Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun on Thursday in Osogbo attributed the recent flooding in the state to the negative impact of the people’s activities on the environment. Mr Semiu Okanlawon, the Media Aide to the Governor, said in a statement that the governor expressed the view during a tour of communities affected by flood recently.
 

 
 
The communities are Okeonitea, Rasco, Fiwasaye and Gbomi. Okanlawon quoted the governor as saying that “huge accumulation of wastes remained a major invitation to flooding in the state’’ as it blocked the waterways. He said the governor appealed to the people of the state to be hygienic and to cooperate with the state government in maintaining good liveable environment.
 
“Our people must henceforth obey government sanitation control and the collection of waste that we put in place. “If we religiously follow it, we will never experience this devastating flooding, everyone is urged to dispose his or her waste responsibly,” the governor added. He, however, expressed sympathy with those affected by the recent flooding, Okanlawon said.
 
The governor said the flood took the state by surprise judging by the heavy investments of his administration on flood prevention since 2011, Okanlawon added.
 
He added that considering its efforts at ensuring clear waterways in the past, the state government never expected the flooding. “Since 2011, the government has been embarking on massive dredging of waterways in all parts of the state in order to prevent such disaster.
 
“As a matter of fact, we are still very much indebted to those who normally work with us to ensure the cleaning of our waterways. “Our government deeply regrets the flooding that has affected our people,” Okanlawon quoted the governor as saying.

The Osun State government has promised to intensify efforts to ensure that waterways are clear to avert a recurrence of flooding that led to the death of one person and destruction of property.
 
 
 
Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his Deputy, Mrs Titilayo Tomori-Laoye, made the promise on Wednesday evening when they visited some of the areas affected by the flood to commiserate with them.
Addressing reporters at the Cac Oke Igbala DCC Headquarters in Gbonmi area of Osogbo, Governor Aregbesola said his administration was deeply sorry for the loss of life and property of the people.
Regularly Desilting Waterways
The Governor urged the residents to desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse, which he said was largely responsible ‎for the flooding.

He said his administration had in time past invested so much in dredging the major waterways identified as flood prone zones ‎to avert such occurrence.
Governor Aregbesola, however, promised that his government would ‎intensify efforts at ensuring that the waterways were made free to avert future occurrence.
“We have been very much committed to ensuring absence of this calamity.
“Since the advent of the administration, we have been regularly desilting the waterways on an annual basis.
He said that although the state had received a flood alert, the government had, considering its deflooding efforts, it never expected it to have the devastating effect.
It had rained heavily for hours in Osogbo the capital of Osun State, resulting to flooding of some communities.
Residents said help that came from the emergency agencies or the state authorities was late.

Channels Television’s correspondent, who returned to the scene of the incident, said residents property have been destroyed and the flooding has left one person dead.
A woman and her daughter were trapped in a store just as many of the residents around one of the communities were stranded after a bridge collapsed.
One of the residents affected said the cause of the flooding was a bridge that they said drainages within the area were channeled, which they insisted was too low.
“The government should break down that bridge and carry it up just like that of Ajegunle and create a very good gutter here. That is all we need,” he requested.
 
Credit : Channels TV

Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his Deputy, Mrs Titilayo Tomori-Laoye, on Wednesday visited some of the flood affected areas ‎this evening to commiserate with the people.

Speaking to journalists at the CAC, Oke Igbala, DCC headquarters Gbonmi Area in Osogbo, the state capital, Governor Aregbesola said his administration is deeply sorry for the loss of life and property of the people.
The governor, who noted that indiscriminate dumping of refuse is largely responsible ‎for the flooding, advised the people to desist from blocking the waterways with refuse.
He said his administration had in time past invested so much in dredging of the major water ways identified as flood prone zones ‎to avert such occurrence.
He, however, promised that his government will ‎intensify efforts at ensuring that the water ways are made free to avert future occurrence.
An unidentified driver lost his life while several properties got submerged in flood as a heavy downpour left bitter tales for many residents of Osogbo, the Osun state capital.
Some residents in areas like Testing Ground, Rasco, Oke-Onitea, Fiwasaye, Gbomi and Iludun in Osogbo have been counting their losses as the rain came down heavily for three hours, causing flood in many parts of the city.

