Governor, State of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, says the state will soon begin expansion of the Nelson Mandela Park in Osogbo.
According to a statement made on Thursday, the governor said this during pyrotechnic display to usher in the New Year.
The event was said to be organised by the Ministry of Special Duty and Regional Integration.
The event had in attendance top government officials, Muslim and Christian leaders, as well as traditionalists.
Aregbesola promised to sustain a strong bond with people of the state by giving them a sense of belonging through promotion of peace and harmony among the people.
He said, “We are committed to human and infrastructural development. We will continue in this line this New Year.  The Nelson Mandela Freedom Park would be expanded so that the facility can serve Osun people better.”
He urged the people of the state to continue to support the administration, saying the state government would not relent in making life better for the people.
The Commissioner for Special Duty and Regional Integration, Mr. Basiru Ajibola, explained that the pyrotechnics display signified the bond between the state government and Osun people in line with established practices in the civilised world.
He also called on all religious groups in the state to come together and work in harmony for the benefit of all.

PUNCH

Osun State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated the state Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, for emerging the Man of the Year of the Independent Newspapers Limited (INL).
The party in a congratulatory message believes that Aregbesola not only deserves the honour “but actually worked for it and merited it as well”.
A statement by Acting Chairman of the party, Adebiyi Adelowo, said the honour was not a surprise to it (party), adding that “Aregbesola is a pride of all members of the APC in the state”.
The statement was signed by party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi. It described the award bestowed on the Governor as worthy.
It said the Governor deserves the award having done so much within the short period of his administration in the state, stressing that the achievements of Aregbesola spoke volume of his choice for the honour.
The INL had named Aregbesola as its man of the year for 2013 based on the significant achievements of his administration and his contributions to the socio-economic development of the state.
Osun APC chairman, who highlighted the numerous achievements of the Aregbesola-led administration in 2013 to include rapid road construction, education transformation, welfare of citizenry, urban renewal, health care delivery, provision of jobs and agricultural development among many others, said “considering these numerous achievements, no one else could have been fit for the honour except Aregbesola”.
He also commended the management and staff of the INL for acknowledging the good works of Aregbesola and for identifying with the progressive government in Osun State.
Adebiyi, who urged the Governor to continue with his service above self style of life, also stressed that posterity would not forget Aregbesola for the good works he has done for the state.
He noted that the Governor has successfully written his name with marble in the minds of the masses of the state.
DAILY INDEPENDENT 

Governor, State of Osun, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, has paid a total of N11 million as compensation to 243 farmers whose farms affected by the ongoing construction of the MKO Abiola International Airport in Ido-Osun in Egbedore Local Government Area of the state.
Besides, another sum of N51million had also been paid to farmers in Odo Iju and Ibodi in Atakumosa West Local Government Area of the state.
The state government had acquired a large portion of land at both Odo Iju and Ibodi for the building of an interdenominational worship centre called “Open Heaven Worship Centre” in the area.
Presenting the cheques to the affected farmers and land owners, the State Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr Muyiwa Ige, said that the government took the decision on humanitarian ground and to cater for the welfare of the people.
While expressing government’s gratitude to those whose properties were used for the projects, he pointed out that the government’s decision to develop the state was borne out of its desire to attract foreign investors to the state.
Ige, however, assured that the state government would not hesitate to compensate those with genuine papers on any property acquired in the cause of developing the state, adding that people should support the government to bring about infrastructural growth of the state.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiaries, Dr Jide Ayeni commended the state government for the rapid development in the state and for the timely payment of compensation to the affected claimants.
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE

ERASMUS IKHIDE, a public affairs analyst, examines why the revolutionary education policies of Governor Rauf  Aregbesola’s Administration in Osun State continues to attract recognition in  Nigeria and abroad …

