Government of Osun has on Thursday described the allegation of the Forum of 2011/2012 Pensioners that the State paid political office holders between November 2010 and November 2014 the sum of N50 million each as severance allowance as‎ preposterous, malicious and false in its entirety.
 
 
Osun Government held that It is absolutely unreasonable for anyone to suggest that a state government will give each political office holder a N50 million severance allowance at a period when every available kobo is being used to pay salaries, pensions, provision of infrastructure and social services.
In a statement signed by the Media Adviser to the Governor, Mr. Sola Fasure, ‎Government noted that severance allowance of political office holders has been set in accordance with the State of Osun Public/Political Office Holders and Revised Remuneration Package Law 2007, section 4 (1) and (2) schedule (B) which recommends 300 per cent of basic salary as severance allowance.
Fasure also noted that the recommendation was also taken on the advice from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) which recommends 300 per cent of basic salaries.
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According to him, the Osun law has a proviso of beneficiaries having successfully completed a full term or on pro rata basis, after a minimum of two year period of tenure.
“With this arrangement, only the governor and his deputy are entitled to N6.6 million and N6.3 million respectively. However, the governor returned his cheque to the treasury, having waved his right to earn salary since he assumed office.
“Two principal officers qualified for N4 million each, 15 political office holders received N3 million each, and while 18 others received N2.8 million each. This was over a year ago.‎
“Governor Aregbesola demonstrated sensitivity to the financial situation in the state when he did not constitute a cabinet for more than two years. When he eventually did, he put all political office holders on half salary. How then could he have paid N50 million to each to political office holders as severance allowance?” The statement said.  ‎
Government advised the Ilesanmi led Forum of 2011/2012 Pensioners to stop its campaign of calumny against government, hiding under the plight of pensioners, making outrageous claim and inciting the people against the government.
“He has constituted himself into an insidious political opposition, riding on the sentiment of the sympathy and respect the larger society has for retirees and senior citizens.
“Mr Ilesanmi and his group openly campaigned for the opposition party candidate in the 2014 governorship election in the state, hiding under the cloak of retirees.
“He used the same platform to openly campaign for the candidate of the same opposition party in the last senatorial election in the state, curiously only in the cities where election held.” the statement noted.
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Government noted that Ilesanmi as a private citizen, has a right to join any political party and exercise his freedom of association as he deems fit, but should however not drag the respectable, decent and cultured Omoluabi retirees into his filthy political waters.
Osun Government however emphasised that It is the professional duty of a newspaper to investigate a claim and establish its truth before publishing, if it wants to serve the cause of truth and justice.
“It is a cardinal principle in journalism that while comments are free, facts are sacred. A newspaper that publishes a false claim assaults the sensibilities of its readers, betrays public trust and is an enemy of the open society.
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“The media are therefore enjoined to first investigate and verify any claim made by any group or individual before publishing in order not to drag its integrity in the mud”.

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As each State is looking inwards on Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), press men in the State have been charged to be of help in revenue generation in their various beats through conscious efforts to always report information that can have positive impact to Revenue generation in the State.
The Commissioner in charge of informal sector, Osun Board of Internal Revenue, Mr Wole Adesanya gave this charge while representing the Special Adviser (SA) to tge Governor on Tax and Revenue Matters, Mr. Gbenga Akano during the public lecture organized by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, State information chapel to mark its 2017 press week.

The event took place at the Local Government Service Commission Hall, Government Secretariat Abere.
According to him, Advocacy for Tax should be seen as a collective responsibility of all especially journalists, who by virtue of their profession ,are the mouthpiece of every  Agency of Government.
He therefore enjoined them to use their professional acumen to support  Revenue drive in the State.

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The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology has commenced four  (4) weeks training  on Information Communication and Technology (ICT)  organised for Civil Servants in the State of Osun.
The event was declared open by the by the Commissioner for Innovation, Science and Technology Engineerg Oluremi Omowaiye.
Training which began  on 14th day  of August will end on 8th September 2017 as scheduled to hold between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm.
Engineer Oluremi Omowaiye then enjoined the  participants to attend the training punctually.

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The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Barrister Kolapo Alimi said that Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola will never play politics with workers welfare.

Barrister Kolapo Alimi made this known today while interacting with the management and staff of Odo-Otin Local Government, Okuku.

The Commissioner explained that welfare of the workers is very dear to the present administration in the state saying that it was the economic recession that necessitated the current modulated salary.

Barrister Alimi enjoined workers to continue to support the programmes and policies of government. He prayed for economic recovery as better time awaits the entire workforce in the state

The commissioner reiterated the fact that power and positions are transient hence we should be conscious that we hold whatever post we found ourselves in trust and be of good conduct.

The Executive Secretary of Odo-Otin Local Government, Hon. Samson Oduoye appreciated the visit of the Commissioner to the Council and used the opportunity to itemize some of the projects he had executed which include provision of free eye glasses, renovation of health facilities among others.

