The Government of Osun yesterday described as a cock and bull tale, allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party that the Rauf Aregbesola administration was planning to replace doctors who had abandoned their duty posts with native doctors.
 

 
The government expressed pity for what it called the irredeemable abyss that the Peoples Democratic Party had sunk into as demonstrated by the lack of substance and hollowness that characterise its criticisms of the Aregbesola administration.
In a statement by the Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor, the government said in an attempt to play the crucial role of opposition, PDP had exposed itself as a political party peopled with characters, who sufferred from ‘crass ignorance’ and ‘chronic intellectual deficiency.’
The statement endorsed by the Director, Semiu Okanlawon, said that the allegation that the government intended to sack some striking doctors and replace them with traditional healers (herbalists) could only be a figment of an inelegant and unrefined minds that could only be found within the rank of PDP.
He argued that PDP’s criticism must be misplaced when put side by side with the performance of the state in the health sector as second to Lagos in the provision of sound primary health care delivery in the whole country.
But the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, insisted that the government had concluded plan to sack another 3,000 workers through a sinister mechanism. It specifically condemned Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s request, asking workers in the state to submit their Bank Verification Number (BVN) or forfeit their salary.

The Oluwo of Iwo, Oba AbdulRasheed Adewale Akanbi, has commended what he called the gallantry of men of the Nigeria Police Force, Osun State Command in thwarting armed robbers’ attempt to rob banks in Ikirun recently.
 

 
Oba Akanbi also lauded Governor Rauf Aregbesola for his foresight in considering security as the first major thing to put in place ahead of everything, adding that if not for the adequate provisions that had been made for the police by the Aregbesola administration, the attempted robbery would have been successful.
 
The monarch made the commendation in a statement signed by the spokesperson for his palace,  Prince Dauda Abimbola.
 
According to him, without adequate security, investments whether local or foreign, would remain a mirage.
 
“There is no doubt that Osun is impregnable to criminals and this is commendable. This can easily be attributed to the foresight of Governor Aregbesola in considering security most paramount. I am aware of the state’s heavy investment in security equipment.
 
“I am aware of about 25 highly sophisticated Armoured Personnel Carriers which have been provided for the police which are found on our roads in Osun. I am also aware of the many patrol vans available for security agents. Everywhere you go, there is a sense of security because you see highly motivated men and women of the Nigeria Police.
 
“What happened in our state on that fateful Friday was yet another test case of the preparedness of our security agencies to combat crime. We must congratulate the government for this and we most salute the gallantry of the officers, who showed confidence and prevented the men from their evil plot,” the Oluwo remarked.
 
Oluwo, however, urged government and the police not to relent, adding that criminals of today always employ new tactics to overwhelm their victims.
 
He added: “I want to urge the government and the police to intensify efforts in the area of security. Our attempt to promote our culture through tourism will be a mirage if visitors feel unsafe. I also urge residents of the state to be vigilant while cooperating with the law enforcement agencies in their efforts to make Osun uncomfortable for criminals.”

Secretary, Ilesa East Local Government Council, Honourable Lanre Balogun, has called on security officials in Ilesa to emulate the gallantry of the security operatives at Ikirun, who, last week, successfully arrested some robbers who attacked banks in the area. Balogun stated that the brave security operatives successfully “countered the armed robbers and disallowed them from perpetrating evil in the area.”

 

 
Balogun stated this while speaking against the backdrop of recent armed robbery attack in Ikirun, when bandits attacked two major banks in Ikirun, Osun State.
The council boss also commended the gallantry of the police, most especially, the DPO of Iragbiji, who strategically manned a security bullet proof tank to counter the armed robbers during the attack at Ikirun, which aided the arrest of four of the bandits and disallowed them from carting away the sum of N7.5milion looted from the banks.
While calling on the leadership of the police in the country to recognise the efforts of the DPO, he also commended Osun State governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, for providing adequate security outfits for the people in Osun State and maintained that, he would also commence a campaign to “sensitise people on the need for adequate security in their respective homes, offices and market places within Ilesa East Local Government Area.”

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of Osun State, has described the allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that his administration was poised to sack striking doctors in the state’s employ and replace them with herbalists, also known as native doctors.
 

The governor stated this on Monday, February 22, 2016, while expressing disgust over the condition of the opposition party in the state, which, according to him, is shallow and lacks the substance required in a political party.
Governor Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been in a long-drawn battle with the PDP over his policies and administration of the state, with the PDP using every opportunity to ridicule his decisions as governor.

