The Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has pledged to turn the ancient city around to attract tourists and boost its economy.
Oba Ogunwusi, represented by Moses Olafare, his spokesman, made the promise at a news briefing held in his office within the palace in Ile-Ife Osun state.
 

 
Mr Olafare said that Ile-Ife was a land of expansion and a sacred town globally known as the source of the Oduduwa race.
“The town is known for its peaceful nature, accommodating to visitors and tourists, and home to 201 Yoruba deities,” he said.
The Ooni’s spokesman further told reporters that there were several historical monuments and sites in the ancient city that when developed into international standard, millions of local and foreign tourists and visitors would like to visit, having read about them in history books in the past.
According to him, the ancient city is endowed with shrines and monuments that include: the Moremi Ajasoro’s statue of liberty reputed as the tallest statue in Nigeria and the third in Africa.
In Osun, there are also the Oranmiyan groove, the Ooni’s palace, Olokun, Osara, Obatala, Orunmila, Oranfe and Oduduwa shrines.
He said that these and many more were the cultural heritages that tourists, visitors and Nigerians in the Diaspora could use to trace Yoruba history, their routes and other descendants of Oduduwa.
The monarch also said that no fewer than 200 tourists and visitors visited the Ooni’s palace daily, saying this was beside the over 500 visitors that visited the various shrines and monuments across the city every day.
“The hotel operators in Ile-Ife and adjoining communities, as well as operators of taxicabs and commercial buses, have been benefiting from the influx of tourists and visitors that throng the town regularly.
“Business men and women in addition to residents of the community have also been benefitting in one way or the other from the visitors and tourists that came into the town,” he said.
The monarch said that these had improved the living standards of the community, maintaining that since his coronation as the monarch, the town has continued to witness tremendous infrastructure development in areas of roads and provision of security for residents and visitors alike.
He lauded the state government for embarking on a holistic development of the state.
“The government has been playing its part by developing the various cultural sites, tourism and monuments across the state.
“I want to complement the state government’s efforts by upgrading the ones around me to international standards.
“It is part of my plans to give splendid facelifts to the several monuments and heritage sites across the city which I have begun to do.
“The idea is for tourists and visitors to have several attractions to see in the ancient city and to also have value for their visits and monies they will be spending there,”he said.
The monarch said that in the last one year of his ascension to the throne as the Ooni of Ife, the ancient town had recorded unprecedented human traffic and economic growth.

Respite has come the way of the government of Osun, as the Federal Government releases N80m to the coffer of the state this week, as part of the grants for Federal Government’s school feeding programme.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande had disclosed in a statement made available to DAILY POST on Monday, stating that five states of Osun, Ogun, Oyo, Ebonyi, and Enugu, would be benefiting states in the second phase of the scheme.
 

According to him, Anambra state flagged off the feeding programme earlier in 2016, bringing the implementing states of the scheme to six.
Akande disclosed that payment for the Conditional Cash Transfer programme has commenced in all the nine pilot states including Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders in the educational sector have expressed mixed feelings over the grant.
A retired Principal in one of the Public School in the state, Mr Sunday Anjorin, lauded the federal government’s initiative, as he commended Gov. Rauf Aregbesola for setting the pace for school feeding initiative.

Anjorin added that although, the federal government intervention is commendable, there is still more to be done in order to meet up with the huge financial responsibility Osun government incurred in the course of feeding the pupils at the elementary schools.
He observed that the scheme has enhanced the rate of enrollment in schools, urging the federal government to spread the gesture to all the states of the federation.
However, a member of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr Bamidele Idowu has advised the state government to be more transparent and accountable in the finance of the school feeding scheme, saying the figures claimed by O’Meal, the agency in charge of the school feeding system in Osun is “ambiguous.”
Idowu also charged the agency to use the federal government’s grant judiciously for the benefit of the pupils.

The seven cowries represent the seven grandsons of Olofin Oduduwa. Their military valour, diplomatic dexterity and trade mastery created wealth and resulted in their expansive kingdom.
 

 
The Brown Colour represents the colour of the earth and tone of the skin. The Ori Olokun stands for the common origin of the Yoruba and their dexterity in technology.
 
The Colour Band which is the Pan-African flag consists of official colours of the African race: the colour red represents the blood bond among Africans.
 
The colour black depicts the existence of the black race; the colour green denotes the abundance of wealth on the continent of Africa; The gold depicts the abundant mineral resources of Africa.

The Oyo and Osun state governments have paid N250 million each to the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) to end the crisis rocking the institution.

 
The Nation confirmed the development from a very top source in the university yesterday.
The source said: “Yes, both states have paid the amount as promised and the sum is now in the kitty of the university.”
LAUTECH students have been at home for eight months due to the industrial action by all categories of workers in the institution.
The crisis reached a peak last week when LAUTECH students protested to the Office of the Governor of Oyo State in Ibadan, the state capital.

