State of Osun has come off the perennial phase of delayed salary payment at the tail of last year. It was a cheering news for the people of the state and the government. That the Governor of the
state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola cleared all the outstanding salaries and arrears owed to the state workforce in the face of economic downtown and recession after a protracted union faceoff with the government is worthy of note.
 

 
It is more so because Osun is not the only state in Nigeria plagued by delayed salary occasioned by low price of crude oil, but it has become the most violently attacked government and governor. At the last count a few hours ago, 15 states out of 32 have trouble sorting out their wage obligation. That Osun has been singled out for vitriolic media attacks and constant labour unrest gives the impression that there could be other motives behind the unnecessary focus on Ogbeni or pure
politics of bitterness.
The reason might not be unconnected with the personality of the governor in question whose political ideas and ideologies stance on tripod: the people, development and institution building. The trouble began for Ogbeni in 2010, when he inherited virtually a dead state with an empty treasury. Osun was one of the most indebted state in Nigeria at the time he assumed office.
The arithmetic is simple. Since allocation does not come to the state in sacks, all the borrower banks easily deduct their money at source. Sometimes they clear off the entire allocation due the state because the loan is hinged on the allocations from the federal government as
collateral! This is how Ogbeni was caught in the bind. Having subscribed to socialist democracy and welfarism and a buffer for progressive governance in the current administration across the
country, there was no doubt that Nigerians wanted in Ogbeni a miracle worker in the real sense of the word.
Political ideologies shape the way individuals understand the world and how thought and action are connected directly to actual governance process in the life of any nation or state. If borrowing money from financial institutions to service the wage bill of a few civil servants in the face of economic crunch is viewed as failure of government, then the unschooled thrift collector knows a thing we do not know about financial management. If the wage bill of a few civil servants have to erase the monthly federal allocation and the internally generated revenue of the state, then the government has failed in its other contractual obligations to people, like roads and hospitals and schools and agriculture and human capital developments.
Straddling between wage commitment and other compulsory demands on his government, Ogbeni struck the bull’s eye when he said: “just last month, we spent N6.5billion out of N10 billion on salary. The human management science says that the cost of mobilizing workers to work which is called running or operation cost is one and half the cost of labour but because that is the ideal cost for mobilizing workers, if you understand what that means. Mobilization of workers means if you
are engaged to take care of this place. Let’s not go very far, your salary is your salary, it is your income.
“The tools we need to work here must be provided by your employer and everything pertaining to your work here. The only aspect of your wage that is related to your work that will not be reimbursed or that is assumed to be included in your wage is the cost of movement from your
house to your place of work, when you get to your place of work, every other things that the job requires of you is at the cost of the employer.
“It is this that the human management science says that one and a half the cost of labour is the ideal and our own material condition could not permit us to operate at the ideal level. Let’s now say you want to operate at the sub-ideal level, half the cost of ideal of labour is one and a half times the cost of labour in the ideal form.
“You know in the normal natural form it is not half the cost of labour that you need to spend to get labour to do the work for which labour is employed. It is a science, I’m not giving you anything
extraordinary but lets now say its half, half the cost of labour of N6.5billion would be N3.25billion, add N3.25billion to N6.5billion is N9.75billion, you can say it’s N10billion. It is that the people for
which the workers are actually employed have. So, we must review therefore our wage structure – the number of people that must be employed to work for the state.
“If you take out the critical mass, this state must not and cannot afford the number of staff that is costing N3.6billion, N3.7billion at the same time, I am saying all of these because I know you are a
thinker and don’t let anybody bamboozle you whether they can pay or not. The question you must ask is can that state even support this wage bill and then sustained it?
