Photos showing the ‘before and after’ images of The Ojuirin, Osogbo Transformation
No fewer than Twenty Five Thousand, Two Hundred and Eighty Three (25,283) students of the Osun origin have benefited from bursary awards with a sum of N521 million.
The state government said the effort is in furtherance of its determination to ensure that education is available to all indigenes irrespective of their financial conditions.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Lawrence Oyeniran, at the weekend, explained that a sum of N275.7 million was paid to final year students of the state origin across Nigerian tertiary institutions for the 2012/2013 academic session.
He added that a special grant to the tune of N17.3 million has also been paid to Law school students of Osun Origin in six campuses of the Nigerian Law School for the 2012/ 2013.
Oyeniran stressed that the sum of N208.6 million was paid to 20,215 final year students from 74 institutions and N18.5 billion to 185 law school students in five campuses last year.
According to him, “What the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration has done with the payment of Bursary to the students is in compliance with one of the six-point integral action plan that focuses on the provision of functional education.
“We should not forget that N2,000 used to be paid as bursary to final year students in colleges of education, N3,000 to all undergraduates and N10,000 to law students and their counterparts in colleges of medicine.
“With the coming of Aregbesola, bursary award to student in tertiary institutions is now N10,000 flat, irrespective of the student’s course of study, while N20,000 is being paid to final year students of law and medicine and a generous review of the N10,000 to students of Nigerian law schools to N100,000”. The director noted.
The Bureau of Communications and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, while restating the administration’s commitment to the restoration of functional education, said that all the education initiatives of the administration that are being commended from far and near are aimed at producing students who are well-prepared and who can compete with any student in any part of the world.
“It is less than four years that this revolution started. The results are already showing. The surest way to change the society is to change the way people are educated. This, this government has challenged itself to achieve,” the Bureau’s Director, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon said.
He added that the many recognitions received by the state’s education policies are enough testimonials that Osun has the template for solving many of the disturbing national questions.
“For instance, the Federal Government has now realised the need to introduce the school meal programme. This is one programme that has increased school enrollments in Osun. It alleviates poverty and create jobs for local food vendors and farmers. The ripple effects are just simply tremendous,” Okanlawon added.
Ajanaku ko ja mo ri nkan firi . Bi a ba re erin a mo pe a re erin
The elephant is not an ordinary animal that can pass unnoticed. This implies that Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola is not a mean governor but a governor whose impact has been felt not only in Osun but in Nigeria as a whole. It is a known fact even by the political candidates jostling for the seat of governor of the state of Osun.
The August 9, 2014 election is no doubt gathering momentum, and the various political gladiators are going about in the state soliciting for the votes of the electorate, so far so good, it appears that the coming election will be between the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, the incumbent governor, Aregbesola and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore. The bill boards are all over the state, not only adding beauty to the streets, but adding glamour to the political process. A bill board of Omisore reads “ Atari Ajanaku Ki seru omode”, meaning; The head of the elephant is not a load for a kid . It is interesting to note that Omisore claim to be an elephant’s head, while the incumbent governor, Aregbesola political appellation is that of a living and complete elephant. So, which of the two is heavier? The elephant’s head or a whole elephant
Philosophers do not answer questions, but muse; they try to understand the questions as there is no definite answer to philosophical questions. Thinkers trade in questions.
Aregbesola is often saluted as “ Ajanaku koja mori nkan firi bi a ba r’erin ka mo pe a ri erin. This means elephant cannot but be noticed. Aregbesola’s personality, vision and mission have catapulted him far above his contemporaries in the political space, his wealth is the people that passionately love and appreciated his governance everywhere he goes.
Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, the former governor of Abia state that participated in the last edition of “Walk to live” in the state could not hide his feelings when he declared; “I am a member of the PDP but with what I have heard and seen about your governor made me to come out in the open to support good work.
Iyiola Omisore is a personal friend of mine but I will always say the truth. Few days that I have spent here and the way his people talked about him truly showed that Governor Aregbesola deserve another term to complete that good work that the Lord has used him to start during his first term”.
Ba ba ri erin ka mo pe a ri erin- Former Inspector General of Police and Chairman of Police Service Commission Mr. Mike Okiro added his voice to what Aregbesola has achieved in the state when he declared that Osun is saved for investors . The American Ambassador added his voice to those who have seen what elephant looks like, by encouraging investors to come to the state. Comrade Chukwu Merije, a PDP member and Senate Chairman on Education Committee on a working visit to the state urged other states to emulate Aregbesola’s reforms in education.