The Council Manager of the Council, Mrs Fola Owolola pledged the continuous support of the workers in the Council to the present administration in the state.

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The Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has reiterated the call for a united and strong Nigeria whose central and historic position on the black continent must be realised for the black race to take its rightful position.
 
 
 
He made this call when the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) paid him a courtesy call cum condolence visit on Thursday.
The National President of CAN, Rev. Dr Samson Ayokunle, had led some Christian Associations to the government house to pray for the repose of the soul of the late mother of the Governor, Alhaja Saratu Aregbesola, who passed on recently.
Aregbesola said Nigeria must not fail as a nation if it is to fulfil the roles and responsibilities history placed at its doorstep as the champion of the black race.
According to him, a united Nigeria is capable of taking the black race to its rightful place, stressing that Nigerians should always remember that they are the only race that can make a mark in the world.
The Governor, who called for other bodies like CAN to support and pray for the country, added that for the black man to have headway in the world, then Nigeria must not fail.
He explained that for Nigeria live up to performing its roles in uplifting the black race in the world then all hands must be on deck to support it to achieve the goal of making the black man important.
He said, “We need to begin to realise as a nation that we are the only black nation that can assist the black man to make a name in the world.
“Nigeria must not fail, if we must achieve  this task and play this big role on behalf of all black race,  we  should all begin to work towards supporting Nigeria to achieve it.
“I want to call on all well meaning groups and bodies in Nigeria to believe in the Nigerian dream and work towards realising it.
“We need to believe in ourselves as a nation for others to believe in us because this is the only way the black man from any part of the world can have a face.
“We need to begin to see Nigeria as project which must not fail and must never fail.  Failure of Nigeria will be a disaster for the black man anywhere in the world,” Aregbesola stated.
He thanked the CAN president for the condolence visit saying that he is happy that his mother died at a good time without stress, praying for all to have the opportunity of exiting the world at a time one will be celebrated.
“For my mother to have had the privilege of giving birth to me, I can say that she died a very good death and am grateful for that.
Delivering his condolence message, CAN President, Rev. Dr Samson Ayokunle, said it is worthy of note that the late mother of Governor Aregbesola spent quality life while on earth, saying the quality of the life she lived was portrayed through the achievements of Aregbesola as a governor.
Ayokunle, who is also the President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention,  also added that Alhaja Saratu Aregbesola died at a good time because she died at time when her demise brought about a lot of honour to her.
He noted that the quality of life she lived is made manifest in the lives of her offspring, Governor Aregbesola inclusive, saying the good and hard work of the Governor must have been taken from Alhaja Saratu Aregbesola.
“We at the CAN Headquarters received the news of the death of Alhaja Saratu Aregbesola with a great shock.
“We are grateful to God that she led a quality life, which is made manifest in the lives of her offspring of which you are one of them.
“It is my prayer that God strengthen you, the Aregbesola family and the entire state to overcome the loss.
“He will strengthen you so as to continue to impact on your generation positively,” Ayokunle said.

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Ajibola Basiru is the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice- State of Osun. He holds a doctorate degree in law, from the University of Lagos. In this interview, he speaks on the administration of criminal justice/justice sector reform, Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration and how the state is curbing the menace of kidnapping and ritualists. Excerpts:
 
 
 
 
WHAT are your visions for justice delivery system in the State of Osun? I, mean, do you have a justice sector plan?
The last compilation of the record of laws in State of Osun was documented in 2002. When we resumed office as a new administration, we commissioned a consultant to properly examine these laws. I’ve been involved in the development of the laws since 2011 when I was appointed. At present, we have been able to pass 44 new laws and we have 20 pending legislations before the State Assembly. The issue of the administration of criminal justice is one of such laws before the State House of Assembly. Of course, in the aspect of the criminal justice administration, we did not just regurgitate what the Federal Government has put in place because we discovered that some clauses were problematic and decided to improve on them.
Compilation of an unfinished project

