The two elephants in the Coat of Arms symbolises strength, service and humility. The brown colour emphasises the unity of our skin and the soil. A clear testimony that we own the earth.
 
The cocoa tree symbolises agriculture and the natural resources of the land. The Y on the shield represents River Niger and Benue which symbolise the link between State of Osun and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
 

 
The lion stands for Yoruba nobility, dignity and courage while its cushion of ferns represents the traditional lair of an African Lion and the richness of our land.
The two symbols of the Chief’s sword (Ida) and The Mace embody the spirit and purpose of Osun. The Sword is the symbol of the Obas while the Mace is the symbol of the Legislative Arm of Government and the power of the common people as expressed by their elected representative.
 
The Ori Olokun stands for the common origin of the Yoruba and their dexterity in technology, while the garland surrounding it symbolises chivalry and triumph.
 
The Timber represents the vegetation as a rain forest zone. The Indigo colour (Aro) of the upper part of the shield symbolises the common Adire wear in Yorubaland while the Ruby Red colour (Alaari) of the lower part of the shield signifies nobility.
 
 
The Motto; Liberty & Service shows this are guaranteed for the people by the government while Justice is moral rightness based on fairness and equity to all irrespective of their status, gender or religion.

The Osun House of Assembly has ordered that a query be issued to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mr Festus Olajide for spending more than 700 million Naira in 2016 budget without the approval of the Assembly.
 

 
Mr Kamil Oyedele, the House Committee Chairman on Finance and Appropriation, gave the directive when Mr Olajide appeared before the committee to defend the ministry’s 2017 budget in Osogbo on Wednesday.
Pointing out the the offence committed by the Permanent Secretary, Mr Oyedele said 2.9 billion Naira was approved, but as at August 2016, 3.6 billion Naira had been spent by the ministry.
Describing the act as criminal, Oyedele said, the government official must be queried and subsequently punished.
He said the Assembly would not hesitate to punish any government official who deliberately or ignorantly violate the law passed and assented to by the governor.
Oyedele said the Permanent Secretary should be queried to explain why he should not be handed over to the anti-graft agencies for investigation and prosecution.
He then directed all Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) of government to obtain the State Procurement Law and the Appropriation Law to be guided in spending public fund.
According to him, the era of ‘I don’t know syndrome’ was over, insisting that appropriate step would be taken against any erring officers by the Assembly.
Also, the House Committee Chairman on Education, Mr Folorunsho Bamisayemi and other members frown at the non-creative attitude of officials of the ministry, saying, such would not be tolerated.

The focus on the slow pace of recovery from the ongoing recession and the readiness with which the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is being blamed for the present economic problems could make critics forget the real causes of the problems. Yet, with hindsight, it is clear to see that, within the past five years, Nigeria has been afflicted with four major economic woes, leading to incremental drain on federal allocations to the states.

 

First, in 2012, the Federal Government negotiated on behalf of the states an increase in minimum wage structure with various workers’ unions, which, even at that time, most states could not immediately comply with.

