In the bid to increase Internally Generated Revenue in the state, the Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has hinted of the coming Commodity Board that will ensure that Osun ranks among the best cocoa producers in Nigeria within the next two years.

He said the board will be under direct supervision of his office.
The governor, while meeting with Produce merchants in the state at the Government House in Osogbo, 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.
He told the produce merchants that the economic situation of the state has been badly affected with the pillaging of the national treasury by the previous administration.
Aregbesola added 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.
The governor noted that the state will soon bounce back‎ with the identification of Sixty million Cocoa trees presently in the state, adding that government henceforth will criminalize any action of farmers and merchants that runs foul 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 with this; 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,” The governor emphasized.
Aregbesola hinted that Produce tribunals will be set up across the state and that 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.
The Governor added that the State Executive Council meetings will be held in rural areas where cocoa farming is thriving in the state for about six months to one year after the formation of his cabinet.
Earlier, the Chairman of the All Farmers Association of Osun, Chief Raheem Adeniji, stated that the association is ready to partner and cooperate with government in her bid to revamp the cocoa farming in the state.
He lamented the poor economic state the country has found itself with the neglect of cocoa which he said was the backbone of the economy in the 60s.
He identified the cancellation of Cocoa and Marketing Board by the then military government as a setback for the industry in Nigeria.

The Governor of the State of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, has appointed the third richest woman of African descent in the world, Folorunso Alakija, as Chancellor of the Osun State University, Osogbo.
 

 
The governor, in a statement by his spokesperson, Semiu Okanlawon, said p‎ursuant to the provisions of clause 5(8) of the first schedule to the Osun State University (Establishment) Law, 2006, Mr. Aregbesola is privileged to appointment Mrs. Alakija‎ as the Chancellor of the University. ‎
 
The appointment, which according to the statement, takes immediate effect will be for a period of five years.‎
The statement noted that statute 3(1) (a) and statute 5 of the Osun State University Law (2006) provides that the University shall have a Chancellor, who shall, in relation to the University take precedence before all other members of the University and when he or she is present shall preside at all meetings of Convocation held for conferring degrees, diplomas, certificates and other awards.‎
Mr. Aregbesola, while congratulating the new Chancellor, said Mrs. Alakija’s antecedent and sterling qualities as a God-fearing woman, a person of honour, integrity and successful business woman would no doubt impact positively on the running of Osun State University.
The governor pointed out that the government of Osun would look forward to a great working relationship with the new Chancellor as she leads Osun State University, Osogbo, to a new height of excellence.‎
“‎I wish to inform you, that the investiture is expected to hold during the 4th Convocation ceremony of the institution, proposed to come up on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th February, 2016.‎

“‎While congratulating you once again, please accept the assurance of best regards of the people and Government of Osun”.
In her acceptance letter addressed to the governor, Mrs Alakija said, “It is with pleasure that I receive and accept the appointment as the chancellor of the University of Osun State. I pray for God’s grace and strength to execute my duties as Chancellor of the University during my five-year tenure.”

Members of Osun Professionals in FCT, a group in support of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola on Tuesday staged a peaceful march in support of the governor.
 

 
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the group, led by its Pressident, Mr Yahaya Mojeed marched around Three Arms Zone and Central Area of Abuja.
Speaking with newsmen, Mojeed urged all indigenes of the state to support Aregbesola in his quest to develop the state.
He also urged the governor to avoid political distractions and to continue in his determination to move the state forward.
According to him, Aregbesola needs to be encouraged as he makes efforts to tackle developmental challenges facing the state.
“Most states in Nigeria are facing similar challenges due to dwindling revenue and reduction in allocation to states.
“We are using this opportunity to urge our governor to remain steadfast and be creative in revenue generation to deliver on his mandate.
“Poverty and underdevelopment do not have political colouration; we are, therefore, asking politicians to sheath their swords and support their leaders to perform,’’ Mojeed said.

Ekiti State Governor,  Mr Ayodele Fayose,  yesterday called for the unity of Yoruba,s nation for meaningful development.

