Local Government Officers have been admonished to justify the money invested on them by government through various training programmes by improving on their job performance.
The Chairman Local Government Service Commission, Dr. Peter Babalola, gave the word of advice while declaring open a 3 day workshop titled “Budgetary Control, Project Monitoring and Evaluation” held at the Local Government Service Commission’s Multipurpose Hall.
Dr. Babalola noted that the workshop was designed for Directors of Administration and Service, Finance and Budget as well as Due Process Officers, Engineers and Internal Auditors to re-prepare them towards budget implementation, control and discipline, especially now that, the 2014 budget is nearing approval.
He stressed that, budget monitoring should start from conceptualization to completion while report should be made periodically and formally to relevant stakeholders and authorities.
The Commission’s boss made it known that, since the State Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has turned the state to project sites, it is imperative to train relevant personnel who are saddled with the duty of implementing and monitoring the developmental projects.
He stated that, budgets should be seen as a tool of management control, discipline and effective project monitoring and evaluation.
He assured the participants that every positive recommendation and suggestions that, will assist the present administration to achieve the desired goals, will be welcomed and considered.
OSUN DEFENDER

State of Osun Technical Committee on Federal Road Safety Commission set up by Governor Aregbesola will tomorrow morning embark on its first road show in the New Year to Ile-Ife.
A release signed by the Chairman of the Committee, Professor Joseph Fawole indicates that, the road show is aimed at checking the level of compliance to traffic rules and regulations with a view to sanctioning violators.
The release then enjoins road safety officers from Ile-Ife and Ilesa Units of the FRSC along with their Special Marshals in the area to join the team in order to make the road show effective.
OSUN DEFENDER

Governor Rauf Aregbesola would Thursday morning commission a world class ICT company located along Ilesa-Ife Express road, Ilesa.

 ONEWSPORTAL

The Osun State government has employed 4,330 teachers to fill vacancies in public schools.
 
Chairman of the State Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Felix Awofisayo told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that 2,330 teachers were recruited by SUBEB for elementary and middle schools and 2,000 for secondary schools by the Teachers Establishment and Pensions Office.
 
Awofisayo said letters had been issued to the teachers and warned them against rejecting postings to rural areas.
 
He said Governor Rauf Aregbesola had increased the grants to elementary and middle schools, adding: “Salaries and allowances, including Teachers Special Allowance, are promptly paid as directed by the governor. The state is partnering agencies of the Federal Government to improve education.
 
“The state has paid its counterpart fund to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) till 2012 and received its matching grant from UBEC till 2012.”
 
Also yesterday, the Permanent Secretary, Lawrence Oyeniran, said the government budgeted N400 million for the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) fees of 32,075 pupils.
 
He spoke in Osogbo while defending the ministry’s 2014 budget before the Committee on Finance and Appropriation.
 
Oyeniran said N350 million was budgeted for bursary to final year students of higher institutions and N100 million for scholarships to Master’s students.
THE NATION
 
 

Photos from the 7th Edition of Public Assesment on Aregbesola’s Administration, tagged: Gbangbadekun, at Ikire in Irewole/Ayedade/Isokan Federal Constituency, State of Osun on Tuesday 28-01-2014

 

The Osun Ambulance Service Agency, otherwise known as O’Ambulance has saved the lives of no fewer than 2,240 accident victims across the state in the last seven months, its General Manager Dr. Olusoji Akinloye has said.
Akinloye who made the disclosure at the opening of a two-day training workshop for paramedics working with the agency said: “The services we render cannot be quantified in terms of monetary value because we have saved many lives and  prevented untimely deaths in many homes.
The O’Ambulance was inaugurated about seven months ago and on the average, we rescue 320 victims per month. Our paramedics have been effective but this training was organised to make them more effective. They have been providing prompt and excellent services to victims and patients and we have to encourage them to do more by equipping them with training.”
He advised the residents to call 07080601212 any time there was an emergency situation around them, saying that the Aregbesola administration laid premium on human life.
The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Temitope Ilori, advised the paramedics to ensure that they live up to international standard in carrying out their statutory duties. She said, Governor Rauf Aregbesola was very passionate about the service the O’Ambullance render and therefore, urged the paramedics to be diligent.
The commissioner urged the participants to show interest in the workshop, which she said would improve their operations. She, however, sounded the note of warning that whoever failed to score above the average in the test which they are expected write at the end of the workshop will not be awarded a certificate.
A United Kingdom-based expert, Dr. Ademola Onifade, who maintained that paramedics must know how to drive to make their services better, said that knowing how to drive would shorten the time victims would take to get to hospitals for treatment.
Also, another UK-based paramedic, Mr. Malcom Finn, advised the participants to add value to their services, saying they must strive to satisfy patients and victims.  Many of the paramedics agreed that the workshop would add value to them in various ways.
For Osun Ambulance Service ( O’ AMBULANCE) please call 07080601212, 07080601213
THE NATION