Education, as they say, is the bedrock of any nation. This axiom has gained traction in the modest efforts of Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbosla of the State of Osun, recently. In all ramifications, the state stands towering over and above other states of the Federal that have addressed and still addressing the educational needs of their people.
This is in spite the fact that Osun ranks 34th among the 36th states of the Federation on the revenue allocation chart table. Ogbeni has reasoned, as always, that “the only way to conquer and banish abject poverty from humanity is through conscious education of the mind towards productive engagement, which in turn will trigger creativity and productivity that will meet the basic needs of man”. This is more so with the recent UNESCO report which says 10.5 million Nigerian children have no access to basic education.
If there is any sector Aregbesola holds tenaciously dear to his heart since his assumption of office it is the education sector and its composite development such that would meet the yearnings of all; at the same time, make it accessible to every inhabitant of the state, irrespective of their state of origin. Aregbesola is of the view that a nation perishes that denies her resource to the growth of basic, accessible and affordable education. “A Nation’s being is first and foremost her educational being and every other thing revolves around it, without which the nation perishes or hangs in the precipice of under develop cliff”, he said.
Interestingly, his singular efforts has yielded tremendous result with the renovation of dilapidated schools structures and building of model schools to replace the decrepit ones that previously dignified places where pigs and other animals are reared. Since them, pupils and parents alike have been applauding the governor, thereby compelling him to do more.
The governor has committed whopping billions of Naira into the Elementary and Middle School levels’ buildings which will each accommodate 900 pupils. The High School buildings will have capacity for 3,000 students. The state has almost delivered a 100 of such buildings at the Elementary, 50 at the Middle, and 20 at the High school levels; making a total of 170 in all, in his first term in office.
The Middle Level is from Primary 4 to Junior Secondary School 3 (JSS 111) for pupils aged between 10 to 14, now classified as Grades 5 to 9. At the High School Level, the age range is between 15 and 17 years, corresponding with Senior Secondary School (SSS III), to be known as Grades 10-12. The schools design is so perfect that no residents, group, organisation, individual, religious or interest would suffer as a result of the school reform. This is done to meet the UNESCO set standard for compulsory education by 2030 to eliminate excruciating and crushing poverty.
Not only that, the Governor has employed some 3,000 women who have been cooking for the Elementary feeding programme, in addition to the gains of agricultural schemes of his Administration that has brought the production capacities of farmer-suppliers of farm produce, as well as the poultry and beef inputs for the food menu. The pupils feed on eggs, chickens, fish and red meat to enable them meet nutritional requirements for mental development.
In addition to the free education policy of the state government where the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB ) are paid for, Governor Aregbesola has established Omoluabi Garment Factory in the state which caters for school uniform needs of the students across the state. With this, parents who would have otherwise bothered themselves about school uniforms for their wards have swiftly enrolled them in schools across the state without buying uniform for them since it has been provided for by government.
As part of his recognition for the Governor’s noble strides and enduring legacy in the educational sector, Ogbeni was honoured two months ago by the Yoruba Education Trust Fund, YETFUND, as the best governor of the year in the South West – nay Nigeria – who has dedicated the largest chunks of his budgetary allocation, proportionately to the promotion and development of education for actual growth of the Yoruba people in particular, in so short a time.