He also identified the need for State Governors to collectively address the nation’s dwindling economy.
Governor Fayose stated this in Osogbo when he paid a visit to his counterpart in Osun State,Mr Rauf Aregbesola.
The Governor who said his visit to the state was about the future of Yoruba nation maintained that efforts of past Yoruba leaders must not be in vain.
According to him, the visit of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi to the Alaafin Of Oyo more than a week ago sends a strong signal on the need for unity and cooperation.
He remarked that Governors should also look beyond political parties and politics for proper development of the region.
Governor Fayose equally stressed that governors should tap from available opportunities from Agriculture to reduce economic problem in their respective states.
On weither Fayose would quit PDP he noted that “I won’t quit but time will tell if PDP is dead or not’.
Responding, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who commended Governor Fayose for the visit stressed the need to create economic bond that would rescue people from level of poverty and live a modern live.
He noted that since oil had lost its position as the biggest source of revenue generation for the country, said there is the need to shift attention to Agriculture.
Aregbesola added that Governors in the southwestern part of Nigeria had concluded plans to reposition Oodua Investment Company Limited conglomerate as the engine room of Yoruba economy.
Governor Aregbesola who described peace and unity as indispensable instrument to greatness, success and progress said it is time for Yorubas to strengthen the existing peace for all round development.

The President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, has given a pass mark to the government of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola over his management of the bail out funds received from the federal government.
 

 
Mr. Wabba stated this while speaking with Tribune Newspaper in an interview on issues bordering on the anti-labour activities in some of the states, oil pipeline vandalisation, corruption and the demand for new national minimum wage.
“Osun is better.” Mr. Wabba said while answering questions bordering on the use of FG bailout funds.
“You remember we went there to negotiate the payment of the bailout. Even after the bailout, the governor has keep fate with continue payment of salary and transparently put on the table whatever comes in. They have also worked on how to improve the IGR, including setting up a committee that is being chaired by Hassan Sunmonu. So we can say progressively, the issue is under control.”
“There is actually cooperation between the union and the government towards addressing the issue. I think that is quite different from the issue of Imo State. Imo State is not even carrying the workers along; everything is being done by himself, even the payment of the bailout. It has not been transparently done to ensure that everybody is on the same page.” Mr. Waba stated
He continued, “Oyo State also has the same case with Osun, they are also assiduously working with our people. They have arrears, but they are working and making the issue transparent to address it.”
“The other one is Ebonyi State, which we are also planning to visit. He is paying regularly, but he also went ahead to also deduct some percentage from the salary of workers, which cannot be justified and which is not accepted to us. The only challenge is that you cannot also deduct workers salaries without their consent because the salary was negotiated, there is a table and therefore unilaterally, you can’t also go ahead to deduct from workers salary without their consent.”
“The other issue associated to it is that he is also trying to undermine the NLC structure going to obtain a black market pronouncement of court. But all of these, we are handling them and the Central Working Committee (CWC) have already approved that we should visit Imo and Ebonyi states and we have visited Imo and ready to visit Ebonyi because it was the decision of the CWC after taken reports of activities from all the states of the federation. They thought we should be able to visit them and see how we can be able to assist them.”

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of the state of Osun has commended the management of the University of Ilorin for adopting the state’s initiative of Opon-Imo.
 