Doctors at the state level in Osun State have been on strike for many months now, demanding for the immediate payment of salaries and entitlements.
The governor’s remarks were contained in a statement endorsed by Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Office of the Governor.
He said that the allegation that the government intended to sack some striking doctors and replace them with tradition healers (herbalists) could only be a figment of the inelegant and unrefined minds that could only be found within the ranks of the PDP.
“Weird is the logic of PDP and nothing can change the illogical reasoning of people whose illogical ways brought Nigeria to her present predicament.

“Because of those who abandoned their jobs as a result of seemingly irreconcilable terms, the government has left no one in doubt on its efforts to deploy doctors from the state Ministry of Health, doctors in the security agencies in the state to compliment the consultants and local government doctors who are working,” he said.
Okanlawon, while countering the main opposition party in Osun State, claimed that the party, while it led the country at the national level, brought economic hardship upon Nigeria through its mismanagement.
He said it was a waste of time not to ignore the PDP and the flimsy accusations it frequently peddles against the governor.

Some civil servants in Osun State have flayed the state government for demanding for their Bank Verification Numbers, alongside other information which the government requested them to submit before Wednesday.
 
 

 
Some of the workers at the state Civil Service Secretariat argued that the BVN was their personal number and should not be disclosed to anybody.
Some of the workers said they would not submit the BVN because they believed the numbers were not necessary for the exercise.
In a circular issued from the Department of Planning, Research and Statistics of the Ministry of Finance on Monday,the ministry asked civil servants in the state to fill a form indicating their names, Chams Identity card number, BVN and bank accounts. The BVN is one of the information marked as mandatory on the form.
The circular, with reference number AD/2/405/19 and dated February 18, 2016 pasted at the Ministry of Women Affairs, was entitled, “Re: Cleaning of payrolls of state and local governments’ workers in the State of Osun.”

The circular read, “Further to the circular letter with reference number AD/2/405/7 dated 7th September, 2015 on the above subject matter, I am directed to request every member of staff of your ministry/ department/ agency to complete the format below which should be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance not later than Wednesday, 24th February, 2016.”

The Osun State government has directed workers to provide “necessary information about themselves to prove that they are genuine”. A  circular by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of  Finance, directed civil servants to fill the form, stating their name, ministry or agency, CHAMS Staff I.D. number, phone number, name of bank and a print out of…”

 
The Osun State government has directed workers to provide “necessary information about themselves to prove that they are genuine”.
A  circular by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of  Finance, directed civil servants to fill the form, stating their name, ministry or agency, CHAMS Staff I.D. number, phone number, name of bank and a print out of their Bank Verification Number (BVN)
The circular also stated that all completed forms should be forwarded to the ministry not later than Wednesday.
The circular added:  “Returns from local governments should be collated on local government basis by the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy, Water Resources, Rural and Community Affairs.
“Returns from all tertiary institutions should be collated by the Office of Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology.

The statement said all completed forms are to be submitted with a cover letter  endorsed by the Accounting Officer of each ministry or agency and should be addressed to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Osogbo.

The governor, state of Osun was recently in Boripe LGA of the state to commission medical equipment worth over 50 million Naira.
Here is the event as captured through my lens.

Ogbeni Aregbesola is warmly received by the people of Boripe LGA.

This Nurse replicates the governor’s signature salute and her smile tell the story of the day

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola shakes hands with the Oba of Iragbiji

“Arise O’ Compatriots” Governor Aregbesola and other dignitaries rise in honor of the nation anthem

A time of pray for the state of Osun and the country at large

Ogbeni Aregbesola in conversation with the Oba of Iragbiji

Some of the medical equipment on display for commissioning

Medical service delivery is about to get a lot better and easier for these medical workers

wheelchairs and crutches were also part of the equipment commissioned at the event

It was all smiles for the medical staff of Boripe LGA.

The women of Bopire LGA showed their appreciation to governor Aregbesola, singing his praises.

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola took time to acknowledged the women before delivering his speech on the day

Osun’s got talent: Secretary to the state government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti showing off his dance moves.

Who the cap fits, let him wear it

The O’Meal contingent were not to be outdone on the day.

“Agriculture is the way forward” Ogbeni pointed out on the day

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola presenting wheelchairs the physically challenged persons in Boripe LGA

Heading back to the office, Governor Rauf Aregbesola gives one final salute.

The Osun State Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) on Wednesday announced the sealing of the offices of telecommunication firm, Globacom, in the state for not effecting the payment of outstanding taxes and other levies in respect of mast/ base station and laying of fibre optics.
The state said the charges became “due and payable to the Osun State Government arising from back- Duty-Investigation-Exercise”.
 

