The Government of Osun has declared Monday a public holiday to mark June 12 celebration in the state.
 

 
A statement on Friday, by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, announced the holiday.
The statement said: “In line with its established policy of observing June 12 of every year as Democracy Day, the State Government of Osun has declared Monday, June 12 as public holiday.”
Okanlawon stated that the public holiday became imperative in view of the fact that June 12 marked a watershed in the history of democratic evolution in the country.
It was the day the June 12, 1993 presidential election, adjudged to be the freest and fairest in the history of Nigeria took place.
Late Bashorun Moshood Abiola won the election. However, victory was annulled by the then military head of state, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

  A call has gone to the people of the State of Osun to have good maintenance culture on dividends of democracy that are being brought to their door steps by the present administration .

  He also called on the contractors that are yet to complete their electrification projects to return to site immediately and deliver as soon as possible.

   The Special Adviser to the Governor on Rural Infrastructure and Community Affairs, Mr Babatunde Ibirogba made the calls while addressing journalists in his office after the inspection of rural electrification projects across the State.

    He said that the ongoing rehabilitation of the electricity supply to Ago-Owu Farm-Settlement, in Isokan LCDA would boost the commercial activities of the area as well as making life more meaningful to all and sundry.

  Mr Ibirogba pointed out that the benefiting communities should protect the electricity facility that are being put in place by Governor Rauf Aregbesola saying that efforts are in progress in making other rural areas benefit as well.

    He then enjoined all and sundry to give maximum support to Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s administration.

As the Government of the State of Osun has received the first and second consignments of new Long Lasting Insecticide Nets for distribution in the state, officials of the State Ministry of Health ,in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health ,will begin the replacement of the old nets with new ones.

 
 
This was disclosed in Osogbo by the Director of Public Health in the State Ministry of Health, Dr Gbenga Adepoju while on advocacy visit to the Ministry of Information and Strategy.
Dr Adepoju, who led the advocacy team, which include officials from the Federal Ministry of Health and non- governmental organizations, explained that one million mosquito treated nets were distributed  in the state three years ago while three million mosquito treated nets will now be distributed.
He further explained that evidence has shown that the mosquito nets presently in use may have lost the expected potency to kill mosquitoes hence the production of the new mosquito nets by the Federal Government  through the National Malaria Elimination Programme.
Dr Adepoju then pleaded with relevant officials of the State Government, all local governments and LCDAs as well as local communities in the state to key-in into the programme and ensure the success of the distribution of about three million new mosquito treated nets which will be distributed to all households in the state.
Receiving the team on behalf of the Coordinating Director, the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Mr Dapo Ajayi, who received the team, assured that the Ministry will partner with,collaborate and support and thereby ensure the success of the programme in the state.