While addressing them, the governor promised that each owner state would contribute a sum of N250 million to get back workers to their duty posts and build on it afterwards.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi said the sum would enable the institution to pay some salaries and reopen for academic activities before the end of this month.
Reacting, the President of the Students’ Union Government of the institution, Olatunde Bakare, commended the two governors, saying it was a way forward.
According to him, the sum, though not up to exactly what is needed to clear salary arrears for two months, would help kick-start the process of implementing the short term solution to the crisis.
Bakare said once the short term solution is implemented, it would pave the way for the
medium and long term solution the financial problem plaguing LAUTECH. He promised to confirm the payment.

As the State Government of Osun continues to make efforts towards getting education on a sound footing in the state, all is now set for the supplementary entrance examination into 4 of the new state of the art high schools across the state. The supplementary entrance exam is being conducted to further give opportunity to candidates who
claimed that they were not aware of the time the first exam was conducted and those who could not take part in the first exam as a result of late submission of their forms.
 

 
According to a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Festus Olajide, the examinations into Osogbo Government High School, Wole Soyinka Government High School, Ejigbo, Adventist Government High School, Ede and Ataoja Government High School, Osogbo will hold at the school
premises tomorrow (Saturday 21st Jan 2017) in each of the high schools.
The statement urges students who have registered for the examination to be on seat at their various centres by 8:30 in the morning as the examination will start by 9 O’clock in the morning.

The Government of the State of Osun has congratulated the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II and the entire sons and daughters of Ile-Ife on the celebrations of this year annual Obatala Festival.
 

 
This is contained in a statement by the Coordinating Director, Ministry of Information, Home Affairs, Tourism and Culture, Mrs Femi Webster-Esho.

According to her, the annual Obatala Festival is celebrated in remembrance and reverence of Obatala, the Yoruba god of purity.
She stated that, the festival which kicked-off on Wednesday (11th January, 2017) will come to a close on Monday (23rd January,2017) in Ile-Ife.
According to her, the festival started with the Oshooshi rites when adherents of Obatala in company of well-wishers circumvolution the Oshooshi Temple while offering prayers for Obatala’s guidance, protection and blessings.
Mrs Webster-Esho observed that since the festival draws dignitaries from all walks of life, it is imperative for the
celebrants and well-wishers to be peaceful and law abiding to prevent anarchy and chaos.
She therefore prayed for a successful and fruitful 2017 Obatala Festival on behalf of the State Government.

The name ‘’Osun’’ comes from a river that flows through the state. It is symbolic because it serves both spiritual and tourist purposes in the state.
 

 
The river is worshipped annually by devotees. It is also a tourist spot as people from different parts of the country visit the Osun Groove in Osogbo. The river also provides water for irrigation for the agriculturally rich state.
 
The Osun-Osogbo Grove is among the last of the sacred forests which usually adjoined the edges of most Yoruba cities before extensive urbanization
 

Commendations and laurels came the way of the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, again on Thursday as he was honoured for his contributory role in the development of Islamic finance system in Nigeria.

 
The governor was given the “Leadership Award in Islamic Finance’ on Thursday by the International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIIBF) of the Bayero University, Kano.
 
The IIIBF said it gave the Governor the award because of his administration’s pioneering role in the issuance of Sukuk Bond in the country. In 2013, Osun became the first state government to issue Islamic (Sukuk) bond in the history of Islamic finance in Nigeria.
 
The Osun initiative has however opened the door for other states and Federal government to explore the huge benefits derivable from the interest-free Sukuk Islamic bond. Other awardees in this category includes, the Emir of Kano, HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and the Chairman of Jaiz Bank, Alhaji Umar Mutallab.
 
In a statement by the Bureau of Communication and strategy in the office of the governor, Governor Aregbesola said the award represented a recognition for his administration’s many trail-blazing zeal in many respects.
 
In the statement signed by the Director of the Bureau, Semiu Okanlawon, Aregbesola was quoted as saying he took Sukuk because of its numerous economic benefits to develop the state.
 
“Sukuk offers huge opportunities and financial latitude for development because of the interest-free policy it offers debtors. It was this opportunity that we seized and utilized through the bonds to upgrade the state infrastructure in the area of education.”
 
“The N11bn sukuk bond Osun took is what is being used to finance some of the schools being built especially the High Schools. Specifically it has helped us change the face of education through the construction of what can be called the best schools in Nigeria today. President Buhari was in Osun in September to commission one of such schools, The Osogbo Government High School.
 
Speaking at the award ceremony, the former Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, said Osun State is the most informed state in Nigeria on Islamic financial system. Usman commended Osun for blazing the trail in the Islamic finances for other to follow.