I would say that the reason we have not come up with the compilation of the laws is because in the making of the law, either in the reforming or making it dynamic and responsive to social-economic development, is an on-going process. Therefore, to fix the process by making a compilation would result to a compilation of an unfinished project. However, the laws we’ve made among the 44 laws include Public Finance Management legislations, which comprises the insurance law, the Omoluabi conservation law etc.
These are the laws that enabled us access the capital market in order to raise our N30 billion facility Bond. This is because we realized that taking the facilities from the capital market is more beneficial to the state, both in terms of their tenure and terms. This procedure also allowed transparency among all of us. It is worthy to note that one of the laws, the Omoluabi conservation law, really helped us pull through when things became very tough and hard. This unique law stipulates that a percentage of the revenue of the state should be kept in a special account called ‘the Omoluabi Conservation Fund’. And the funds can only be removed with special resolution of the State Assembly.
There are also basically what we call the infrastructure fund, future generation fund and stabilisation funds. More so, money can only be withdrawn from the infrastructure fund when only the state cannot pursue infrastructural development; except at adverse interest rates as defined under the law. There is also future generation fund by which certain percentage of the state’s resources would be set aside for future generation. However, these funds started with N4.2 billion and grew over a period of time. But at a point, capital market became changed due to the fall in the price of oil and challenges in revenue allocation. We were able to draw with the resolution in the House of Assembly some more money and that is why it became possible for us to complete those projects.
It is believed that you are the brain box of the Aregbesola’s administration. Would you say this is the correct position?
The issue of being the brain box of Aregbesola’s administration, I don’t think that is true. I know that Rauf Aregbesola had his own vision, policies. Yes, there might be some occurring convergence in terms of ideological regulation. As a student, I belonged to the Marxist school of thought and adopted the socialist ideal. So, I believe that we both, at some point, share same values.
But I believe that Rauf is someone who has deep ideological inclinations and a clear cut vision of what he wants to do as a governor. Infact, even before he became a governor, he once told us that he would resign if within two years he does not make any tangible transformation. And you can witness for yourself, if you go to State of Osun today, there are lots of transformations in terms of social and physical infrastructures.
You would also observe that there are social protections or programmes like school feeding. Osun youth empowerment schemes are new models that have been adopted by the Federal Government in the social protection regime. So, at this point, I would say that I have been a contributor to the success of Aregbesola’s government. In my first time as Commissioner, I served as Commissioner for Special Duties which led me to undertake several assignments. My ministry was also in charge of policy coordination, but to say otherwise would simply suggest that I went beyond my responsibilities.
All I know of Rauf Aregbesola is that he is intellectual and ideological. Of course, I am committed to his vision of transforming our state. And if, in any way, I offended anybody as a political advisory, it’s simply because of my loyalty to him and I have no apologies for anybody. It’s a shared vision which I believe our goal isn’t just to the State of Osun but to depict how black people can rule themselves.
It’s saddening that anywhere you see the black people, you find poverty, squalor, lawlessness and underdevelopment. We must reverse that trend and cannot continue to make our society act like a community that strictly depend on food; for that is simply the business of animals and not humans.  So our black race must not constrain itself to what I call ‘stomach infrastructure’. And yes, I am very determined in achieving our goal and of course, in that process, you will step on toes. There are also those who will be envious of your rising profile. But all I am saying is that irrespective of the adverse criticisms, I am committed to the success of Aregbesola’s administration.
What is the State of Osun doing to ensure the security of its residents against the activities of dreaded Badoo cult group, who the Lagos State police is cracking down on?
I would say that the state of Osun is a law and order territory, even before now. The state government under Rauf Aregbeshola has invested heavily in the security of the state. To that extent, I can boldly tell you that we have had success stories, not only in the apprehension of members of the Badoo group, also in their arraignment  before a court of law. For instance, last month, I was at Ilesha High Court, where we got conviction for two kidnappers. I told the court that it should show mercy on the community by giving them maximum sentence because it appears that kidnapping has now become a more lucrative offence than armed robbery. Second, in terms of ritual related offence, I was also before an Osogbo Court where a syndicate was reported to have been mutilating human corpse and selling its parts. On that day, I remember vividly that we were able to successfully tender some of the deceased’s organs like hearts, head, hands, as exhibits. However, in terms of law enforcement and prosecution, State of Osun has a good record in that aspect.
I also remember that during the kidnapping event of the wife of the Speaker State of Osun- House of Assembly, the kidnappers were later successfully apprehended and arraigned before the court. And the state, as part of its investment in security matters, also introduced the use of surveillance helicopter. I believe this is really a good approach because any state that is truly security conscious should have at least four to five helicopters for area monitoring.
This is because once there is such Surveillance, then there would not be any hideout or evil creek for easy crimes or such offenders.
Inaccessible hideouts
Offenders like the Badoo group actually hide under the cloak of secrecy by creating inaccessible hideouts. Hence, with this new approach of surveillance, they can be picked easily and security coordination would be tightened. The state has also invested in armour personnel carriers. The state also supports the police, the State Security Service (SSS), the civil defence and all other security agencies.
Hence, allowances are made official for all security operatives in the state as a form of motivation. This is the reason the government took over some cities in the state like Ejigbo, Ilesha and Ife under the siege of armed robbers which even resulted into the closure of banks. But I can confidently tell you now that those banks are successfully functional. Therefore, the idea of Badoo group invading the state would actually fall on dead grounds because the State of Osun cannot accommodate such devilish activity. We have invested strongly in the security of this state and we are a state that has the ability to bring such group to order in no distant time. Such group cannot suffice or penetrate freely.

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