Historically speaking, every age produces leaders that come to meet the need of the hour. Henry Ford asserted: “The whole secret of a successful life is to find out what it is one’s destiny to do, and then do it”. This hour has produced Aregbesola that has uplifted the state to become the seventh economic developed state in Nigeria. The man has justified the mandate given to him by the people. Under three years, he has provided jobs to over 40,000 youths, through OYES and another 10,000 jobs in the civil service with 54% additional teachers recruited to meet the educational reform. There is no community, or household that has not benefited from this singular initiative. The World Bank has since recommended the project to the federal government.
The Educational sector has become a phenomenon; dilapidated school structures have given ways for new, modern and well equipped schools. Parents have been relieved of burden for payment of WAEC examination fees, that cost the state over 400 million naira annually.
Opon Imo, the computer device that aids learning, is another fit that nobody can deny. Aregbesola’s score on this learning device has earned him several laurels across the globe. The governor has asserted that “Education offers the best way to produce great individuals that will create great society. This is the trust of our mission in education. It is a mission that should be backed by all, for it is a mission that is in the interest of all”.
When a leader embarked on a mission that benefited all irrespective of the circumstances of birth, that leader will be hard to dislodged, because he is no longer an ordinary leader but a statesman. The other candidates for the coming election will contend with the public scrutiny on many issues which include; ethics, love and transparency. On ethics, George Washington was better illustrating it, when he was asked who cut down the cherry tree, he replied, ‘I cannot tell a lie.”
Some of these gubernatorial aspirants are noted for telling lies quite often to the extent that their names are synonymous with lies. They lied over what is generally known to the public, they lied over their secret weakness, they lied to co party leaders, and they lied about their achievements within and outside the public domain. Ethics are a set of basic working tenets for life and business. The stronger our ethical behavior, the better leaders we become.
Trust – There ought to be trust between leaders and the led. It is the fulcrum that leads to social contract, but where there is no trust between the led and the leader, the right to govern the people is lost.
Love for the people and the passion to bring a positive change to the lives of the people will be tested. Once the people realized they are dealing with selfish and power hungry politicians, they will not hesitate to give their mandate to the trusted, tested and transparent leaders. This is the edge that Aregbesola has over the other contenders. That is the edge that will make his second term bid a walk-over.
Obaditan wrote in from Osogbo
DAILY INDEPENDENT
Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titilayo-Laoye Tomori, does nothing out of the ordinary to unwind. She simply takes to gardening.Combining motherhood with official responsibilities is no joke. It is even more demanding when such mother occupies political or public office. However, the Osun State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titilayo-Laoye Tomori, is one person who has combined both, efficiently.
From her days as an administrator at the University of Lagos where she was appointed Assistant Registrar, from where she rose to the post of Principal Assistant Registrar and later became the Admissions Officer, she exemplified diligence.
In fact, in the political circles in Osun State, the general belief is that her choice as the deputy governor to Governor Rauf Aregbesola in 2007 was in recognition of her wealth of experience at the public and private sectors.
While serving as deputy governor, she also doubles as the Commissioner for Education and has positively impacted the Osun State education sector, a job for which she has received recognition awards such as The Most Innovative Education Commissioner Award for the South-west zone organised by President’s School Debates Nigeria, an agency of the Federal Ministry of Education.
The mother of four is also the recipient of the West African Gender Dialogue in conjunction with West African Institute for Leadership and Governance, Most Outstanding Female Deputy Governor of the Year 2012.
From the academia to full time politics, Titilayo-Laoye remains committed to the electorate since they are the ones who brought her to power.
“You should always think of how to add value to their lives (the electorate) and make your constituency or state better than you met it. You must be humble, tolerant, accommodating and always listen to the electorate. To the glory of God, I have a leader and a boss whose core area of competence is adding value to people’s lives. So, I am a happy politician,” she said.
Interestingly, however, her job is further made easy by her family and the governor who according to her are making it possible for her to contribute her quota to the development of the state.
According to her, her work has not affected her family in any way. In fact, they now look out for her and support her, she claimed, adding that despite the age difference, she gets along with Governor Aregbesola very well.
“The Governor is a visionary leader with a very large heart and an infinitely large capacity to accommodate people; save a lazy, and a dishonest person. Ogbeni is brilliant, honest and very humble. He relates very well with me.”