Osun State All Progressives Congress has urged the people to reflect deeply about the state created about 25 years ago.
 

 
In a statement by its spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, in Osogbo, the state capital, the party called on indigenes to prepare for the 25th anniversary of its creation, which comes up on Saturday.
According to the party: “The mood of the moment calls for every individual’s deep reflection rather than festivities to identify and assess the progress made so far, economically,  educationally, agriculturally and infrastructurally to correctly determine how these have impacted the present and would potentially influence the future.
“Of the 25 years that Osun has been created, the last six years have been the most dramatic and monumental, even if partially controversial. It is a period that future generations will recall with nostalgia as when Osun was jolted from its slumber as a so-called ‘civil service state’ to a potential commercial hub of the Southwest.
“The socio-economic, educational and infrastructural development recorded by the state between November 2010 and now, which continues as you read this, is unprecedented in the history of the state. However, the gross indiscipline and economic mismanagement that characterised Nigeria’s Federal Government between 2013 and 2015, compounded by the collapse of crude oil prices at the international market over that same period,  hugely impacted Osun negatively.

“This calamity notwithstanding, the people of Osun can look back with some pride at what has happened in the last six years of ACN/APC government-led by Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola. The progress this state has made in the last six years is more than double that recorded in the last 19 years before Rauf Aregbesola came to power in 2010.”

Governor, State of  Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has called for a ban on the export of primary farm produce as part of strategies to ensure food sufficiency in the country.
 

 
Aregbesola made the call in Osogbo on Sunday in a statement he issued by his media aide, Semiu Okanlawon
The governor opined that the ban would enhance the value chains of the nation’s agricultural investments.
He also urged government to fashion out measures that would make agriculture to be attractive to a new generation of young Nigerians.
He noted that this would be viable option towards economic diversification, adding that Nigeria had yet to show serious efforts towards making farming a viable venture.
“We should stop exporting primary produce and start adding value. The value of a kilogram of exported cocoa beans increases 5,000% by the time it comes back as chocolate,” the governor said.
Aregbesola said the nation’s agriculture must be directed towards producing what the country needs and not what it could only export.

“The orientation of our agriculture towards producing raw materials, especially cash crops, for the industries in Europe and the Americas must be reversed.
Agriculture is needed primarily for food production; only well fed people can drive economic development.
Good nutrition is the primary basis of good health which drives productivity and energy,” he said.

Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,  has argued that the prefix “Your Excellency” attached to the names of state governors in Nigeria is illegal.
 

 
He gave three reasons at the ongoing Guild of Editors Conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
First, he argued that it is only God who should receive the tag, “excellency”.
Second, he said that there is nowhere it is written in the Nigerian Constitution that a governor should be called his excellency.

Third, Aregbesola argued that a student cannot be scored excellent before but after an examination. That is why after an examination, “you are rated excellent, very good, good, fair, pass, fail”.
“Every governor is writing an examination and until he finishes, he cannot be rated.”
He asked rhetorically: “Is it not enough to be called a governor with power of life and death? What do you want to make of a governor by calling him excellency? God? Or do you want to make the governor mad? Call me just Ogbeni (simple Mr)”.

The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Thursday ordered the authorities of the state College of Education, Ilesa to henceforth put a stop to organising combined graduation ceremonies in the school.
 

 
Aregbesola ordered that all outstanding graduation programmes of the institution must be done before the end of 2017.
He said the remaining programmes must be concluded in two batches before December 2017.
 
The governor gave the charge while speaking at the combined 24th graduation ceremony of four sets of 6,600 graduating students at the auditorium of the College in Ilesa.
 
He appealed to the students of the college not to disrupt the academic programmes of the institution so as to meet up with the set target.
He said: “Combined graduation ceremony must not happen in this school again.
“This graduation ceremony I believe is for the sets of 2007 to 2011.
“It is too much and not good enough.
 
