The Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has likened the ongoing reforms in the education sector of his state to a surgical operation which must necessarily come with some pains but result in soothing experience after recovery.
Aregbesola, who spoke before an esteemed audience of Ijesa Society in Lagos on the recent hoopla generated by the ongoing education reforms said the reformations came as result of the age-long decay and dilapidation which the sector and some many others had witnessed in the past. He said the gains of these reforms far outweigh the pains when finally completed.
The Governor of Osun said, “On the surface, it looks as if we are deliberately out to inflict pains with the reformation of our school system. Nothing close to that is our intention. Not at all! We saw a hopeless situation of our basic education system. Because of my experience with the comatose educational system in the state that we were about to inherit, even from the days of my campaigns days, long before we assumed office, I made it very clear that we would carry out surgical attack on it during our campaigns.
“ Very clear! We mentioned our intention to the whole world that we will address the issue of poor and totally dilapidated educational infrastructure of basic education to aggressively solve the problem. But as usual, people do not give politicians because of their experience much of thoughts before the campaigns.”
He said further, “Some of our policies are necessary but painful and may not be well accepted now. “We are however convinced that surgery is not always pleasing and soothing to those who need it but the joy of recovery and healing afterward more than compensate for the temporary pain of going under the knife.” The governor pointed out. Aregbesola urged members of the society to make extra effort in whatever they are doing, stating that an average human person is often contented with the most minimal effort. He added that all humans should desire maximum results and that most human should recognise the efficacy of effort in producing positive outcomes, hence people should treat it as a virtue.
The governor revealed that the recognition of effort as an invaluable virtue is the essence of honouring those that have attained great heights in society by dints of hard work. In his words, “Human societies have instituted awards and honour as a mechanism for promoting these highly desirable virtues. “So, the Ijesha Society in Lagos is doing its good bit as a socially responsible group to confer recognition and awards on its members who have been appointed to distinguished positions and offices in the society. “Some of these awardees are people that are well-known to me and are, indeed, serving in various capacities under the State Government of Osun. They are people who have distinguished themselves in their chosen carriers, and for this, their services have continued to be in high demand in society.” Aregbesola noted.
Reminding his audience what he had proposed to do with the education sector when he came in in 2010, Aregbesola said he proposed to close down the schools in order to have a smooth sail in the rescue mission. He stated, “ Two months and fifteen days after our inauguration, we put together a world submit on education in which all known experts on education in the world were called to help us look at the hopeless education state of our territory. They were there for two days under the leadership of Prof Wole Soyinka. Everything was dissected.
“But at that conference I addressed the gathering in my opening remarks that left for me what I would have love to do was to close down the schools for a period of one year or at best two years so as to be able to do what is necessary to education.
“This was my position, but of course, my view was too radical. The communique came with series of steps to be taken to revamp the education and we have been at it since then.”
The Governor said his administration had done everything  bring about efficiency and value for money. He added, “Rather than look at what we are doing as the best form to revamp education and ensure that our student have the best for our limited resource and maximisation of our resources for excellence and efficiency which has a whole of our efforts, sentiment and primordial issues were brought into it: “Aregbesola wants to islamise the State of Osun”
On other value-adding strategies, he said, “The reformation of the school feeding system has led to the spending of N3.6 billion every year from primary 1 to 4 which makes us the only state that so does in Nigeria. “And it is not just any food we give them, but the best food possible for the children of that age. Today in Osun, our pupil eat 300,000 eggs every week, they eat 35 heads of cattle every week, they eat 15,000 whole chicken every week, they eat 400,000 tones of fish every week and everyday the take fruits.
“I challenge any government in Nigeria since independence that has done something close to it. None! If people are talking about our school reformation policy, you can ask them, is it true that this government is feeding pupils with 300,000 eggs every week?, 35 heads of cattle every week?, 15,000 whole chicken every week?, 400,000 tones of fish every week and eat fruits everyday? Is it true that this government feeds 300,000 pupils every school day? Ask whether we do or not?”
Aregbesola said that the intervention has been yielding tremendous results saying that the improvements in the results of external examinations were enough indices of success. He said, “The change has been tremendous. The hopeless state we met whereby only 3 per cent of products of our high schools were matriculable has changed. Today, over 60 percent has crossed the bar. We were 32nd on the national examination scale, slightly better than our rating on the allocation table, since we are 34th out of the 36 states in Nigeria. We are number 8 on the national examination rating now. These are the results of our interventions.”