She claimed to be privileged to be his deputy, adding that “working with Ogbeni is like enrolling in a grassroots school of politics. He is daily seeking for ways of uplifting the downtrodden, and upgrading the quality of life of people generally. He is caring and God fearing. He has a lot of milk of human kindness in him as depicted in his pro-people policies. So there is no way one will not work well with him.”
But how has she been able to cope with working in her capacity as the deputy governor? To this, she claimed her career and experience at the University and in the corporate world prepared her for the task at hand.
“What is politics? It is about adding value to the lives of the electorate. You must be humble, tolerant, accommodating and always listen to the electorate. At the University of Lagos, I was a University Admission Officer for several years where I had the opportunity of interacting closely with applicants who became students and anxious parents seeking admission for their children. One had to be patient and understanding on such jobs. Today, to the glory of God, most of the students I admitted into UNILAG are at the top echelon of the society where they are contributing to the development of Nigeria,” she said.
However, she has an interesting pastime; she personally tends and designs the garden in her official and personal residences and this, according to her, gives her great delight.
“I tend to my garden for relaxation. I personally designed the garden in my official residence and in my personal residence. I tend to my plants and flowers and that gives me joy.
“For exercise, I walk briskly on the treadmill. I also love cooking healthy foods and most times, I create healthy menu which I share with friends,” she said.
Although her children are adults and married, time spent with them is equally refreshing.
THIS DAY NEWSPAPER
Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola has encouraged the people of the state to always be at alert to prevent attempts by any politician to disrupt the peace of the state.
He spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Community Forum, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, at a forum in osogbo during a public enlightenment on government policies and programme.
Warning that the youths should not allow themselves to be used for violence or induced with material things because of the inordinate ambition of some politicians, he said that all the developmental programmes being executed by the present administration were only made possible because of the peace reigning in the state.
On the alleged plan to sack workers in his second term, the governor said that the allegation was the making of desperate politicians who are jittery of the achievements of his administration, saying, “we are not sacking any worker, we will rather employ more of them.
“Through our efforts in governance and approach to issues of workers, it should be clear to everybody that we are not ready to sack any worker, but our political opponents are just spreading rumours and lies to set workers against us.
“I am sure that our workforce consists of wise people and they cannot be deceived by any politician who has nothing good to offer them and the entire people of this state.
“Another lie they are spreading is that we want to stop Okada business all in their efforts to gain the favour of the people. We are not stopping Okada riders, but we will make them more successful through our programmes and policies”, he added.
The governor noted that all the lies and rumours were meant to set people against him and his government, with a view to triggering violence and rigging, through which they intended to realise their ambition.
Speaking on the pension arrears owed the pensioners by the government, he said that the government, out of its magnanimity had recently released N1bn for the payment of the arrears, inspite that the pension crisis was the making of the last administration.
Aregbesola then noted his administration would continue to execute programmes and policies that would make life meaningful to the people of the state.
DAILY TIMES
Warning that the youths should not allow themselves to be used for violence or induced with material things because of the inordinate ambition of some politicians, he said that all the developmental programmes being executed by the present administration were only made possible because of the peace reigning in the state.
On the alleged plan to sack workers in his second term, the governor said that the allegation was the making of desperate politicians who are jittery of the achievements of his administration, saying, “we are not sacking any worker, we will rather employ more of them.
“Through our efforts in governance and approach to issues of workers, it should be clear to everybody that we are not ready to sack any worker, but our political opponents are just spreading rumours and lies to set workers against us.
“I am sure that our workforce consists of wise people and they cannot be deceived by any politician who has nothing good to offer them and the entire people of this state.
“Another lie they are spreading is that we want to stop Okada business all in their efforts to gain the favour of the people. We are not stopping Okada riders, but we will make them more successful through our programmes and policies”, he added.
The governor noted that all the lies and rumours were meant to set people against him and his government, with a view to triggering violence and rigging, through which they intended to realise their ambition.
Speaking on the pension arrears owed the pensioners by the government, he said that the government, out of its magnanimity had recently released N1bn for the payment of the arrears, inspite that the pension crisis was the making of the last administration.
Aregbesola then noted his administration would continue to execute programmes and policies that would make life meaningful to the people of the state.
DAILY TIMES
As part of efforts of the present administration of state of Osun at boosting pig farming in the state, Commissioner for Agric and Food Security, Hon. Wale Adedoyin will tomorrow (friday)flag off the Piggery Artificial Insemination programme in the state.
The project ,which is aimed at ensuring improvement in pig farming through the production of pig progeny in terms of large littars size, hybrid vigour, rapid growth rate, leaness of meat which gets to the consumer is also expected to boost the creation of wealth for unemployed youths.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Sunday Odediran.