“It’s crazy because at the end of the day, the civil servants have to serve the people when the resources of the people cannot even sustain the civil servants, where do we have the money to serve the people and by the way, I have just picked the financial aspect, lets now go to
the human aspect and proportion of the human resource. How many people take this huge money, 40,000? Lets now for the purpose of extended consideration say that each of the 40,000 have ten dependants and you must factor it in because those dependants are citizens of Osun, 10 x 40,000 is 400,000, 400,000 divided by 4,000,000 × 100 is 10%.
“What logic as human consideration will accept a situation where 10% of the population takes everything. So am not in anyway embarrassed or perplexed by the uninformed condemnation or accusation or denigration on the basis of not been able to pay. Look we are simply an unserious,
unproductive, clearly backward nation and people. Otherwise there is no justification on the basis of reasonable human assessment of performance and development to reduce a government evaluation of an administration to payment or non-payment of salary.
“What will happen to the 90% of unserviced people who do not have relationship with the workers? Finally, will even the workers not use the roads we are constructing with the money. Will they not use the schools. Will they not use all the other facilities like the ambulance that was provided to the extent the workers are still part of those that will benefit from the programmes of government, fiscal capital or service. What we must do is find a balance between the reasonable cost of labour and provision for development”?
One thing Ogbeni traducers can’t confiscate away from him or have accepted as the Gospel Truth is his landmark achievements which Osun citizens and many farsighted Nigerians described as thirty-years of development in a period of eight-years. Comrade Amitolu Shittu known for his bluntness and forthrightness and citizen of Osun says Ogbeni is a generational leader who is mandated to fill the void of absence of governance in the state and nation.
Comrade Shittu listed some of the achievements of the governor to include: 40,000 Youths Employed under the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme; 5,000 Youths trained and empowered in information communication technology under the Osun Youth Empowerment Technology
(OYESTECH), over N2.4 billion injected to the economy as allowances for the OYES Volunteers, 123 kilometres of waterways (streams, arteries, canals) dredged to keep the state flood-free, 750,000 school students provided with school uniform coupled with empowerment of 3,000 tailors, 150,000 students provided with computer tablets (oponimo), an electronic learning tool preloaded with 17 subjects, 54 textbooks, and past questions of JAMB, WAEC AND NECO of the past 10 years, introduction of bi-monthly environmental sanitation exercise under the O’CLEAN Initiative to keep the state clean.
There is the beautification of the 185 km Oyo Boundary (Asejire) to Osun-Ondo Boundary (Owena), trucks provided for a Public-Private Partnership waste management model in the state, Primary School Funding Grants increased from N7.4 million to N424 million a year, 240,000 children feed daily with nutritious meals under the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme coupled with empowerment of over 3,000 caterers.
Also, Secondary School basic funding grants from N171 million to N427 million per year, Tuition Fees in State-owned Tertiary Institutions reduced by 30%, security of lives and properties being guaranteed with provision of 25 Armoured Personnel Carrier, over 100 security patrol vehicles and one helicopter for surveillance, 2 state of the art police stations built, Internally Generated Revenue(IGR) increased from N300 million to N700 million without increasing tax payable by
citizens, setting up of Omoluabi Conservation Fund with a N4.2 Billion reserve, Osun Debt Management Office established.
Others are building of the largest commercial apiary in Sub-Saharan Africa for refined honey production, over 1,765 hectares of land cleared and prepared to support farmers, Rehabilitation of farm settlements in the state Over N1 billion committed to support farmers, Building of super highways to connect Osun to Lagos and Osun to Kwara States, 81 township roads covering 128km have been upgraded all over the state.
Again, there is the Ede Water Works capacity increased from 13% to 100% capacity, over 3,000 permanent teachers employed into the state education sector, 300 km roads have been built across the 30 Local Government Areas and Ife East Area Office, Modakeke, Osun Ambulance Service Authority Established with 400 youths trained as paramedics, 9 State Hospitals and 12 comprehensive health centers have been rehabilitated in the state; 74 Primary Health Centers built, Osogbo Railway Station undergoing massive rehabilitation.
That is the quintessential unusual governor of Osun. He is of the view that balance of governance and spread of its dividend supersedes parochial mindset of a few who judge/evaluate governance performance on the basis of delayed wages or otherwise.