The group singled out the award winning Opon Imo (Tablet of Knowledge) as the basics for the education excellent award bestowed on the governor. The technology wonder is in a class of its own! The tablet is preloaded with seventeen (17) subjects offered by students in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). The subjects have been designed in forms of lesson notes, textbooks, mostly provided by publishers and master teachers’ inputs. Content verifiers, who happened to be some of the local teachers, were also made to verify lesson notes on each subject. Besides, seven extra-curricular subjects, such as Sexuality Education, Civic Education, Yoruba History, Ifa Traditional Religion, Computer Education and Entrepreneurship Education, and Twelve Thousand Yoruba Proverbs were also included.
Test platform for students’ self assessment to monitor their own comprehension and mastery of the subject, including 10 years past questions and answers provided by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), as well as questions and answers in 17 (Seventeen) ordinary level subjects .The subject are English Language, Mathematics, Agricultural Science, Economics, Principles of Accounts, Literature in English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Yoruba, Commerce, Further Mathematics, History, Geography, Government, IRK and CRK. Audio tutorials were also embedded in the Opon-Imo to further aid students through virtual study plan.
The state, therefore has saved a whopping N8.4 billion from live textbook purchases and instead, just a sum N200 million was spent by the state government for the purchase of the 56 e-books on Opon-Imo with 150,000 user licenses from a major educational publishing company from the country. As it is structured, Opon-Imo ensures that each student has an e-textbook, not only in all the subjects he is taking, but also on every subject offered at secondary level. This, in itself is legendary and revolutionary!
A report released in October by the African Health, Human and Social Development Information Service, Africa Coalition on Maternal Newborn and Child Health and Pan African Campaign against Forced Marriage of Under-age Children gives credence to that fact. “Among the 36 states in Nigeria four states — Osun, Lagos, Imo, Enugu — feature in the all-best categories for all indicators: highest girl-child education, highest female literacy, lowest adolescent girl ‘marriages’ and lowest underage birth rates”.
In the same report, “Between 67 per cent and 87.1 per cent of girls are not in secondary school in the following: Five states from the North West (Kebbi, 87.1 per cent; Sokoto, 87 per cent; Jigawa, 80.7 per cent; Zamfara 76.8 per cent; and Katsina, 72.1 per cent). The four states  from the North East are  Bauchi, 86.7 per cent; Yobe, 77.4 per cent; Borno, 70.9 per cent; and Gombe, 67.8 per cent;  while the one from the North Central is Niger with 73.8 per cent.
“There are scores worse than the North Central, North East and North West states such as Nasarawa (56.7 per cent); Benue (56.4 per cent); Adamawa (53.1 per cent); Kaduna (45.3 per cent); Plateau (45.3 per cent); Kogi (36.4 per cent) and Kwara (35.4 per cent),” the report says. Ebonyi State is closely followed by Bayelsa State, which occupies the 13th position.
The report also has it that: “Bayelsa State also habours the highest number of females (aged 20 to 24 years) that have had at least a live birth before attaining the age of 18 years with 31.7 percent, compared to Adamawa, 30.5 percent; Taraba, 29.3 percent; and Niger ,24.9 percent. The three Northern states in turn score better than Delta, 22 percent; Rivers, 19.9 percent and Anambra, 18.9 percent.
There is no gain saying that it is on the bases of Governor Aregbesola’s grand commitment to educational development that led to the spiral increases in school enrolment and students improved performance in both WAEC and JAMB as the overall best state across the country. However, it is clear that there is a lot more to be done with the poor WAEC results released a few days ago that falls short of UNESCO standard.
The council withheld results of 38,260 candidates, representing 12.88 per cent, over alleged examination malpractice and sundry issues. Yet, for anyone to gain admission into the tertiary institution in the country, you must obtain at least five credits, including English Language and Mathematics in WASSCE or Senior Secondary Certificate Examination conducted by the examination body.
The situation in the nation’s basic education system, as well as tertiary institutions calls for national emergency or requires a call to emulate Governor Rauf Aregbesola who has devoted a huge chunk of the state’s resource for educational development of Osun people. We await such a time in Nigeria when the plights of electorate form the fulcrum of governance, as witnessed in the state of Osun.
DAILY INDEPENDENT