The statement then enjoined all pig farmers in Osun West senatorial District to turn out enmass for the exercise at the following designated farms: Akande farms Iwo, Akintaro farms Ede,and Oladimeji farms Halleluyah, Dada Estate in Egbedore Local Government.
The statement also states that it will be the turn of Osun central and Osun East senatorial Districts immediately after the completion of the exercise at Osun West Senatorial district.
OSUN NEWS
A total of 12 States were considered in the Innovation Award Initiative: two states in each of the six geo-political zones of the country were closely examined over a period of three months. It was from this effort that the State of Osun emerged as the overall winner. Some of the factors that enhanced our decisions are the turn-around projects embarked upon by Aregbesola administration which represent a tremendous improvement on what he met on ground about four years ago. Lets take a look at some of them.
The Solution
The state government of Osun, along with other government units, started in the early part of the administration to implement plans that aim at developing and modernizing the state, extending the roads, expanding the network of lighting and green spaces and constructing public parks and utilities and decorative monuments. The administration’s responsibility did not stop at just implementing these projects and equipping itself with the latest technology; on the contrary, it continues to maintain the highest level of cleanliness and provide whatever is required to maintain and preserve these important utilities. Thus, Osun became a model and example of beauty and cleanliness dazzling the residents and visitors alike. Specifically, it has adopted measures to ensure a high standard of cleanliness within the key cities in the state including boosting efficiency of its internal operations, staging campaigns to promote awareness in public and individual health, enlisting the support of schools in environmental cleanliness, keeping roads clean, and giving attention to timely collection and disposal of garbage. The subject of cleanliness is the top priority facing those responsible for the cities. This subject takes a special place in view of the cities’ expansion thus attracting the people to live and work therein, forming a phenomenon of our modern time, and transforming the cleaning services into a difficult challenge. The Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme now known as O-MEALS is the one of the few surviving school meal programmes in the country. It was formerly known as the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFP) . This has now been restructured and enhanced by the administration of the State of Osun, to reach a larger number of students (254,000) and to empower over 3000 community caterers. The programme was initiated by the Federal Government in 2004 through the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act. On assumption of office, the present administration undertook a comprehensive review of the inherited school feeding arrangement and came up with an overhauled and rebranded programme that was officially launched on the 30th April 2012. Implementation in primary schools is ongoing throughout the State. The key areas of improvement undertaken by the current administration are, inclusion of elementary year 4 , thereby increasing beneficiaries to 254,000, Capacity Development and Empowerment 3007 Community Caterers , backwards integration to local markets and process improvements This scheme has gained international endorsement as well. In November 2012, Partnership for Child Development (PCD) United Kingdom and the Government of the State of Osun signed the Osun Elementary School Feeding Transition Strategy Plan Document to further strengthen the programme. O-MEALS aims to reverse the very low academic performance of pupils noting that good nutrition is necessary for development of cognitive skills. The daily feeding allowance for each pupil has also been increased from N50.00 to N250.00. For effective service, a total number of 3,007 food vendors/cooks were trained and are currently employed to serve midday meals for pupils of classes 1, 2 , 3 and 4 in all primary schools in the State of Osun. For easy identification, each of the food vendors was provided with uniforms free of charge. The uniforms provided include gowns, aprons, and caps. The government of the State of Osun also facilitated provision of cooking utensils for each of the caterers at minimal cost. First Bank PLC granted a loan of N124.5 million to 123 cooperative groups of food vendors for purchasing cooking utensils. The government of the State of Osun also agreed to pay the interest accrued on the loan facility and food vendors are to repay the loan within 36 months (3 years).
The Challenge
The past governments have tried to establish effective and quality of dialogue between the citizens and the administration which have not been achieved.
The Solution
The direct dialogue that exists between the state government and the administration has made the government of Ogbeni Aregbesola to become so popular across the state. The project’s aim is to facilitate and improve the relationship between citizens and the government by simplifying the tools that citizens use to obtain information and communicate with public institutions. “Meet the Ogbeni” allows citizens to engage with the state government in an innovative manner. It seeks to advance open government by enabling a more personal channel of enquiry to government. It allows for interaction and the exchange of information with other stakeholders.
The Challenge
The Government faced the challenge of providing social assistance and support to vulnerable sections of society.