 
The Ogbeni also commended UNILORIN for developing “a seamless strategy for a stable academic calendar” in the institution, just as the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, praised the existing love and harmony among the University staff, which he identified as the reason behind its consistent progress.
The duo made the observations last Friday (January 22, 2016) when the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali (OON), led top officials of the University on separate visits to the Osun State Governor’s Office, Osogbo, and the Enuwa Palace, Ile-Ife, respectively.
The University’s management team, which included the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (RTI), Prof. Gabriel Olatunji; the Registrar, Mr. Emmanuel Obafemi; and the University Librarian, Dr. Joseph Omoniyi, was in Osun State to felicitate with the new Ooni on his recent appointment and installation as well as to thank the Governor for honoring the University’s invitation to its recent 40th anniversary and 31st convocation ceremonies.
Governor Aregbesola, who described the University of Ilorin as “the only public university in Nigeria that has escaped the customary breaks in academic calendar”, noted that “the University is doing very well”. He said, “When a student enters your school, the fear of not completing his/her education on time is totally eliminated”.
Pointing out that “this is Unilorin’s most important contribution to sustaining a credible academic environment in the country”, the Governor told the Vice-Chancellor, “We commend those who have developed this seamless strategy and we also commend those of you who are sustaining it”.
The Governor also commended the University’s “commitment to modernisation and knowledge tradition” with the distribution of i-Pad tablets to all its students. He said, “I am very much impressed by your adoption of the latest easy-to-carry-about and easy-to-use IT device”.
Ogbeni Aregbesola further noted, “That you have introduced and made compulsory the acquisition of this modern IT device by your students is a feat that must be seriously commended by those who genuinely want our nation to be at par with the best practices all over the world”.
The Governor also commended the University for its successful migration to STM 4, which is the latest technology in internet access, saying, “With this, the University has broken the digital divide between the developed and developing world and I am enthused by your leap in that direction.”
The Governor also expressed happiness that indigenes of Osun State constitute a substantial percentage of the staff and student population of the University.
Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor had congratulated the Governor on his re-election for a second term in office, saying this was a clear evidence of the people’s confidence in him.
Prof. Ambali disclosed that about 1, 400 of the newly admitted students of the institution are indigenes of Osun State. Pointing out that the state is also well represented on the University’s staff list, he said, “In fact, one of my Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Prof. Olatunji, is a proud son of Osun State.”
The Vice-Chancellor acknowledged Governor Aregbesola’s contributions to educational development, especially the “Opon Imo” (i-Pad) initiative for secondary school students in the state.
Prof. Ambali then reeled out some of the achievements of the University, which include the one-student-one-iPad initiative; the upgrade of the University’s classrooms to be IT compliant; upgrading of the internet connectivity on campus with the recent migration from STM 1 to STM 4; the operation of a paperless Senate; and a massive development of sundry plantations for teaching and research and for raising the University’s internally generated revenue (IGR) base.
Earlier at the Enuwa Palace of the Ooni of Ife, the royal father had commended the love and unity among the staff of the University of Ilorin, saying this was responsible for the stable academic calendar being enjoyed by the institution.
Oba Ogunwusi said, “I see love from Ife spreading to Ilorin and among University of Ilorin staff. You are working as a family and your oneness is the reason behind your progress” .
While thanking the Vice-Chancellor and the management team for the visit, Oba Ogunwusi promised to support the University of Ilorin in the area of the provision of hostel accomodation for the students.
The royal father said, “I am in discussion on the accommodation problem. I am deeply concerned about the need and I will work with you”.
He described Ife as a land of love, stressing that it is the love that makes descendants of the town to be playing critical role in the development of the University of Ilorin.
Oba Ogunwusi added that the Yorubas are a people blessed with rich tradition and culture. He thanked God for the wave of Unity among the Yoruba people, describing this as “a good development”.
In a show of his commitment to the provision of adequate hostel accommodation for students of the University of Ilorin, Oba Ogunwusi introduced one of his foreign friends, Mr. Laresh, an Indian and Managing Director of ML Construction Company to the Vice-Chancellor and his team. ML is a leading supplier of building materials in Nigeria.
In his own address, the Vice-Chancellor congratulated the royal father on his ascension to the throne of his forefathers, praying that God will help him to achieve all his good plans for the Kingdom.
Prof. Ambali explained that the purpose of the visit was to rejoice with the king on his recent installation, adding that it was also to show that the University of Ilorin greatly cherishes the monarch.
“We cannot talk about University of Ilorin without talking about the language we speak. We appreciate you and we want you to continue to think of Ilorin as one of your brothers in diaspora”, Prof. Ambali submitted.
Other top officials of the University on the Vice-Chancellor’s entourage included the Deputy Bursar, Mr. Munirudeen Dere; the Director of the Advancement Centre, Dr. Jeleel Ojuade; the Deputy Director of the Advancement Centre, Dr. Lateef Onireti; and the Deputy Director, Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun.

The Osun Civil Societies Coalition (OCSC) has described as political and insincere the planned rally of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun state scheduled to hold at the National Assembly tomorrow.
 
 
 
 

 
OCSC, in a press statement by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Comrade Abiodun Ibrahim on Monday said that the proposed rally was being sponsored by opposition party to destabilize the state.
Ibrahim accused a sitting judge of the Osun state High Court, Justice Oloyede Folahanmi of mobilizing members of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun state for the protest.
According to Ibrahim: “The Chairman of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun state, Mr Adeniyi Sulaimon, Director Media and Publicity of the group, Mr Seun Adeoye, Mr Olukanni Yemi Oyedeji and other members of the group were brought by Justice Olamide Folahanmi Oloyede as witnesses at the National Judicial Council (NJC) headquarters in Abuja on Monday for her defence against the petition written to the NJC by the Osun Civil Societies Coalition (OCSC) on her petition against Aregbesola.
“We are confused on the intention of both the judge and the witnesses at the NJC. Could it be that the judge mobilized them to Abuja for the protest or they were sponsored by the Peoples Democratic Party, Osun state to show support for Justice Folahanmi Oloyede on her case?
“We wonder how a mission to serve as witness to a case turned to political protest against the governor. We want members of the public to reason on the action of the judge and the members of the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun state.”
Ibrahim maintained that the purported financial crisis of the state on which the rally is to be held, is gradually fading out with the payment of workers’ salaries and commencement of infrastructural projects.
Ibgrahim said that the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, on Monday commended Governor Rauf Aregbesola for the disbursement of the bailout used to offset the backlog of the salary debt.
He stated that there was no justification for the rally, if not to speed off campaign of calumny against the government as being dictated by the opposition party.