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 attracted people 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.
 

Osun government has been praised for swiftly resolving a miscommunication that could have degenerated into a religious crisis. The incident involved Muslim (veiled) sisters who had to participate in a biometric data capture that required removing the veil by Chams Plc., a consulting firm engaged by the state for its bio-metric data capturing.
 

 
Praises have poured in from diverse groups including The Believing Women, Al Mu’minaat Organisation which hailed Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s quick intervention in a situation that could have snowballed into another religious conflagration. The president of the organisation, Hajiyah Mulikat Abiola-Hassan said the Governor’s sagacity at resolving the crisis was worthy of commendation.
According to a report by The Ranaiisance, an online platform. “Chams PLC was engaged by the state government to do a bio-metric capturing of it’s workers. The members of staff of the company had, during the exercise, insisted that female Muslims must uncover their ears for them to be captured and those who refused the order were turned down from taking part in the exercise. They claimed such has been the practice in the past and that women in Islamic head cover, hijab had cooperated, insisting that the latest exercise involving new members of staff of the state government could not be an exception.

“At least 30 women refused to expose their ears. A member of the Muslim Students Society who is also a Civil Servant in the state, Mrs S. A Okunade relayed her experience with the organisation. “I was one of about thirty women who refused to expose their ears during the massive biometric capturing. We refused and this caused disruption in the exercise. They later pleaded with us and promised to capture us the next day. We went as far as going to the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB and the Permanent Secretary addressed us to co-operate with them because we are the last local government to be captured and that there was no complain from other local governments. He even claimed that they have done it for a Niqabite (veiled Sister) and she complied.
“The case went to the Muslim community and we were compelled to do it privately within SUBEB. Perhaps, the issue was more pronounced within the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital, LAUTECH where many concerned individuals (new members of staff) refused to yield to pressure. Dr Abdul Hakeem Ogundapo, who witnessed the capturing of medical consultants in LAUTECH said: “Chams insisted that a female colleague must expose her ears and she refused, which caused delay for the exercise. As such, the management had to intervene. Of course they were pleading with the Sister to uncover the ear. She persisted and was eventually captured. But Chams staff threatened she would most likely be deleted during review.”

The Roman Emperor Pliny is often quoted to have observed that “out of Africa, there is always something new”. We can take liberties with this position and say that out of the Osun State in Nigeria’s south west we have seen a host of policy thrusts and initiatives now being adopted at the centre.
 

 
Recent examples include the launch nationwide of the conditional cash transfer which is aimed at tackling long term structural poverty. We also have the free schools feeding program through which the state government has provided nutritious school meals to thousands of its students. In the case of the school meals program there is a clear economic synergy. The program is interwoven to increase food production and thereby elevate living standards in the rural economy. These programs represent a fundamental social advance. They are also one of the few evidence available of the provision of “ a dividend of democracy”. For a change, to paraphrase a lyric from the sixties rock band The Christians, there is now the making of a harvest for the people. And about time too!
Much of the policy thrusts came out of the seven point’s agenda, the manifesto upon which the present governor of the state Rauf Aregbesola was elected. However, in the implementation of the agenda, the fingerprints of a coordinating agency of the state government – The Bureau of Social Services (BOSS) which the Aregbesola government specifically set up as a special purpose vehicle can be detected in these path breaking social intervention thrusts.
The eponymous BOSS is in itself coordinated by a Director- General, Femi Ifaturoti, a lawyer who is propelled by an philosophical belief in social intervention policies as a decisive element in the execution of the social contract which binds government with the people.
Under his beady eye, the agency has developed the framework to carry out its overarching responsibility to supervise, monitor, evaluate and report the performance of all the heads of Ministries,Departments and Agencies (MDA’S). A key mechanism used by the coordinating bureau has been the design and implementation of a framework for public value assurance.

The task requires paying meticulous attention to details. They have set the parameters for determining good governance which includes embracing democratic principles, developing apparatus and implementation, and finally ensuring that all the components stay on course to guarantee public service delivery which can only be measured by its impact on the off- takers which is defined as the citizens.
The quasi- independent agency of government is not just involved in project monitoring, but also measures the social impact of the activities of government. Its evaluation unit for example, can apply its performance measurement templates as evaluation parameters.
In the process they have developed the framework for the federal government to use as a prototype for its social intervention programmes.
A good example here is the federal government’s conditional cash transfer which is aimed at tackling long term poverty and is just taking off. The BOSS model pioneered in the state of OSUN has a prototype which drives the beneficiary. This is achieved by the design of a targeting mechanism in conjunction with the custody of a Beneficiary register for all the social safety net programs in the state.With the country belatedly developing social safety net programs, the data base is crucial for effectiveness, efficiency and transparency. The work of BOSS in OSUN state has provided for the federal government a veritable framework.
As the federal government commences the disbursements of N5000 stipends to poor and vulnerable households in nine states the BOSS model has been pressed into play. The pioneering work done in the state of OSUN is now the operating model. Of note is the development of the community- based targeting (CBT) mechanism.
The CBT exploits the personal knowledge that community members have of each other, so that the community itself takes responsibility for identifying vulnerable household’s and individuals. The CBT approach is a combination of three major actions (a) geographic targeting (b) community sensitisation (c) data collection and validation (proxy means and testing) exercise and entry into the database.
The same data driven methodology propels other initiatives such as the much admired school meals program.Apart from the federal government, Kaduna state is also using this mechanism as a social intervention programme.