 
 
Engr. Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola was born in the month of May, 1957. He had his primary and secondary education in Ondo State, and later attended The Polytechnic, Ibadan, where he studied Mechanical Engineering and graduated in 1980. As a pupil in the primary school, Rauf was a centre-point around whom his mates hovered for guidance and direction. As a student, he was focused for remarkable performance which he made distinctively and seamlessly. In the Polytechnic, he positioned himself to conquer his environment by engaging in prolific studies.
The career man
Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management (FNIM), Fellow of Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), Fellow of the Nigerian Association of Technological Engineers (FNATE) and Fellow of the Certified Marketing Communications Institute of Nigeria (FCMCIN), Rauf Aregbesola has a wealth of experience garnered through wide exposure in the private sector, such as the Nigerian External Telecommunications, now renamed Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. and Lagos Airport Hotel, before establishing his own Engineering Services Company, Aurora Nigeria Limited, in 1986. The company had handled numerous major projects for both government and private organisations in most States of the Federation.
The politician
Politically, Rauf has been no less a phenomenon. His involvement in politics dates back to his undergraduate days when he was Speaker of the Students’ Parliament (1977/78), The Polytechnic, Ibadan, and the President of the Black Nationalist Movement (1978-1980). He was also an active supporter of other progressive students’ movements nationwide, which earned him, for instance, the life membership of National Association of Technological Students. In June 1990, he became an elected delegate to the SDP Inaugural Local Government Area Congress. In July of the same year, he was also a delegate to its first National Convention in Abuja.
Rauf Aregbesola, as a pro-democracy and human rights activist, was a major participant in the demilitarisation and pro-democracy struggles of the 1990s. Prior to his appointment as the Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure (1999-2007), he was Director of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Campaign Organisation (BATCO), which engineered the electoral victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the Governor of Lagos State in 1999. He performed similar feat using the platform of Independent Campaign Group (ICG) to ensure the re-election of Asiwaju for a second term in office.
The Commissioner
Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola acquitted himself excellently as Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 with the strength of his commitment to selfless service. His diligence, sincerity and tirelessness in the administration of the vast Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, as well as supervision of the Public Works Corporation and State Electricity Board, has been acknowledged as being responsible for the outstanding success recorded by the Tinubu administration, especially in road rehabilitation/maintenance and street lighting; and achievement that solidly laid the foundation for the actualisation of Lagos as the model of development and good governance as being sustained by Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola today. Indeed, it is a known fact that he is one of the brains behind the infrastructural re-engineering that has now resulted in the transformation of social amenities in Lagos State.
Some of the novel achievements and innovations due to Aregbesola’s visionary qualities and enterprise include the redefinition and application of new aesthetic standards to ministry blocks and offices as corporate workplaces; vision and mission definition, annual staff retreats and modern manpower capacity building trainings; introduction of facility management practices; pioneering achievements in PR (ministry journal) and IT (website) operation; Pioneering Private/Public Sector Partnership Ventures; Award-winning best practices projects; etc.
The believer and advocate of the rule of law
Aregbesola’s belief in the sanctity of the rule of law is exemplary.
Engr. Rauf Aregbesola, on the platform of the then Action Congress (AC) contested for the Governorship of Osun State in the April 2007 elections, and won. To be so declared, however, took close to four years of what must go down as one of the most titanic mandate recovery legal battles of all time, and a moment for the manifestation of the omnipotence of the Almighty God and his steadfastness in support of those who rely on him.
Having gone through the tribunal of first instance, an appeal and a retrial tribunal, the second appeal court, delivering judgment on October 26, 2010, declared Aregbesola governor and ordered he be sworn in the next day.
Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, since assuming office as Governor of the State of Osun on October 27, 2010, has redefined the meaning of governance in the public sector, not just with symbolic posturing, but real and sustainable interventions that will presently enhance the quality of life of everyone that lives or works in the State of Osun. Rebranding of the state as the ipinle Omoluabi (State of the Virtuous) started from himself, adopting the title Ogbeni, simply Mister, in deference to the singular Excellency of the Almighty God. In just over a year, the chronicle of his achievements is astounding, and may be summarised as a chain of “O-Models”, the most astonishing been the engagement of 20,000 youth in the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme within his first 100 days in office; an accomplishment without precedence that has become the model for others to follow.
The strategist/visionary
Rauf is a born strategist. Throughout his life, whether as a pupil, student or career man; political appointee or Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola has applied the art and science of strategy to ensure success in all endeavours in which he is engaged. He strategised and was outstanding as a student. He strategised and was efficient and effective as a career man. He strategised and was accomplished as a grassroots politician. He strategised and was excellent as a commissioner in Lagos State. He strategised to reclaim his mandate when he was rigged out in the race to offer selfless service to the good people of Osun. He strategised to lay a sound foundation for a regenerated Osun State knowing that sustainable development does not happen with ‘quick fix’ methods, tools, and techniques. He is strategising to position Osun and the good people of the state appropriately in the geo-economic milieu of Nigeria. He is a fervent believer in the dictum that strategists do not fail and so will not fail the people of Osun.
Committed to a better, egalitarian society, Aregbesola, though fully anxious to build a society with massive physical infrastructures that promote better living, believes in first pursuit of those human values that can pave the way for the emergence of that total man, who is socially responsible. Hence his dogged pursuit of programmes extra-curricular schemes, such as the Calisthenics, Omoluabi Boys and Girls Club, and other schemes aimed at re-orientating the youths to channel their energies towards a society where the promotion of the common, collective goods will dominate the crazy pursuit of the good of the self.
He stirs the hornet’s nests often; but, these are in his determined attempts to break the norms to achieve extra-ordinary results. To date, he has ignited debates on federalism, restructuring of education towards functionality, equity, justice and fairness in all spheres of life. Even in the face of mounting criticisms, he holds tenaciously to his ideas, convinced that oppositions to them are products of long years of military rule, ignorance of what is even good for humanity and the acute manipulative capacities of those whose interest it is to keep the ordinary people perpetually subjugated.
The family man
An exemplary family man, Rauf Aregbesola is a loving husband and caring father. Married to Alhaja Sherifat Aregbesola, he has nurtured his family with equal devotion and commitment.
For these reasons, he is a thinker, ardent performer, a visionary leader, a transformational leader, an agent of strategic change, a man for the people; Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, Governor of the State of Osun.
 DAILY INDEPENDENT