And to ensure this we employed 3007 women properly trained and groomed to give this food to these children. We raised grants to school from N200 to N400 per pupil per term. You cannot even geometrically calculate the change. From N52 million per annum to N1 per annum grant to school! Though, it is a far cry from the UNESCO recommendation, if I must admit.
How do we all of these? We made everything possible for our pupils in our public schools in Osun. At the end of the day we have do what no nation on earth has done! We put all books required for effective learning in secondary schools into a “tablet of knowledge” that is today the wonder of the world. Let those who know of any other nation, not even states that has so do to come up. None in the world. We are the first state that has put all text books required of high school Learning in a 1.1 kilograms on computer tablets that schools can have for as long as they ate students, free of charge in the state of Osun.
After all these, we now realised that we cannot continue in the old way whereby you have school with 3 students with 20 teachers and school with 600 students with 3 teachers. We felt that as it was done in the banking industry for efficiency and strength when privately owned banks were consolidated. Everyone of us supported the policy for efficiency and strength. People have forgotten there that were banks in Nigeria a couple of years ago that were no longer there now.

The State of Osun will on Wednesday begin a campaign to sensitise people in the 31 Local Governments Areas in the state  for the upcoming  Governor’s Cup U-17 football competition.
The tournament, aimed at discovering talents in the state, is scheduled to kick off on November 4.
The coordinator of the competition, Mrs. Tola Usman, said the tournament meant to  honour Governor  Rauf Aregbesola, is  designed to raise players for the state, the national teams and  clubs.
The organisers of the championship, Double Accord Resources, in conjunction with the state sports establishment, will  enlighten  the participants,  prospective sponsors and supporters on how they can partake in the programme and what to expect.
PUNCH

Ms. Abimbola Adelakun, a well-respected, reputable columnist in The Punch of Thursday 17^th October, 2013 once again regaled readers with her must-read article as captioned above. However, and with respect, it appears that she allowed personal sentiments and lack of proper appreciation of facts and law to interfere with her regular no-nonsense style.
It would appear that the central thesis of her write-up is that Aregbesola should take a stand in favour of a particular religion. According to her, Aregbesola tries too hard to pander to every existing religious belief in Osun State this kind of politics is confusing as it is unimpressivehe does all these without any coherence or stating where he stands in the whole affair. Ms Adelakun appears to be confusing the position of a private person and that of an elected governor who has sworn to uphold the Nigerian Constitution. Whereas a private person can take a standpoint in favour and patronage of a particular religion, doing so by Mr. Aregbesola, a governor that ought to uphold the Nigerian Constitution, will be unconstitutional.
Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) entitles every citizen to his/her right of thought, conscience and religion. A governor is also oath-bound to do right to all manner of people, according to law, without fear or favour or ill-will. What appears to be confusing to the writer is simply the fact that Mr. Aregbesola, though a Muslim by faith, has decided to respect and give accommodation to all religions and beliefs as stipulated the Constitution. Being committed to upholding the Constitution, he has decided to be more open-hearted to other religious views while ensuring that all faiths are treated equally.
Ms Adelakun decided to subtly attack Mr. Aregbesola in the comparison between Aregbesola and Governor Fashola on the account of mode of appearance of the former. The Constitution of Nigeria does not denude a man of his religious faith just because he has attained certain public office, yet the Constitution is grossly antagonistic of any attempt to prefer one faith to the other using public machinery. Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu was the governor of Benue state between January 1991 and November 1992 on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). While in office, the catholic priest wore his cassock throughout without any hue or cry.
Another grave lie being bandied about is that the Osun government has introduced Ifa studies into the curriculum. There appears to be some confusion on this allegation coming from the same writer who eloquently debunked the jaundiced view on traditional religion and advocated the teaching of comparative religious studies. How would the writers expectation of the teaching of comparative religious studies be accomplished if there should be no reference to Ifa.  In any event, it should be expected that a writer of such repute should make simple research before putting pen on paper. Page 399 of the West African Examinations Council Regulations and Syllabuses 2009-2012 lists Wande Abimbolas Awon Oju Odu Mereerindinlogun (UPL Ibadan 1978) as one of the recommended texts to study for poetry to be examined in Yoruba. One will hope the writer will get a copy of this book recommended by the West African Regional Examination body to discover that this book, among many others in the WAEC syllabus, purely contains the teaching of Ifa. How can Aregbesola now be guilty of introducing something which has been part and parcel of the West African Region examiners syllabus for decades?