The BOSS himself(the pun is intended) Femi Ifaturoti through this agency has demonstrated, not least to donors such as the World Bank that a social intervention agency can  effective in delivering on its mated objectives, but that it can also be transparent. It is a testimony to the ongoing debate in economic circles about government as social entrepreneur and innovator.
From this perspective, Femi Ifaturoti is adamant that government can be both innovator and social entrepreneur, “Governance after all, is about the welfare of the generality of the public. We are acquiring appropriate world class software to complement our process flow which has been designed as a hybrid, borrowing from the western, oriental and African democracies to evolve our own unique forms”.
As the country initiates more social programs BOSS will continue to be pivoted having initiated and pioneered so many schemes. It deserves a credit in the evolution of Nigeria’s social safety nets.

This year’s Obatala festival in Ile-Ife ended in pomp and circumstance yesterday when thousands of the adherents of Obatala deity as well as spectators trooped to the Temple of the Obatala to renew their covenant with the deity.
 

 
The grand finale also witnessed the Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II renewing his covenant with the Obatala while the Olufon of Ifon-Orolu, Oba Abdulmaroof Olumoyero Magbagbeola equally did so while the two monarchs prayed for Obatala’s protection, guidance and blessings.
Present at the celebrations were adherents of Obatala, tourists and well wishers from both home and abroad.
In her reactions at the festival, a panamian who is a worshipper of Obatala and a tourist, Iyalode Yeyefini Efunbolade observed that, there is no doubt that Nigeria is the bedrock of African traditional religions while other African countries are the wagons for the worship of African deities.
Iyalode Efunbolade who has been worshipping Obatala for the past 29years opined that, if African deities are worshipped and their rules obeyed, there will be a strong nexus between them and the mortals since all deities are interested in the spiritual and general developmental growth of all human beings.
Mrs Efunbolade who has a typical Yoruba traditional marks, extolled the virtues of Obatala while stressing that, she was happy tracing her origin to Yorubaland and that as a mark of her happiness, all her children have Yoruba traditional marks.
She was full of praises for the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II for promoting African traditional religions and for establishing a school known as Obatala School where modern education as well as studies in Africa traditional religions are taught.
She pledged her support for the school and donates various learning aids to them.
In her contribution, another tourist at the event, Queen Damie, a king in the Republic of Congo, expressed her delight at the Yoruba traditions and religions while calling on Africans in the Diaspora to assist in developing Africa especially in the area of the economy and African languages which are the pivot on which the rich African traditions and religions rotate.
While answering questions from journalists, the Obalesin Obatala, Chief Olaolu Oladuntan Okanlawon, who is the Chief Priest of Obatala, explained that Obatala, being a deity of purity and truthfulness is worshipped annually to renew the convenant between the deity and its adherents, adding that, in order to avoid provoking the deity, its followers have to be pure in mind and body.
Highlights of the festival were the procession of the faithfuls led by the Chief Priest and the Arugba from the Obatala
Temple to the Ooni Palace back to the Obatala’s Temple where various rites and propitiations were made.

The management Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) has announced that the institution will resume studies on January 27 2017.The University in a
 

 
The University in a statement however said it would begin examinations on February 13.
The statement read, “All staff and students are hereby informed that the University will reopen for normal activities on Friday, January 27, 2017.
Students are to note the following for compliance:
* Friday, January 27: Resumption
* Friday. February 3:
Revision week ends
* Friday. February 10: Lecture free week ends
* Monday. February 13:
2015/2016 Harmattan Semester Examinations begin
All students who are yet to complete their registration are to ensure that they do so and pay their tuition fee during the revision week.”

I am not a fan of the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for good reason. Rauf is not just a man of controversy, he is controversy personified. One such controversy that has paid off for Mr. Governor (as he often refers to himself) is the Bureau of Social Services, BOSS. In fact, one was pleasantly surprised that this agency of government was not named O’BOSS, that is Osun Bureau of Social Services as most agencies of government have been so called.
 

 
According to the Director -General of BOSS, Dr. Femi Ifaturoti: “One thing that was clear to us at inception is that this Governor was going to rigorously pursue a welfarist/ empowerment agenda in the execution and delivery of his governance offerings. He had a Six Point integral action plan which he termed the PACT. “That the Aregbesola years have featured an integrated approach to empowerment which cuts across the projects and programmes of various Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, represents the unique atributes of this social pact.
 
“BOSS was incubated in 2006 and delivered in 2011, after Commissioners and Heads of Ministries had settled down to their new official postings. BOSS, has the sole responsibility to supervise, monitor, evaluate and report the performance of all the commissioners, Special Advisers, Heads of MDAs.
 