Photos from the Countdown to 2014 to Herald New Year with Fireworks Display at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo, State of Osun on Wednesday 01-01-2014

 Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has urged Nigerians to be agents of peace, unity and progress in the New Year.

The Man-of-the-Year is a difficult proposition.  And for a reason. In our dysfunctional polity, the parameters set have to be exacting. As is known, the Republic is ill at ease with itself.
Dashed hopes, disappointed expectations as well as promises unfulfilled make the task of picking an individual who has made an outstanding contribution daunting. From time to time, a nugget representing a beacon of hope comes up. When for example a few years ago we picked the venerated Chinua Achebe, it was an inspired choice.
This is because by refusing to subordinate his principles to immediate expediency, Achebe caught the imagination and made picking the Man-of-the-Year easy. This year’s discourse was typically ferocious. The central theme being, who has attempted to break the mould? Who is today’s contrarian who has at least attempted in a positive direction to alter the terrain of discourse and operations? Who has been making resolute attempt to clear the fog of widespread cynicism and disenchantment with the polity and most of those who navigate the shop of state?
The choice of the State of Osun helmsman is in response to the need to roll back the tide of cynicism. We know of course that there is an intellectual-in-residence in the State House in Ado-Ekiti. Concomitantly there is also an activist in residence in Osogbo, the capital of the State of Osun.
Often times in history the activist has disappointed in office. Engineer Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola has here bucked the trend. He has shown a knack to turn deep philosophical conviction into result-yielding good governance. It has helped in that he actually prepared himself for office both intellectually and practically. He has in this way merged ideological fervor with the practical act of governance.
The practical act of governance was horned on an exhilarating eight years of being the infrastructure czar of Lagos State, good old rambunctious, perennially demanding Lagos state. A seminal performance in Lagos State has been horned into administrative sagacity in the state of Osun.
The intellectual preparation has also stood him well. He came into office armed with a seminal six point agenda spanning the key socio-economic issues affecting the State of Osun. This has proved to be a very sensible thing to do. For taking over the state after a ludicrously long judicial battle came with a hefty debilitating prince tag.
The lacuna was that the state had barely seen even perfunctorily sensible governance for a long-time. The state’s public finance was not just opaque, it was in shambles. Waste, bizarre duplication of effort leading to cost inefficiencies had led to bureaucratic elephantiasis. Huge recurrent expenditure, insecurity and a general feeling of desperation was fast turning Osun State into a by-word as the generic term for maladministration.
The distinguishingly factor about Aregbesola which facilitated our choosing him as our Man-of-the-Year, is that he redefined the territory of discourse and operations. The state’s public finances had to be re-directed away from consumption towards the arena of production. Recurrent expenditure has been slimed down thereby increasing the capital votes. Emphasis on production has led to an increase in the capital votes in geometric proportion.
The difference is clear. The State of Osun today has a spring (pardon the pun) in its step. The emphasis is now on production and jobs led economic trajectory. This new thrust has implications for the nation far beyond the narrow confines of partisan politics. This is because if the unfulfilled promises that have resulted in widespread cynicism are to be rolled back, the nation must become a proper democracy.
A proper democracy is based on social solidarity, community cohesion and a convergence of ideals centred on a social contract linking the political establishment with those they govern. Aregbesola has become a symbol of this new thrust. Imperfect yes, sometimes imperious. Nevertheless his policy thrust like his engagingly humane heart is in the right place.
Nowhere has this shown more than in his policy on education. A sweeping repositioning of the education sector is clearly leading to a situation where generations will now be technically prepared and empowered to face the reality of a brutally competitive world.
Some of it is contentious, certainly. Fine tuning has had to be done in implementation of course. However, this is nothing like the flak that United States President Barak Obama is today receiving over the implementation of Obamacare. In instances such as this we must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater.