RLG Communications Nigeria Limited says it will launch a mobile phone and computers assembly plant in West Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria to ease access to telecommunications in the country.
The assembly, which is designed to assemble a minimum of 5,000 mobile phones and 2,500 laptops per day, will be launched in Ilesha, Osun State, Nigeria’s south-west this week.
Otherwise known as “RLG & ADULAWO TECH CITY”, the plant is a public private partnership between the Osun State government and RLG Communications. It features a training center, research & development (R & D) lab, as well as a Green Technology – Biogas Plant that will provide cooking gas for the staff quarter and also the capacity to generate 3KVA electricity which can be used for lighting.
According to the firm, the facility is expected to create jobs, as it has the capacity to employ 10,000 people directly and indirectly.
The first set of employees are the beneficiaries of the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme Technology (OYESTECH), a programme set up by the state government to equip young people in ICT skills and implemented by the RLG training institute.
About 20,000 beneficiaries are expected to be trained on this programme and the first set of 5,000 beneficiaries has graduated already.
Prior to RLG’s announcement of its PC plant, Nigeria already has other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Also, phone and PC manufacturers as well as technology experts have over time stated the potential of Nigeria ICT market. According to a TNS report, at least 25 percent of the Nigerian population use Smartphone devices.
Last year, the Director, Hand held product for Samsung West Africa, Emmanouil Revmatas said: “Nigeria has a great potential for Smartphone uptake as studies have shown that of the total Smartphone to be recorded in 2014, Nigeria will have no less than 40 percent of consumption.”
Altogether, Africa’s mobile phone usage, especially the Smartphone brands is expected to double in volume in Africa by the year 2017.
VENTURESAFRICA

ONE of the major crises the Federal Government of Nigerian has been facing in the last eight years is religion. It has stretched the unity of the country to its limit as politicians have, since the inception of the Fourth Republic, gone beyond limit, using it as an instrument to acquire political relevance, therefore, creating acrimony between people who ordinarily lived together harmoniously.
However, the government of the state of Osun under the leadership of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been able to cement all indigenes and residents in the state to see beyond religious differences and live together as a people bonded by destiny in the same land. During the Governor’s inauguration in November 27, 2010 he never hid his intention to achieve high level cordiality among faithful of different religions living in the state by declaring: “I am not a governor of Muslims or Christians, neither am I a governor of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, but a governor of all the people of the state of Osun. Irrespective of their belief or religious, I would ensure the protection of the rights of all as I pledged before you all”.
Before the inception of the administration in the state, residents and indigenes of the state were quick to suspect each other, especially on matters relating to religion.
But Aregbesola, within a short time, was able to eliminate, not just the mistrust between the two major religious faithful, but also gave the traditionalists a sense of belonging.
The first step taken towards this direction was during the short-listing of cadets for the state youths empowerment scheme, OYES, neither apllicants religion nor their political affiliation or ethnicity was given priority. In fact, members of the cadets were allowed to dress in accordance with their religious dictates without jeopardising the code of conduct of the scheme.
Muslim and Christian parents as well as their children in public schools now support government in its bid to ensure unity among them with the return of religious studies to ensure moral standard among the younger generations in the state.
The administration also decided to break new ground during its one year anniversary by involving people of the three faiths in the state into the programme of events for the celebrations.
The one-month event gave Muslims, Christians and traditional believers a sense of belonging in line with the Governor’s pledge during his inauguration. Awards were given to people who have displayed exemplary behaviour among the various faiths, among whom are the Chief Imam of Osogbo, Sheik Mustapha Ajisafe; the state Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, president, Prophet Abraham Aladeseye and the Araba Awo of Osogbo, Chief Ifayemi Elebu-ibon.
The peculiarity of the celebration was captured thus by Elebu-ibon: “Ogbeni has really showed that the differences in our religions can be harmonised to achieve great understanding capable of moving the state to higher level politically, socially and economically. If this trend is maintained or improved upon, then other states of the federation would learn from the style of the Governor to attain religious diversity in the country.
“Bringing the different religious leaders together has further deepened the level of trust between us all. Besides, he gave the traditionalist a sense of belonging in the state, considering the fact that Osun is the source of the Yoruba nation. We are proud of the feat he achieved in the area of religious harmony in the state. All of these are reasons the state has remained peaceful religiously and ethnic-wise”.
Religious diversification was not left out of the Governor’s drive to develop the state tourism potential. This is evidenced during the Osun Osogbo International Festival with adherent of the festival being elated at the dimension introduced. Still, in a bid to balance the equation, the state government is in talk with Christian leaders such as Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Prophet Kayode Abiara, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, Pastor Williams Kumuyi and others in the country on how to develop a Christian convention centre in Ilesa equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to further enhance the state’s status as the hub of tourism in the country.
For the first time since the creation of the state, the atmosphere during a particular festival reflected the festive essence as evidenced during the last Ramadan Festival as the major towns wore a look synonymous with the celebration. Visitors into the state could easily notice that it was the fasting season as insignia bearing prayers for the state and the nation in general adorned major roads in major towns, including the state capital.
Same was re-enacted during the Eid-el-Kabir festival, the Christmas, the New Year and the Easter celebrations that were marked in grand style as the indigenes of the state resident in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states were spared the rigour, exploitation and risk associated with having to travel in commercial vehicles as the state’s Osun Free Rail Transportation came to their rescue.
This measure enabled government to provide social services to people of the state, thereby harmonising their religious differences into a means of strength and unity of purpose.
In addition, during last year’s celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, major cities of the state of Osun were decorated to reflect the uniqueness of the Christmas period. Lights reflecting five stars as well as colourful display of Christmas colours showed visitors that the state is indeed celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
The State Government also achieved a new feat in the federation by bringing its citizens of different faith together to celebrate the New Year amid fanfare. For the first time in the country, fireworks would be used to usher-in the new year as observed in developed countries.
Besides all these, Ogbeni always lends his voice to condemn in totality religious intolerance and terrorism against people of other faiths in some part of the country and always seek civic resolution to the problem. He proposed to the Federal Government to adopt the youth empowerment scheme as a means of engaging the youths to be socially responsible, instead of taking up arms against their kinsmen in the name of religion.
Today in the state, religious acrimony is at its ebb, like in years gone by in the country when religious differences never counted as an issue among the people, both indigenes and non-indigenes, Muslims, Christians and their traditionalist counterparts.
Source: Nigerian Elites Forum