“The graduation ceremonies of the set of graduands between 2012 to 2016, which will be the 25th graduation ceremony must be done in two batches before December 2017.
 
“I implore the students of this great institution not to disrupt the academic programmes of this school so as to meet up with the set target.”
 
Speaking on the various interventions of government in the education sector, Aregbesola said it was occasioned by the education summit chaired by Prof. Wole Soyinka, which gave some recommendations that government is implementing to improve academic performance in the state.
 
He said the summit also brought about the O-MEALS programme, which has been a huge success, hence making the Federal Government to adopt the programme.
 
He explained that the O-MEALS programme has created employment opportunities for different individuals in the state as well as boosting Agricultural sector in the state.
 
The Governor also used the occasion to shed light on the restructuring of the state’s tertiary institutions.
 
Aregbesola said it is not meant to scrap any school or retrench workers but to make the schools more relevant through the offering of vocational trainings and provision of remedial courses for young school leavers.
 
While congratulating the new graduates, the Governor said graduating from an institution is an accomplishment which prepares them for later life accomplishments.
 
He urged those who will be going directly into teaching to see it as an opportunity to give back to the society through teaching morals as well as trying to improve the academic qualities of the younger generation.
He said: “We are determined to improve the standard of education in our state.
 
“That is why we are spending so much in building state-of-the-art education facilities across the state.
 
“That is why we are spending so much feeding our pupils in elementary schools through the O-MEALS programme, which has attracted interests from all over the world to the extent that the Federal Government has adopted it.
 
“Our vision to restructure our state institutions is not to scrap any school or retrench workers, but we want to make the schools more attractive to the world.
 
“We want them to be able to offer remedial courses to young school leavers and provide vocational training to people in the society.”
 
In his graduation address, the Provost of the institution, Dr. Kadri Adegoke, explained that the ceremony is being used to reward excellence and hard work through the award of prizes to graduating students who have performed outstandingly well.
 
Adegoke said the programme is also used to honour two eminent Nigerians because it is believed that it will help in stimulating the spirit and culture of hard work, enterprise and excellence in the graduating students.
 
The provost used the occasion to express gratitude to the administration of Aregbesola for assisting the institution in giving capacity development to its staff, saying the college has never had it so good.
 
According to the provost: “This graduation ceremony is a combination of four sets of between 2007 to 2011, making a total of 6,600 graduands.
 
“We are using this ceremony to award excellence and hard work by awarding prizes to graduands who have performed outstandingly well.
 
“This occasion is also being used to honour eminent Nigerians in the presence of the graduands because we want it to serve as stimulant to the students and make them to be hardworking and become great enterpreneurs in future.
 
“I thank the Ogbeni Aregbesola administration for assisting the school in capacity building of the members of staff of this school, our college have never had it so good under any administration in this state.
 
“Almost all our academic staff members and some non-teaching staff members were sponsored on international conferences in the U.S. and the U.K in the last four years.
 
Delivering an acceptance speech on behalf of himself and a retired Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Bola Babalakin, a legal luminary, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, who was presented honourary awards alongside Babalakin, stated that education is one of the cardinal objectives of the All Progressives Congress government.
 
Awomolo described Aregbesola as a visionary governor who is pursuing his objective of taking Osun State to a great height in terms of academic performance, noting that education as a sector should not be handled with kids glove by any government.

AS part of efforts to respond to mounting unemployment and inability of job seekers to get job offers in the labour market, the Osun State government is set to open a job centre to address some of the challenges.
 

 
Osun Job Centre, a free employment support services programme that will be inaugurated soon, is expected to also to address lack of employability skills among job seekers, who are indigenes of the state.
Speaking at a news conference in Lagos, the Lead Consultant of Osun Job Centre and former Commissioner for Human Resources and Capacity-building, Ms Mobolaji Akande, said the creation of the centre was born out of the need to change the perception of job seekers that there were no jobs in the country.