline of traditional religions of Yoruba towns generally, the people of Osogbo still cherish their age-old cultures and traditions. The ever-popular and crowd-pulling annual Osun Osogbo Festival shows that the people of Osogbo have preserved their cultural identity. On the festival day, both Muslims and Christians are found among the participants and the observants.
Osogbo has the natural and precedent tendency of becoming a true African “Disney World” with her God-endowed landscape, thick rain forest and above all abundance of natural artistically inclined talents.  In Osogbo, notable among the many places of cultural entrancing interests  are the Obafemi Awolowo University Museum at Popo Street , Nike Art Gallery , Susan Wenger’s studio at Ibokun Road, the Osun groove, the Ataoja’s old and new palaces, bustling trading activities at Oja Oba or Orisunbare markets etc.  Osogbo also plays host to thousands of visitors who come from all across the globe to see and appreciate these authentic African arts.
For more on Osogbo and other Towns in the State of Osun, visit www.osun.gov.ng