This sort of issue raises the bugbear of plas ce chang. Nothing ever really changes that much. In the process of the sweeping transformative repositioning of the Western Region in the nineteen-fifties, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, faced the same dilemma. This being how to negotiate a democratic agreement on key policy issue. No democracy has ever functioned effectively without this.
What Engineer Rauf Aregbesola has done in the State of Osun is to redefine the terrain of thinking and practice. He has set a mark that must be a pointer to the future. If this country is to prosper, it must move in the direction of the new thinking determined by people like Aregbesola.
The emphasis must be on production rather than consumption. Social contract must be the trajectory of policy developing both human capital and the physical infrastructure. Government must be located as the engine room for real sustainable development, the BIG D.
This is why warts and all, in a fiercely competitive field, we have chosen the State of Osun helmsman as our Man-of-the-Year. He represents a new wave of governance. A symbol of the aspirations of generation next that we need not be enmeshed in cynicism and defeatism. He also embodies the new federalist ethos to be used as a battering ram against the military induced overtly centralist state. As the symbol of the new thinking, he deserves to be our Man-of-the-Year. He has earned our appreciation.
Aregbesola emerged from a list of other distinguished Nigerians including the former Governor of Lagos State and leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as well as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi.
Tinubu made a significant showing placing second on the ballot.
In a political space full of divisive characters, Bola Ahmed Tinubu divides opinion like few others. As the man leading the resurgence of the South West economically and politically, comparisons with the late Obafemi Awolowo are inevitable, and it is perhaps in this area where he divides opinion the most. His supporters view him as a master political strategist who is a worthy heir to Awolowo’s legacy, while to others he is merely a political hustler who cannot be mentioned in the same breath with a man Ojukwu called ‘the best President Nigeria never had’.
The story of Keshi is not lost on anybody who has been following soccer events in this country. When Keshi was appointed, the team was at its lowest ebb, having failed to qualify for the 2012 edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. The failure was not because the team lacked what it needed to sail through, but due to indiscipline that has taken root in the team.
It was during this sorry state, and against all expectations, that Keshi turned around the team’s fortunes to become champions of Africa by winning the Africa Cup of Nations, 19 years after. By this feat, he became the second man in history to have won the Africa Cup of Nations both as a coach and player.
DAILY INDEPENDENT

As the 2014 Gregorian calendar commences, Deputy Governor of the State of Osun, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, has harped on the need for renewed approach to life with noble virtues and love for the State and the nation at large to form the core of people’s resolution for the new year.
This was contained in the  state Deputy Governor’s goodwill message to people of the state as the people joined people across the world to usher in year 2014.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori congratulated residents of the state across all religious, ethnic, social and political divides for witnessing the new year and called on them to proceed into the year 2014 with renewed vigour and sense of commitment to virtous deeds.
The State Deputy Governor used the opportunity to appreciate people of the state for their continued support for the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola since inception and charged them to remain peaceful, orderly and supportive especially as another guber poll is scheduled to hold in the state mid 2014.
Laoye-Tomori also felicitated with her boss, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, members of the state executive council, the legislature, judiciary, political functionaries, state leadership and members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other stakeholders.
The  Deputy Governor assured that with continued peaceful and harmonious co-existence among all interests in the state, the present wave of progressive change already being enjoyed across the state will not seize in bringing comfort to every home.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori identified continued service to God and humanity as part of her resolutions for the year 2014 and charged people of the state to follow suit so as to make the state a haven of peace to all.
BIOREPORTS