Second, in 2013, just as many states were adjusting their budgets to cope with the wage increase, federal allocations got suddenly reduced by nearly 40 per cent due to an alleged theft of up to 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Some states responded with suspension of a number of capital projects in order to be able to pay salaries, while others began to gradually pile up arrears of salaries.
Third, by 2014, oil prices had begun to dip, leading to more than 50 per cent crash in the global barrel price of crude oil by 2015. By December 2016, a combination of these three factors plus the OPEC-imposed reduction in oil production volume led to a drastic reduction in federal allocations.
Fourth, as the anti-corruption campaign has revealed within the past year, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan engaged in unprecedented looting of the treasury, drew down on foreign reserves and the Sovereign Wealth Fund, and mopped up dollar supply in the country in preparation for the 2015 general election, which was characterised by what was described as “dollar rain”.
It was against these backgrounds that the non-payment of salaries took hold, leading to arrears of up to 12 months in some cases. Besides, the construction of capital projects got frozen in many states.
Osun State was used as a scapegoat for non-payment of salaries by critics, who were eager to discredit the various people-oriented projects going on in the state. The projects included the construction of mega schools for primary, middle, and high schools; the building and renovation of hospitals; the establishment of a garment factory for the production of school uniforms; the construction of roads and bridges; and the establishment of an award-winning school-feeding programme, now being emulated by the Federal Government and some states.
I visited Osun again last week, and, having observed several ongoing projects there, I could not help asking the critical question: How, against all odds, are these people-oriented projects being sustained, while also paying workers’ salaries?
The answer lies in part in a mixed financial model, including derivative or flexible financing, which provides a pool of funds for infrastructure and other state projects. The funds came from the Central Bank, Sukuk Bank, the World Bank, and other sources, including a concessionary loan by the Federal Government, and were targeted at certain specific projects, some to completion. The funds come with a tag: they must be expended on the specific projects or programmes for which they were sourced or borrowed.
The loans became necessary because previous administrations had developed a large corps of civil servants, numbering over 35,000, that is, about one per cent of the state’s population, which gulped about 70 per cent of the state’s revenue. The only way he could support his infrastructure and social development programmes, while meeting the huge recurrent expenditure, was to raise funds. In addition to loans, Aregbesola also embarked on an aggressive drive to raise internally generated revenue, which has started to yield dividends.
It is these funds which make several ongoing projects, including the construction of roads and bridges, possible, despite the recession. In particular, the building of schools continues, because it is being funded in part by Sukuk Bank. Even the worst of detractors will acknowledge the high standard of the over 60 completed schools. One of them, Osogbo High School, launched by President Muhammadu Buhari last year, can be viewed on the Internet. What is important for present purposes is that construction goes on in many more schools, including Ataoja High School, Osogbo, which is 90 per cent completed. In addition to the mega schools, 277 model schools with 1,811 modern classrooms have been built or rehabilitated. The schools are being furnished with nearly 27,000 chairs and tables.
A lot of planning went into many of the projects in order to ensure sustainability. Take the school feeding programme, for example. It is not for nothing that it is the longest running programme of its kind in the country today. What is unknown to the casual observer is the complex of activities and the variety of workers associated with the programme, which, in turn, allows it to be sustained.
For example, farmers who grow the food, market women who sell farm produce, and the vendors who cook the food, were all seeded or supported one way or the other before the commencement of the programme. Thus, in collaboration with the World Bank RAMP 2 programme, over 250 kilometres of rural roads were rehabilitated or freshly constructed to aid the transport of farm produce from rural farms to the cities. In addition to completed ones, another set of 250 kilometres of roads is being constructed.
The food vendors were provided with the needed equipment, for which minimal deductions are made from their monthly payments, and they were encouraged to set up local restaurants in their communities in order to boost local nutrition. Today, all these workers have developed a vested interest in the sustainability of the school-feeding programme, which, today, provides nutritious meals to over 253,000 elementary school children every school day.
In addition to the construction or rehabilitation of rural roads, over one million rural dwellers across the state have benefited from 356 projects in education, rural electrification, primary health care, and potable water. These rural projects, some of which are still ongoing, are made possible by a partnership between the World Bank and the Osun Agency for Community and Social Development.
It is the continuation of various projects across the state which once led some petitioners to argue that Aregbesola had diverted the salary bailout to pay contractors. What is interesting here is that the workers themselves are not complaining, because they know where the governor is coming from.
As far back as July 2015, Aregbesola had reached an agreement with the workers on a modulated salary regime. It ensures that full salaries are paid to the most vulnerable workers on levels 1-7, while their senior counterparts are paid 50 per cent or more of their salaries, depending on the state’s monthly revenue. He has transparently deployed the salary bailout, the Paris Club refund, and appropriate monthly allocations to keep the salary payment agreement up-to-date.
It is fair, of course, to ask when the arrears of salaries will be paid to senior staff on less than their full pay. Nevertheless, it is important to appreciate the effort being made by the Osun State government, not only to survive the ongoing recession, but also to keep capital and social projects on course, including the celebrated welfare package for the elderly.
The multiplier effect of the various projects on investment cannot be overlooked. For example, the local brewery has since doubled its output; a Computer Assembly Plant has been set up in the state; and the Omoluabi Garment Factory is now the largest of its kind in West Africa.
Today, Osun ranks very low in unemployment and poverty rate, compared to the national average. It ranks second best among 36 states on the Human Development Index and is the 7th largest economy in the country.
Source: PUNCH

The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola on Sunday described former interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress Chief Bisi Akande, as an exemplary leader whose courage in public service has helped Nigeria in so many dimensions.
 