The writer went further to say he (Aregbesola) is busy throwing his religion in your face with billboards that announce his private devotions. This allegation must be put in proper perspective. The truth of the matter is that, in 2011, Governor Aregbesola travelled for lesser hajj to Mecca. Some political desperadoes went to town saying he was receiving treatment for cancer. Some political enthusiasts who felt that the wicked lies should be debunked, quickly got pictures of him at the pilgrimage and displayed it on billboards to counter the falsehood. On arrival, the Governor ordered the immediate removal of all such boards .  Apart from that isolated 2011 incident, one is compelled to ask the writer to disclose the locations of those billboards that she eloquently alleged to be in existence in 2013.
It is highly unfortunate that a respected columnist with unfettered access to information from a government office would derisively tag a revolutionary and well thought-out educational policy as madcap! It is also unfortunate that a clearly thought-out educational policy and programs of the government will be so dismissed in a derisive and laconic manner. We should be told, what is madcap about providing school uniforms for 750,000 students and pupils?; What is madcap about feeding about 300,000 pupils daily with nutritious home-grown foods?; What is madcap about distributing 150,000 e-learning device to students where all the recommended books and past questions are stored for use? Please let us be told what is madcap about employment of over 3750 teachers in one fell swoop and massive teacher training?; What is madcap about building and equipping of 170 new schools in a state hitherto famous for acute shortage of educational infrastructure? What is madcap about an educational intervention that has seen the state moving from number 32 out of the 36 States to number 8 in the rating of performance in external examination?
After all is said and done, we think Ms. Adelakuns column should be mindful of use of words for the sake of younger readers, at least. How do you justify the statement- this madness without methodology is confusing (among many others) in making reference to a fellow elderly person, not to talk of head of a government. We find it distasteful for a writer, who having abdicated her role of investigation and balanced analysis, resorted to sitting in the comfort of one cool house in a foreign land to cast so many aspersions on the personality of a head of government without factual or legal basis.
Perhaps, there may be the impression by a perceptive reader of Ms. Adelakuns column that she is a die-hard secularist who sees no good in any religion. While she is entitled to her opinion, it is however unjust to seek to railroad a governor to proscribe a practice that the Constitution freely allows a person to observe. While the pristine lectern of a newspaper back page is a secured refuge from which the author can magisterially shut down peoples rights just because she feels so, the position of a Governor is not so easy. A serious government must respect all shades of opinion while striving to leave its foot-prints on the sands of time.
It is to be hoped that the erudite author would bear in mind that the pursuit of truth- the creed of journalism, is aided by a detached attitude of laying all the cards on the table for a serene and sober reflection on the matter in controversy. The pen profession is antithetical to the desperate but hopeless leeway of killing-your-demon-at-all-cost in a no-holds barred situation where sensationalism justifies the means.
We, in the Ministry of Regional integration and Special Duties, have been saddled with the duty of ensuring fair treatment for all faiths, among other duties. We are confident that by treating all faiths equally we would have fulfilled a cardinal pillar in the electoral promise of Mr. Aregbesola, which is to ensure communal peace and harmony.
Perhaps, what is looking strange to Ms. Adelakun is the fact that apart from Aregbesolas compliance with the provisions of the constitution to be even hand among all beliefs he has also decided to remain fidel to the injunction of his faith as enshrined in the Quran 16:90 to wit-  Verily Allah enjoins justice, and the doing of good to others; and giving like kindred; and forbids indecency, and manifest evil, and wrongful transgression.
 
SIGNED:
AJIBOLA BASIRU
COMMISSIONER, MINISTRY OF REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND SPECIAL DUTIES

Amadou Sy – Senior Fellow, Global Economy and Development, Africa Growth Initiative – Amadou Sy is a senior fellow in the Africa Growth Initiative and currently serves as a member of the Editorial Board of the Global Credit Review. His research focuses on banking, capital markets, and macroeconomics in Africa and emerging markets.
 
In a recent post about financing Africa’s infrastructure gap, I noted that Islamic financial instruments such as sukuk have been used to finance infrastructure projects in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia, and in the Middle East, and could attract investors from such countries. Islamic finance requires a clear link with real economic activity and transactions have to relate to a tangible, identifiable asset, which comes in handy in the case of infrastructure financing.