 
This Acting Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Osun Internal Revenue Service, Dayo Oyebanji, said the action became necessary following Globacom’s non-compliance in ensuring remittance of all outstanding taxes due to the State.
“The distrain action is in line with the provision of Section 104 of the personal Income Tax Act 2004 LFN (as amended in 2011) and will not be reopened for business until all full compliance is attained,” Mr. Oyebanji said.
He said several meetings were held with the company’s representatives in the past three years to resolve the issue, but that the company failed to comply.
The latest meetings, he said, were held October 8 and November 13, 2015, adding that the company’s representatives reneged on their promise to facilitate payment.
Mr. Oyebanji said the Osun State House of Assembly also intervened in the matter by inviting Globacom to appear before its special session on December 3, 2015.

 

He said representatives of the company appeared before the House on that day, the promises they made to remit the outstanding tax liabilities within two weeks were yet to be kept.
Mr. Oyebanji added, “Another important issue is the failure to obtain relevant approval for laying of fibre optics in line with the State’s relevant regulation on physical and urban planning. He emphasized that in the last few months, it has been discovered that GLO has been laying cables and masts especially in Ife Axis without obtaining necessary approval and thus violating the law.
“OIRS has intensified its efforts on advocacy, publicity and enlightenment programmes on the statutory obligations of the citizenry for voluntary compliance by paying their taxes promptly as prescribed in the Nigeria constitution and the applicable tax legislations.
“In spite of its efforts, some corporate organizations and individuals still engage in several violations. As a result of this, OIRS is set to begin enforcement of tax payment, prosecution of all tax defaulters in the State of Osun to ensure that the defaulters are made to face the full scale of the law.
“Personal Income Tax Act mandates all taxable institutions to file its annual tax return for the preceding year at the expiration of 90 days from the commencement of every year of assessment, a taxable person or corporate organizations who fails to file its returns with OIRS by the stipulated date is in breach of the provisions of the law.”
He, however, thanked those who had continued to express their unalloyed support to the State through their regular tax payment. He assured members of the public that the state government remained committed to building a vibrant economy aimed at boosting commerce, industry and improving the welfare of the citizenry which he said could only be achieved through prompt tax payments.
He said the OIRS would “not hesitate to take legal action against recalcitrant individuals or corporate organizations that fail to perform their civic responsibility to the State government in the area of tax payment”.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr. Adeyinka Esho has disclosed that about Eight thousand, One hundred and fifty-seven (8,157) pupils from selected 17 pilot schools across the State are benefiting from Sweet Potatoes and porridge feeding every Wednesday.
 

 
 
Dr. Esho stated this through the Director, Primary Health Care, Dr. Kayode Ogunniyi during the sensitization meeting held in Osogbo with facility-based Health workers on Nutritional benefit of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP).
According to Dr. Esho, the purpose of the sensitization is to promote the benefit of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes among school children.
While speaking at the programme, the Project Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Justus Lotade Manje, said that Orange-Fleshed Sweet potatoes have long term sustainable replacement for vitamin ‘A’ supplement because of its natural beta-caroten level which contains high level of vitamins B, C, and K.
He added that vitamin ‘A’ deficiency in pregnant and lactating women can result in severe health damage for both mother and child.

In a bid to cushion the effect of the current economic downturn on the residents and government occasioned by the dwindling revenue from the federation account, Osun State government has renewed its commitment and called on the people to embrace farming as the only alternative way out.
 