…Adewoye urged parents whose children fall within the age bracket to avail their kids the opportunity of the immunisation
The government of the state of Osun, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), will flag-off the ‘Integrated Campaign Against Measles’ in the state on Thursday. The State Health Promotion Officer, Mr Adewole Adewoye, said on Monday in Osogbo at a stakeholders meeting that the campaign would hold between Jan. 28 and Feb.1.

Against the background of opposition’s criticisms of the MKO Abiola International Airport, Ido Osun in Osun, the Consultant Engineer to the state ‎government on the project, Wemimo Adebajo, has revealed that the airport when completed will rank among airports with the longest runways in Nigeria.
 

 
Mr. Adebajo, during an inspection tour of facilities at the airport with journalists stated that the present site of the MKO Abiola International Airport was the first place where aviation activities took place in West Africa.
The consultant, speaking on the percentage of work done at the airport, noted that government, having spent N2.7 billion out of the revised total cost of N11billion for the project, work could be said to have reached 25 per cent.
He added that the West African Frontier Force was lifted from the Ido-Osun aerodrome, the present site of the MKO international Airport project during World War II, hence the conscious effort by the state to make it the best in Nigeria if not in Africa.
He told journalists that the tour of the facilities became germane to allow journalists be adequately informed about the magnitude of the work done in order to situate the criticisms of the opposition in their proper context.
According to the consultant, the runway of the airport waiting to be laid with 500 mm asphalt is 3.5 kilometre in length, 12.3 metres excavation and re-filling with laterite. He added that both sides of the runway are equipped ab initio with water pipes which will be the first of its kind in Nigeria.
He explained that with such a feature, the airport will have been equipped with facilities that will make emergency fire fighting readily available near the runway in case of any emergency landing or fire outbreaks.

He pointed out that though the runway has not been completed, but in case of an emergency, the runway at its present state can be used by any pilot to land an aircraft at the MKO International Airport.
“Still more to be done, I believe the airport is good for the state. The main delay right now is a question of funding and the state is seeking ways on how to make it available.
“We are approaching the federal government for 50 per cent of cost of building the airport which is Federal Government policy, right now. What the contractor is doing is site maintenance so as to ensure that when work resumes there won’t be any case of deterioration of the huge work that had already been done here,” the Airport Consultant stressed.
Mr. Adebajo also added that the Control Tower nearing completion is at the third floor of four sitting on a foundation of an excavated ground of nine metres.
He said, “A lot of work has been done, and as we go round, you will see the control tower which we have built and it is almost completed. You will see the terminal building built to the foundation, the airport fire station has reached the stage of roofing.
“The runway is going to take about 60 per cent of the cost of any airport project. A lot of work has been done on the runway, there are about 8 streams in the path of the runway. It therefore became necessary to excavate and build box covets so that the water in the stream will flow unhindered under the runway.”
He explained that the essence of the facility tour of the airport with journalists was to allow people know what the state is doing at the airport and not just respond to allegations.
“I think the State government is trying to make sure that the press, the people of the state and Nigeria as a whole are briefed on what they have actually been doing. If it was just to respond to some political allegations, you will be talking to a politician, not a technocrat like myself.
“I have actually read in the newspaper that the contract has been inflated to 15.5billion Naira which is not true, I have just told you it is 11billion Naira and if you compare this with every others in Nigeria, you will realise that the cost of this one is cheap”.
The Consultant Engineer confirmed to journalists that the airport project predated the Rauf Aregbesola administration stating that the project had since 2010 been reviewed to over N7.5 billion even before the coming of the Aregbesola administration.
In an earlier statement issued by the state government, the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Semiu Okanlawon, had debunked insinuation of contract inflation, saying considering exchange rate factors, and the fact that the scope of the project was reviewed to make the airport more sophisticated than earlier projected, allegation of inflation was mischievous and misplaced.