Nascent market activity seems to point in that direction and some African countries have already set the course toward a greater use of Islamic finance to fund their infrastructure projects. Earlier this year, Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules facilitating the issuance of sukuk. In September, the southwestern Nigerian state of Osun issued a local currency sukuk. The seven-year instrument which raised about $62 million from domestic pension funds and international investors, paid 14.75 percent in nominal terms (which is equivalent to about 6.75 percent in real terms given the prevailing 8 percent inflation rate). It received an A rating from a local credit rating agency and is expected to be listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
After the recent trend of Eurobond issuance by African countries, the Osun’s offering is sowing the seeds for more African sukuk.  Prior to Osun, only Gambia and Sudan had issued local-currency short-term domestic notes (Sudan sold local currency sukuk worth $160 million in 2012).
Now, Senegal plans to issue a $200 million sukuk program in 2014 to finance infrastructure and energy projects.  The Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) said that the Senegalese sukuk would be the first of a series of programs that would be offered to West African countries. The Central Bank of the West African States (BCEAO) has in principle agreed to allow banks in its eight member countries to use the Senegalese sukuk be used in repurchase operations.  Other countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal, and Mauritania have also plans to issue Islamic securities.
There are two lessons from the Osun offering.  The first is that African countries should continue to be innovative to fund their development needs. In this regard, developing a strategy to tap the large pool of money seeking Islamic financial products is good policy. There are about 600 Islamic financial institutions operating in 75 countries, and global Islamic financial assets stand at about $1.3 trillion with a growth rate in excess of 20 percent.  African sukuk issuers will be able to diversify their investor base and, as is the case for conventional sovereign bonds, help establish benchmarks for other domestic borrowers.  For investors, African sukuk are worth considering as they offer different geographic and credit exposures.
But a second lesson from the Osun issuance is that sukuk can help develop domestic capital markets, which is typically a difficult and long process. Osun has issued a local currency instrument which was rated by a domestic agency and placed to domestic investors. For years, Malaysia has used Islamic securities to grow its domestic bond market which is now the third largest in Asia after Japan and South Korea.  Malaysia’s total sukuk issuance in 2012 was $97 billion with a total outstanding stock of $144 billion as of end of 2012. In countries with a large Muslim population, there is a demand for Islamic securities and it makes sense for policy makers and the private sector to consider financial securities that can meet this demand. About half of Nigeria’s 160 million people are Muslim and Pew estimates that the Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa, about a quarter of a billion (243 million in 2010), will increase to about 386 million by 2030. The challenge, however, is to set up the conditions for Islamic financial products to be attractive to all investors. There may be lessons from the evolution of socially responsible investment industry too. But Malaysia is again a good example and when I visited Kuala Lumpur a few years ago, I was struck by how one bank, which catered to Malaysians of Chinese origin, was very active in Islamic products because its non-Muslim customers demanded fixed-rate products instead of the conventional floating-rate mortgages.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz, the governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, recently noted that “Islamic finance is well-positioned to assume a much larger role as a competitive form of financial intermediation for supporting economic activity, and as a channel for enhancing greater global connectivity.”  Malaysia is still working to improve its Islamic financial markets and its focus is now on internationalization but its roadmap to building a stable Islamic financial sector that can finance inclusive growth is useful to Africa as well. It starts with developing the legal framework for Islamic finance and establishing sound regulatory and supervisory frameworks.
 

The Government of the State of Osun will create new Local Government Areas before the end of this year.
The state Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, disclosed this while speaking at a town hall meeting with the people of Iwo/Ayedire and Ola-Oluwa federal constituency.
Aregbesola also made it clear that local government elections would be conducted in the state before the governorship election in the state in 2014. According to him, “I can categorically tell you that for now, additional local governments’ council  will spring up in the state.”
He added that before the governorship election next year, government will ensure that local government elections are conducted.
He noted that the report on the processes that had been followed in the exercise and bill for the creation of new councils would be released this month.
The governor further disclosed that the bill would be sent to the state House of Assembly, after which the assembly would call for a referendum, which would eventually culminate in the announcement of the new councils.
While responding to Iwo community demand on the creation of new higher institutions in the town, Aregbesola pointed out that it was not possible for now due to limited resources.
He noted: “I want to tell Iwo people that if I tell you that I will create a new government institution, it will be a lie. It is not just possible for now because of the limited resources.”
THIS DAY