The Solution
The state government has demonstrated that it could radically transform public institutions into entities capable of providing quality service at levels comparable to those attained by their private sector counterparts. Its social policy making is aimed at promoting the generation of a new intergenerational culture. It devoted particular attention to specific demands from the different generational population groups. Providing social coverage to most sectors of society is considered as a main target and its aim is to reduce inequalities. The people are the most important asset of a government. A genuine development agenda should therefore have at its core, the welfare of people, and seek to implement a robust human capacity development programme. The Ogbeni administration passionately aligns with this governance approach and is entrenching welfarism at the centre of her development programmes. Apart from the state’s social centric programmes, other programmes like physical infrastructure programmes should also be delivered in such a way as to add social value like public services, local jobs, capacity development to pragmatically improve the socio-economic status of the people. Osun has been implementing its programmes across all society strata in this direction. Through the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme, OYES, the state is pioneering for Nigeria, a grassroots youth empowerment scheme that has won commendations from institutions like the World Bank. For the past three years, the state has undergone a radical change in the coverage of its programmes and the increase in its benefits. This has been possible due to institutional efficacy guided to quality roles. The initiative has resulted in the efficient use of the public resources and increased benefits. The quality has been maintained, a new information system has been introduced and institutional reengineering has taken place. The initiative has resulted in the following changes:
1) Reduction in costs,
2) Transparency in the administration of resources and services,
3) Creation of a client-oriented culture (in substitution for the bureaucratic culture)
The Challenge
Public administration reforms in Osun used to be formal and did not address or respond to the needs of citizens and businesses, especially given the differences at the local level.
The Solution
Although there have been reforms in the past decade, changes in the institutional and administrative system increased the demand for further reform. For example, the state has assumed several important functions, and others have been transferred from the local governments. At the same time, the call for improving the conditions of the private sector and the market has been growing. In response to this call for reform, the State of Osun has gradually been transformed into a facilitator for cooperation and understanding between administrative institutions, as well as coordination centre for administrative innovation for citizens and businesses. Today, the state is committed to modernizing its functions through consensual methods, encouraging various government agencies to work together to reach agreement. The objective is for all stakeholders of any innovation to share goals rather than perceive them as rules imposed on them. The state government sees the development of infrastructure as key to its vision of establishing Osun as a commercial hub for the south west of Nigeria. As such, a physical infrastructure development programme to open up the state as a viable route for the transportation of goods and services between the hinterlands of Nigeria and Lagos State (Nigeria’s Business Capital) is currently being implemented. This programme entails the construction and expansion of various roads categories. These include, Boundary Highways, Inter City Roads, Township Roads , Local Government Roads and Rural Roads. These developments are currently being implemented in an integrated manner, to provide Osun with a road network system that will position it as a conduit for easy movement of goods and services from the North, (through neighboring Kwara State) towards Lagos (through neighboring Ogun State, Ijebu Igbo Axis). This stretch of Kwara – Osun -Ogun through Osun, covers over 120km road network and offers an alternative route to the very burdened Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It is the belief of the current administration, that such an integrated road infrastructure will revive the status of Osogbo, and consequently the State , as a commercial hub for the south west region. To complement the road network system, the Ogbeni administration is developing Business Infrastructures that will cater for the opportunities that the emerging road network and commercial hub will bring. As such, the Osun-Hub(O-Hub) initiative is being implemented.
The Challenge
Reforming the educational structure to respond to the students changing needs by creating conducive Education Centres
The Solution
The state of the art educational facilities across the state has created a new structure based on the principles of clarity, flexibility, and compatibility. The reform increases students’ freedom of choice and facilitates flexibility in changing between areas of interest. The new teaching structure is expected to have positive impact on the educational sector as a whole, including the students and those employed in the field. The vision of the present administration under Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola before coming to government was to radically increase access to Universal Basic Education in our society. This is in furtherance of the vision of the former Western Region Government under the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo. This is also in line with Millennium Development Goal Two (MDG 2) of achieving Universal Primary Education, which goes in consonance with Aregbesola’s programme of promoting functional education. Presently, the physical infrastructure component of these reclassification is being carried out systematically with the building of elementary, middle and high schools. The human and social component such as recruitment of teachers, provision of instructional materials, psychological and social support through value re-orientation, revival of ideals of hard work, honesty, discipline, determination, revival of Boys and Girls Clubs, calisthenics activities are simultaneously being introduced. The State Government of Osun, under Aregbesola, in its resolve to champion inspiring innovations from Africa, has undertaken a ground breaking step to utilize ICTs to concisely tackle the learning problem through the Opón Ìmò Initiative. The State, through its Opón Ìmò Technology Enhanced Learning System (OTELS), has developed a learning tool that could revolutionize learning in developing states around the world. This tool is called the Opón Ìmò, “Tablet of Knowledge”. The Opon Imo is a programme to provide senior secondary school students with free tablet computers preloaded with learning materials to prepare for school-leaving exams. These programmes were designed and are being implemented to deliver tangible and radical socio-economic value across the various demographics of the society. The comprehensive multi-sector impact of these programmes has helped Osun record dramatic improvements in human development indices.