 
Governor Rauf Aregbesola recently noted at a gathering that the situation with the drop in oil prices and the sharp reduction in the federation accounts from N1.2 trillion in 2012 to N369 billion in November allocations shared in December 2015 has reduced the running of government to little or nothing hence, the need to look inward in increasing IGR.
Apart from measures government is taking to revive the state’s economy, Governor Aregbesola further promised the readiness of his administration to render assistance to young graduates and people having interest in agriculture.
Recently, the state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) for the establishment of a demonstration farm at Ago Owu Farm settlement in the state for best farming practices.
The state government, in the agreement, would make available 20,439 hectares of land at the farm settlement for the development of agriculture and production of massive food as alternative to reliance on the oil sector.
The demonstration farm centre is also for the purpose of conducting research and training young farmers in the state in modern, commercial and profitable farming. Under the agreement, the IITA will also carry out cassava, plantain and other crop multiplications.
Besides, the state late last year signed $50million Agriculture Investment with a United States of America (USA) firm for the provision of modern agricultural technological services, aimed at giving fresh impetus to its agricultural sector revolution drive in the state.
The MoU covered the development and infrastructural upgrade of breeding, fattening and processing of beef cattle ranches and the establishment of agricultural equipment leasing and hire centres to be managed by JIL farm Limited.
The government has also promised to reinvigorate the bee keeping business in the state to keep the youth especially young graduates as well as women busy and get them out of the problem of seeking none existing white collar jobs.
Speaking on the determination and commitment of the state government to boost agriculture, the National Coordinator of Federation of Bee Keeping Association of Nigeria (Southwest), Mr Femi Komolafe said that the state government is doing everything possible to reinvigorate agriculture as one of the strategies needed to transform the state.
Komolafe, an expert in bee keeping and one of the aides to Governor Aregbesola stated that aside from massive food production and generation of revenue from cash crops; the state is focusing on bee keeping.
He stressed that the state government has created a honey processing centre at Oyan, in Odo-Otin local government area of the state to standardise processing of honey to meet international specifications now that the world has discovered that African honey is the best organic honey from nectars of flowers.
According to him, “the world is looking for African honey this time around because they have discovered that it is the best because we are producing organic honey. It is honey that does not strive with sugar or any other thing. It is natural substance that was gotten from nectar of the flowers of the plants. So it is more nutritious than any other honey from other parts of the world.”
While stressing on the importance of honey, Komolafe noted that bee keeping business is generally acceptable worldwide unlike some agricultural produce such as piggery which is not embraced globally.
His word: “honey has been recommended as complete food that contains protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and the rest adding that there are lots of benefits from honey which makes it a veritable business.”
He emphasised that the state has made huge investments in processing of honey and other beehive products and intends to encourage the bee farmers in the state to process their honey in a modern way that would be able to match the international standard and make it exportable.”
“The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has also stepped up campaign on the processing of honey because it was discovered that most people that have been producing honey in the past are doing it in a crude manner that makes it not exportable.”
“For the processing of honey to be actualised in the state, we have designed a programme of mobilising more people into the honey business, encouraging them to produce more so as to meet the supply of honey and supply other bee products.”
“Arrangements have been put in place to organise seminar even for the existing bee keepers within the state of Osun and at the same time to encourage more people who are fresh to come into the business. Bee keeping is not a business that is difficult to learn. It is so easy to learn and manage, once you know the rudiments of handling the bee and managing apiary, the sky is the limit for anybody that goes into the business.”
“Apart from organising seminars, encouraging more people into the sector, we try to make sure that in each local government, the bee farmers organise themselves into cooperative bodies either having individual or joint farms in order to have access to funds from the Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and Bank of Industry (BOI).”
Komolafe explained that the state government has opened up windows of opportunities to all interested bee farmers in the state with the processing factory created at Oyan in Odo-Otin local government area of the state to mop up all the products and process them for export.
He declared that Beekeeping is a business that does not require more money to start unlike poultry and other agricultural business.
According to him, “Bees require no feeding; what they require is the house, where to house or hive the bees. We are so fortunate in this part of the world that we have vegetation and flowers that bees always exploit (the nectars). The nectar from flowers is what the bees always gather to make the honey.”
Unlike in the temperate region where they need to feed their bees, we don’t have that problem in this part of the country because we have enough vegetation that can give flowers at different period. It is from the nectars that the bees acquire what is needed to form their honey and other bee products.”
Also, Governor Aregbesola recently hinted of his plan to establish a Commodity Board that will ensure that Osun ranks among the best cocoa producers in Nigeria within the next two years.
Meeting with produce merchants in the state recently, Aregbesola stated that with the new cocoa development initiatives in the state, fresh revenues will be available to the state thus making the economy of the state prosperous in 2016.
The governor noted that the state will soon bounce back‎ with the identification of 60 million Cocoa trees presently in the state, adding that government henceforth will criminalise any action of farmers and merchants that runs afoul of government laws on cocoa.
He pointed out that government will soon be registering all farmers in the state for easy implementation of government policies on agriculture thus giving adequate room for monitoring and giving the necessary support for farmers.
According to him, “To show the people of the state that we are ready to face agriculture squarely in Osun, I am establishing a Commodity Board that will be supervised directly from the office of the governor.”
“Our bags of cocoa in Osun will be branded; government will be able to ensure that the quality of cocoa coming out of the state meets international quality standards. When there was free money coming from oil, no government was looking at what cocoa could bring to the economy; we are back to the days where cocoa will be the main stay of our economy in Osun.”
Aregbesola hinted that produce tribunals will be set up across the state and that a special colour will be given to vehicles transporting cocoa within the state.
The governor reminded produce merchants of the immense wealth that cocoa alone brought to the Western Region and the good use to which the revenues were put by the then governments.
Meanwhile, the managing director of Osun Investment Company, Alhaji Bola Oyebamiji disclosed recently that the company alone has cultivated no fewer than 1,500 hectares of cocoa at Ibokun in Obokun local government area and Iwo in Iwo local government area of the state all in an attempt to boost the economy of Osun State.
The old Western Region under the administration of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo made landmark achievements in the region without oil but relying on agricultural produce. Aregbesola is ready to follow suit.