…As Aregbesola lists models for poverty eradication
The various social protection policies being implemented in Osun by the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration came up for a four-day study on Thursday as the United Nations International and Children Emergency Fund UNICEF brought sixteen other Nigerian states for a tour.
This was even as the Chief of Field Officer and Coordination of the United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Annefrida Kisesa, commended Governor Aregbesola for being committed to human and capital developments of his people in spite of economic challenges
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UNICEF and the sixteen other states have organised a social protection tour of Osun which will last for about four days to enable them understudy the social protection initiatives being implemented in Osun.
The programme will also enable them to study the impact of the wellbeing of the children and women and draw lessons to formulate policies on social interventions programmes of the organisation and the participating states.
Visiting officials were drawn from Abuja, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Enugu, Lagos, Katsina, Ondo, Sokoto, Rivers, Zamfara, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Anambra, Benue, Delta in addition to UNICEF staff from various field offices in Nigeria.
Speaking at the programme organised to welcome the participants in Osogbo, Governor Aregbesola commended UNICEF for the great work it is doing in Nigeria, which informed the tour to Osun as a model to be studied and recommended for other states.
He held that the tour of Osun is very humbling, stating that when the state sets out to implement social protection programmes, her primary consideration was to take care of  the people.
The Governor added that his administration never thought that many of the state’s novel programmes would be considered models worthy of emulation.
According to him, “When my administration was inaugurated, we said that the biggest challenge at the time was the army of unemployed and disoriented youth that constituted a menace to society and to themselves.
“We then set up the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) in less than 100 days to engage 20,000 youths in public works.  The cadets were drawn from all the local governments in the state, without consideration for their political, ideological, ethnic and religious backgrounds.
“We also insisted that their uniforms are sewn by tailors in the states, through their guilds and their equipment like cutlasses, hoes, rakes, booths etc. were purchased directly from markets in all the local governments in the state. We have had two cycles of OYES and we still have the cadets at work.
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“The N10,000 monthly allowance we pay them percolates into the local economy in house rent, feeding, transportation and household items, thereby boosting the state’s GDP. The direct benefit of OYES was that crime and unemployment rates dropped drastically in the state”. He emphasised.‎
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Aregbesola told UNICEF and participants that for his government to have integration in the various empowerment programmes, it set up an inter-ministerial agency, the Osun Rural Enterprises and Agriculture Programme (OREAP), which comprises the ministries of agriculture, lands, commerce, rural development, finance, health, works, among others.
He noted that the policy has attracted more people, especially women and youths to farming, stating that one flagship programme of empowerment in the state is the  home-grown school feeding programme, tagged O’MEALS.
Aregbesola said, “This is an integrated policy of feeding Elementary 1-4 pupils healthy and nutritious meals every school day.
We engaged the services of 3,007 community caterers to prepare the food for the pupils as hygienically as possible.
“To be able to achieve this, the caterers were first medically screened and certified fit and proper, retrained on the rudiments of cooking and particularly made to understand the importance of, one, hygiene in disease prevention and secondly, good nutrition to healthy living.”‎
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Director General, Office of Economic Development and Partnerships and Coordinator in Osun, Dr. Charles Akinola, said the purpose of the visit was to provide a platform for interaction on the protection, care and empowerment of children, women and marginalised groups through social protection initiatives of Governor Aregbesola.
“It is our great pleasure to have shown the participating states and the top officials of the UNICEF some of the successes which the present administration had accomplished since inception.
“What we have today is the result of the interaction which the state have had with the UNICEF on the social protection programmes of this administration.
Earlier, the Chief of Field Officer and Coordination of the United Nation’s International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Annefrida Kisesa, commended Governor Aregbesola for being committed to human and capital development of his people in spite economic challenges
Kisesa said UNICEF was proud to identify with the state’s achievement and impact in raising the standard of living of the people of the state through its commitment to social intervention policies and programmes.
The UNICEF Chief of Field Officer and Coordination, said the international organisation was privileged to partner with the state in its bid to learn on how to harness its potentials to further impact in the general wellbeing of the people in the world.
According to her, “It is amazing that the team of UNICEF officers as well as representatives from the 16 states of Nigeria are here to learn on how to learn and adopt Osun social investment scheme that had impacted greatly in the lives of the citizenry.
“To us as UNICEF, it is our collective beliefs that the only way the larger number of people could be reached with our policies and programmes that centre on the need to eliminate poverty and hunger was to partner with Osun state government that has already succeeded in its social protection initiatives and policies.
“In our quest to achieve this objective, the organisation deemed it fit to collaborate with Osun government through which about sixteen states in Nigeria were carried along to have a plenary session in the state on the need to study the success of the state on many of its social investment scheme”.  She added.
Speaking, representative of Federal Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget, Dr. Samson Ebimaro, lauded the efforts made by the Aregbesola’s administration in turning Osun to a model in all sectors of the economy.
He said the Ministry was surprised that a small state like Osun has turned to be a pacesetter through which many of her policies and programmes are being adopted and domesticated by her peers and Federal Government.
Dr. Ebimaro disclosed that the National Social Protection Policies, an economic ideology drawn from Osun by the Federal Government had been unanimously endorsed by all the federal ministries and their ministers.
According to him, social protection policies remained a mix of policies, programmes and projects designed for individuals and households throughout lifecycle aimed at ensuring that poverty, hunger among other social challenges are eliminated in the society.
“It is for this singular reason that Osun state government deserves commendation as it has successfully championed this cause at ensuring that government and governance are centred on the people.
“Though this is surprising because no one could have thought that a state like Osun within the few years of creation coupled with her resources, could turn to be a model to which others adopt to succeed in governance.
“On our part, the National Social Protection Policies designed to rescue Nigerians out of poverty and vulnerability, would further help to restore abundance in the general wellbeing of the citizens as lives would be positively impacted through this scheme”.

On Tuesday, June 6, 2017, some misguided elements violated the peace in Iwo, one of our major cities in the State of Osun; attacking banks located near the Bowen University.
 