The Challenge
How to increase efficiency and improve transparency in the Public Service by managing performance systems and service delivery arrangements to maximize their effectiveness.
The Solution
The administrations emphasized the importance of accountability, capacity building and promotion of excellence in the public sector. The Aregbesola Government has been involved with a “major reconceptualisation of the role of government”. The New Public Management Theory has been a guiding principle in helping the government to reinvent itself in the light of pressures exerted by the rapid pace of technological advances and the resulting economical, social and political impacts. National institutions need to be agile, flexible and innovative to accommodate the changes. The public service in the state took a leading role in a range of supportive initiatives to create a public service system that is robust and sustainable.
The Osun State Government has approved N275.7 million for the payment of backlog of bursary in the 2012/2013 academic year, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
Mrs Mulikat Bello, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Higher Education, disclosed this on Tuesday while speaking with newsmen in Osogbo.
Bello said: “A total sum of N226.1 million had so far been disbursed to 20,774 final year students from 56 tertiary institutions.
‘’The tertiary institutions included the Nigerian Law Schools,18 universities,13 polytechnics and colleges of technology,14 colleges of education and three colleges of health technology.
‘’Other schools that were taken care of included colleges of agriculture, a school of nursing, school of hygiene, school of surveying and co-operative college.’’
She called on the authorities of 21 higher institutions of learning whose final year students had not yet received their 2012-2013 bursary award to submit all required information.
“Also, the schools should submit the schools’ bank account details and render their previous statement of payment for the year 2011/2012 bursary awards to the Office of Higher Education, Scholarship and Bursary in the State Ministry of Education,’’ she added.
She said the bursary intervention ’’has reduced the financial burden of tertiary education on parents and students.’’ (NAN)
The quest for innovations in governance has been ongoing for quite sometime now, but this has attained a level of urgency with the commitment made by world leaders in the Millennium Declaration, the 2005 World Summit and many other global and regional conferences.
The global consensus on the urgency of reinventing government is not only made manifest in the research efforts that are focusing on how to improve the performance of governments and public institutions. It is also seen in the innovators’ readiness to come together to share information and knowledge about their innovations to minimize wastage of resources and time in re-inventing the wheel.
It has dawned on most people concerned with the improvement of performance in the public sector that although innovations in government are circumscribed in scope, they have the potential to trigger a bigger process of transformation of the State and produce general positive benefits to citizens through improved service delivery.
There are networks of innovators being formed for purposes of sharing and adapting successful practices in innovation. One of them is the Network of Innovators in the Mediterranean region which is being spearheaded by the Programme for Innovation in Public Administration in the Mediterranean Region. This is part of the innovation programmes of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).
Just like BusinessWorld Intelligence’s Innovation Award, there are also awards instituted at the international level to recognize and further promote innovative practices in the public sector. The most prestigious international recognition of excellence in the public service is the United Nations Public Service Awards, which is managed by UNDESA. It was launched in 2002 to search for innovations in the public sector, reward and motivate civil servants, as well as disseminate knowledge about successful practices in good governance in order to provide the opportunity for peer-to-peer learning among member states.
In order to sustain efforts towards a better public administration, BusinessWorld is supporting initiative of this kind, to encourage innovation in the public sector, to motivate public servants to help bridge the gap between governments’ actions and citizens’ expectations. We believe that there is no shortcut to effective delivery of services except to have the best talent in the public sector. Ultimately, the ability of government to provide services effectively and efficiently depends upon a competent cadre of civil servants.
First and foremost, good government requires good people. The men and women who have received the prestigious Public Service Awards are testimony to this. They represent the best in the public service. One way to encourage them to continue in their quest for more efficient, participatory and equitable public services is to recognize their efforts at the highest level possible through award programmes such as this.
The purpose is to encourage more women and men in the public sector who are working hard to improve citizens’ lives and to recognize the efforts of people like Governor Aregbesola, who have made the society better and raised the standard of living of the ordinary man a notch higher through uncommon innovations.
Businessworld Intelligence Report.