 
“As an independent organ, BOSS has a direct reportorial line to Mr. Governor which  ensures compliance in excellent public service delivery. So, for example, where a project is executed in accordance with the project specifications or standards, BOSS affixes a ‘thumb up’ sticker on the project as a sign of compliance with specifications. Where there is deviation from the project specifications or standards, BOSS will stop the project and affix a ‘thumb down’ sticker as a sign of the need to improve on the project. BOSS then prevails on the executor to ensure compliance with the project specifications.
 
“During one of our monitoring interventions, BOSS observed that no ‘hazard warning sign’ was placed on a Queen Bee Rearing Apiary Project tagged ‘O’Honey’ to warn the public to stay away so that they would not be attacked by the bees. The management of the apicary was notified of the need for this necessary precaution and they complied.
 
 
“In 2013, May 16 at exactly 12.35 pm, BOSS received a project alert through telephone call from an observant citizen of Osun who resides in Ede South Local government. He complained that an on-going hydraulic structure (drainage work) being constructed along the Awotutu- Olowobida road in the local government was sub-standard. He asked that BOSS should verify his claims and take necessary action to correct any wrong on the project.“BOSS discovered this claim to be true and ordered the demolition of 450 metres of sub-standard concrete work which was not in line with the project specifications and directed the contractor to recast according to specifications.”
 
With such project interventions, BOSS beats her chest that she has saved the State government not only from project collapse but billions of Naira.
 
It must be stated that BOSS does not award contracts. Perhaps, this accounts for its keen interest in monitoring and evaluation. So, when it realised that it was just not enough to intervene in project implementation at a later stage, it thought it wiser to be part of all state projects from conception. To this end, a four day training programme on implementing a result- based monitoring and evaluation in the state for all 62 ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, was organised.
 
During the  programme which was tagged ‘Incorporating Monitoring and Evaluation into Project Planning, Design and Implementation’, it was observed that the specific approaches to implementing projects, programmes and policies are not currently being followed in the civil service. Thus, it was the first time 95 percent of the participants learned  about implementing a result- based monitoring and evaluation.
 
In addition to this,BOSS has also made sterling interventions in the health sector in the state.
 
The O’Ambulance service which came on board as a result of BOSS’ intervention is one turning point programme in the health sector. The ambulance service and paramedics operate from ambulance stations located in different areas within the state.
 
When the Aregbesola administration began Osun Youths Empowerment Scheme, OYES, on assumption of office, it empowered 20,000 unemployed youths. The National Bureau of Statistics revealed that unemployment in Osun dropped to three percent as a result of the scheme. And  someone took note- the World bank.
 
The State government got the nod of the World lending body in 2012 and endorsed BOSS as the State Operations Coordinating Unit,  SOCU, for its Youth Employment and Social Support Operation, YESSO. YESSO, a Federal Government’s World Bank supported intervention on poverty reduction targeted at the extremely poor under the Goodluck Jonathan administration sought to access increased opportunity for youth employment and social service. It would be recalled that Mr. Governor delivered the keynote address during the YESSO national launch in Abuja in September, 2013. BOSS as SOCU is responsible for creating a common target mechanism to identify beneficiaries based on their poverty levels, and establishing a single, unified registry of beneficiaries from poor households.
 
The agency also developed an integrated management information system to track and monitor the progress made by the programme and adopt a common payment system for the core intervention.
 
To achieve these aims, the World Bank during one of its visits to the agency on April 25, 2013, promised to build its capacity to be able to deliver on the set tasks.   For effectiveness, SOCU embarked on a training of trainers which led to the formation of a Community Based targeting teams in the six poorest selected pilot local governments, Community – Based Targeting,  CBT. This is a process that contracts community groups or intermediary agents to identify, validate and select potential dwellers of the community for targeted interventions.
 
So, when the Federal Government announced recently that it was set to disburse N5,000 stipends to poor and vulnerable households in nine states (Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Borno, Bauchi, Cross River, Niger, Oyo and Kogi), Osun SOCU released a single register. The state keyed into the Cash Transfer programme by institutionalising the State Cash Transfer Unit, SCTU. SOCU in the state handed over data of 8, 105 households captured in the first and second phases of the CBT to SCTU and the beneficiaries are being credited by the bank.
 
Dr. Ifaturoti would beat his chest any day as he boasts about BOSS’ integrity.
 
“BOSS has a culture of integrity and profound sense of mission and our Team will not be tempted by anyone,” he  says with full assurance.
 
“We do not witch-hunt. Our delight is not to get as many people, agencies and organisations into trouble, rather to put everyone on their toes, and maximise the comfort of the governed.” With this mindset, perhaps,  BOSS has birthed the Beautiful Ones.
With this mindset, perhaps,  BOSS has birthed the Beautiful Ones.