 
These armed robbers ended the lives of four promising men of the Nigerian Police Force who attempted to stand up to them. They left sorrow and tears in their trail.
This is unfortunate. However, we remain unbowed by the audacity of these criminals.
We commiserate with the Commissioner of Police, the entire Osun Command of the Nigerian Police Force and the families of the fallen heroes, who fought gallantly but sacrificed their lives in the course of performing their duties.
We equally commiserate with those who were caught and wounded in the cross fires.
We assure the generality of our people that these criminals will not escape justice. Recent history of our state confirms that no criminal violates our peace and goes away with it.
We are confident that security men are on the trail of these misguided elements and and in due course, will be brought to justice.
We use this opportunity to assure the people of Osun of their safety. We invested in security of lives and property as part of our overall objectives of maintaining a peaceful state to be a source of attraction for investments.
This is why our state has been rated many times as one of the states with the lowest cases of crime throughout Nigeria.
We are determined to do everything to sustain this rating. Our citizens are therefore urged to be vigilant; report any suspicious movement and activities to the law enforcement agencies.
Signed:
Semiu Okanlawon
Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy,
Office of the Governor,
State of Osun.

The election into the Local  Community Development  Council was  today conducted across the State. The exercise was held at the headquarters of Local Governments, Local Council Development Areas, Area  Offices and Administrative Offices.

Among the posts contested for were Chairman, Vice – Chairman, General  Secretary, Assistant General Secretary, Treasurer and Financial  Secretary. Others were Public Relations Officer, Auditor, Women Representative and Project Coordinator.

The election was largely  successful except at Ife South West Local Council Development Area, Awolowo Town where the election was postponed because of irregularities observed in the conduct of the election.

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on  Rural and Community Affairs, Engineer Moshood  Titilola ,who observed the conduct of election in  Boripe, Boluwaduro, Ila and Ifelodun Local Governments commended the contestants and the delegates for their peaceful conduct during the election.

Engineer Titilola assured the people of the state that the present government will continue to work for communal peace and security saying people of the State must continue to support the government in achieving this aim.

The  Director of  Community Development  Department in the State, Mrs Hannah Mosadomi explained that the government put in place the necessary materials to ensure the success of the exercise. She added that the election into Zonal Offices will take place next week Wednesday.

All is now set in the State of Osun to shore up its IGR to a benchmark of N2b monthly.
 

 
The newly appointed Special Adviser (SA) to the Governor on Tax Matters, Barrister Jimoh Oluwagbenga Akano, made this known while addressing pressmen immediately after the meeting held with the staff of Osun Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) at the Ministry of Finance Hall.
Barrister Akano stated that, N2b is a benchmark to go with and this is achievable monthly with the survey done so far on IGR of the State.
He therefore called on all heads of departments and units under the Agency to re-double their efforts in making sure that, all the potential tax payers in the State are brought into the tax net.
He equally enjoined all the people of the state, especially tax payers to see tax payment as a clarion call for every taxable adult to obey.

The Honourable Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Bola Oyebamiji has lauded the Executive of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) for their support to the present administration.
 

Mr. Oyebamiji made this charge while addressing the Executive members of NULGE who paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
Finance Commissioner explained that, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola appreciated the role played by the NULGE especially when the State was in financial constraint.
Mr Oyebamiji therefore solicited more support and promised better treatment for NULGE and all civil servants in the State as soon as things improve.
Earlier, the President, Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, State of Osun, Comrade Adeyeye Jacob congratulated Mr. Bola Oyebamiji on his appointment as Commissioner for Finance. He said his quietness, calm, hardwork and trust earned him the appointment. He prayed for his resounding success in office.
He equally promised more support to the government with a view to improving the welfare of NULGE members.

The State Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the State of Osun, Hon. Adelani Baderinwa,has called on all civil servants to cooperate and fully support the present administration in the state.
 

 
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy made call today while holding a meeting with the management staff of the Ministry  of Information, Home Affairs, Tourism and Culture.
 Hon.Baderinwa pointed out that the present political appointees  are on call to serve the people. He then stressed that political appointees and civil servants are co-owners of government project and business hence the necessity to work together in harmony in order to gradually solve societal problems and achieve remarkable results.

While assuring that the present administration and the political appointees have limited time and want to leave legacies that would impact positively on the people, he then enjoined the management staff and indeed all government workers to think outside the box by initiating good ideas  for government to come out with as policies and work conscientiously to achieve results.

Speaking earlier, the Coordinating Director in the State Ministry of  Information, Home Affairs, Tourism and Culture, Mrs Femi Webster-Esho assured the two commissioners of the loyalty and full cooperation of the management and the entire workforce to the present administration in the state.