 
Governor Aregbesola, on the occasion of Akande’s 78th birthday, said Nigeria’s political history would be incomplete without adequate chronicling of the eminent roles played by the former Governor of Osun.
The Governor, through a statement by the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said Chief Akande brought transparency into governance adding that his tenure as governor of Osun is mostly remembered for the selfless service to the people and the courage he brought into governance.
“Chief Bisi Akande is a democrat if no small status when the history of democratic struggles in Nigeria is written. He was one of those who fought to ensure that the military retreated back to the barracks and he never looked back while the struggle lasted. 
“His emergence as the Governor of Osun in 1999 proved to be one of the best things to have happened to our state. Since the creation of Osun, his administration was the first to give a sense of direction to the future development plans for the state. He might have encountered challenges along the line, but it is worthy of note that Chief Adebisi Akande demonstrated uncommon courage in handling state matters as long as they mattered to the future survival and growth of the state. Today, history has proved Chief Akande’s actions in office as very painful but courageous.”
Aregbesola also recalled the stabilising roles the Ila-born politician played in the formation and nurturing of the All Progressives Congress which he said bailed Nigeria out of the 16 years of the stranglehold of the Peoples Democratic Party.
He added, “In saluting the courage of this eminent elder statesman, we must not fail to recognize his roles in the conception and actual formation of our party, the APC. Chief Akande demonstrated an uncommon agility and vigor in all the activities leading to the successful birth of our party. Today, Nigerians can heave a sigh of relief from the 16 years of misrule that the PDP represented. “
The Governor, while praying for longer life for the politician, said his experience is still very much required for the task of building a virile Nigeria.

 
 

 
A statement, purportedly issued by the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS) in which Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State was accused of “illegally diverting over N7billion of N11.744bilion out of N84billion Paris Club funds accrued to the state by the federal government” (Thisday, January 6) refers.
 
To understand the issues, some questions become pertinent. What is Modulated Salary structure and how applicable is it to Osun state’s salary situation? Was there an agreement, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and labour on the modulation of the latter’s salaries and for what reason? Indeed, what’s the salary status of a typical Osun State civil servant as at December 2016?
 
With a particular focus on Osun State, Modulated Salary structure refers “to the payment of salaries on the basis of what is available. Full salary to Workers in Grade Levels (GL) 1-7 and at least half or more to those on levels from 8 and above.”
 
The existence of an agreement between the government has never been repudiated by Labour. It was indeed the magic wand that bailed the state out of a protracted wage crisis in 2014. In the heat of that crisis, the Aregbesola government placed its cards on the table and gave labour an opportunity to choose between staff rationalization and salary apportionment, or modulation. After intensive deliberations by its congress, labour opted for the latter. Going by the principle behind this agreement, which is still in effect, Osun State could be rightly adjudged to have paid salaries and pensions till December 2016.But this is without prejudice the outstanding which the governor knows would have to be paid as soon as the fortunes of the state improve.
 
Believe it or not, the governor has never stopped expressing his administration’s appreciation to the workers for their sacrifice at a time like this. These facts are understood by Osun workers and their Labour leaders and that is why there has not been any irrational action from the workforce.
Prior to September last year, workers were always paid, based on agreed rates put in place by the Hassan Sunmonu-led Osun State Revenue Apportionment Committee, comprising representatives of labour and other stakeholders. Nonetheless, certain categories of workers had their salaries jerked up in September 2016 as a result of slight improvement in allocations to the state, principal among which was the Paris Club refunds. By way of explanation, workers from GL 1-7 were paid their September to December 2016 salaries 100 per cent; GL 8-10, at 75%; and GL 12 and above, at 50%. Similarly, passive workers, or pensioners, on N1, 000 to N20, 000 collected 100 per cent pensions; while those on N20, 001 to N80, 000 collected N75 per cent; and pensioners on N80, 001 took home 50 per cent. Arrears of balance of 2014 leave bonus were also paid while local government workers and pensioners were not left out.
 
Lest I forget, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) also commended the governor for earmarking N1billion for Osun State University and the jointly-owned Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH). And, in the real sense of it, only a prodigal administration will not prepare for the raining day!
To the best of my knowledge, indigenes and residents of the state alike, especially, those who were around, pre-November 27, 2010, will agree with me that, in spite of its socio-economic peculiarities, Aregbesola was well-prepared for the task ahead as governor.
 
In the area of infrastructure and roads, there is no doubt Osun state has been transformed. For instance, roads from Ijebu-Jesa, my Native Nazareth, and adjoining communities were at a time so impassable that one could simply wonder if there had ever been a government in place. But to our amazement, Aregbesola came on board and changed the narrative by getting those roads fixed pronto. As a matter of fact, not only in Ijesaland were such feats recorded but other parts of the state also felt Aregbesola’s presence.
 
Well, while it is not my intention to bore Nigerians with rhetoric on the governor’s achievements, it is gratifying to note that this mission-minded man of uncommon courage has done excellently well in rekindling the hope of the good people of Osun State who defied all odds on August 9, 2014 to resubmit their political totality and administrative authority to him. Undeterred by the antics of pathological critics whose first instinct is to circumvent, not support, ideas, however innovative, he has to a large extent succeeded in replicating his feat as Commissioner for Works under Bola Tinubu in Osun and I’m sure he’d have done more, but for paucity of funds. Little wonder the opposition is still in shock with regard to Aregbesola’s feat in the state without taking into consideration that it was the shout of ‘Halleluyah’ that brought down the ‘Wall of Jericho’.
 
When the going was good – in terms of allocations accruing to the state, civil servants were paid as and when due. Indeed, Osun was not only at a time rated as the highest paying state in the country, it was also giving ’13th month’ to its workers across board. Apart from the employment and retraining of teachers to compliment the works of existing hands, his government also embarked on the training of some of our students in institutions outside the country. And, when it dawned on us that agriculture was the way to go in the face of challenges confronting the state, his government ‘went back to land.’ So far, so fair! His administration has sent no fewer than 40 of our youth to Germany to learn technical skills in agriculture. Of course, this is in addition to other schemes which overall intention is to restore the lost glory of agriculture. People-friendly policies and programmes were also put in place through which interest-free and subsidized loans were given to farmers. Then, everyone and anyone who had cause to be happy did; and Aregbesola was seen, even by his enemies, as the best thing to happen to our state.
 
Again, while one is not attempting to give approval to delay in salary as a way to go by any responsible government, the state’s present pass is, in my view, not an indefinite inconvenience but a temporary setback which demands the understanding and cooperation of all to surmount. As things stand, Ondo, even with its 13% derivation, is, as we speak, “broke”, with not less than six months in salary arrears to its workers. Only some few weeks back, its workers protested and picketed its Accountant General’s Office for his refusal to pay them just one out of their then-six months’ arrears in salary, pensions and gratuities. The situation is not any different in Taraba, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Oyo, Kogi, Kwara, Zamfara, Delta, Imo, Enugu, even Anambra States.
 
At the national level, it is not a fairer tale! For example, just some few days back, the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) threatened indefinite strike by mid-January, 2017, over “unpaid salary, non-implementation of the National Health Act and poor infrastructure in the sector”. And, officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) once threatened to start obtaining bribe from motorists if they were not paid their November salaries and allowances before December 25, 2016. Indeed, the list is endless!
 
But, how for God’s sake did we get here? Basically, it will be unfair and stunningly ignorant to believe that Nigeria’s slide into recession started with Muhammadu Buhari’s administration; that the events which culminated in Goodluck Jonathan’s exit from Aso Rock started on March 28, 2015; or that the unfriendly economic situation which succeeded in ‘throwing 1.7 million Nigerians into the job market in nine months’ was a product of the present administration’s ‘planlessness’. In the case of Osun, in as much as we all agree that Nigeria’s failure as a country did not start just yesterday, it may therefore amount to standing the truth on its head to assume that the only way out of this situation is by singing from the same, old hymn book of disappointment as if such is a sure ritual to accessing Bola Ige House!
 
At the risk of immodest, Aregbesola’s leadership style has demonstrated to us that if we put things right with regard to the resources that accrue to the state, especially from agriculture and other mineral resources, we will have enough to the extent that we’ll not have to run cap in hand to Abuja for handouts.
 
Yes! Our state is endowed with natural resources. But will the almighty Federal Government allow us to take ownership of them?
•Komolafe writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)

The Federal Government has said it would release N400m to five states for the continuation of the its Homegrown School Feeding Programme this week.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande on Monday.
 

 
He listed the states as Ogun, Oyo, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Osun states.
“When added to Anambra where the school feeding programme kicked off last year, there would now be six states implementing the scheme using the Federal Government’s funds.
“At least, 5.5 million Nigerian primary school pupils would be fed for 200 school days under the free Homegrown School Feeding Programme, according to the 2016 budget, which has an allocation of N93.1bn appropriated for the feeding scheme,” he said in the statement.
Akande also payment for the Conditional Cash Transfer programme has started in all the nine pilot states.
The states are Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo.
He said the Federal Government was aware that one participants were being asked to pay application fees for the intervention programmes, urging Nigerians not to pay such.
Akande said, “We have been receiving reports about instances where Nigerians are being asked to pay application fees for SIP forms. We want to make it clear that such action is illegal and could warrant criminal prosecution.”