VOL. 9. NO.061 NNNNN 505 05 05 05 0THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014

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•The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola(5th left); Executive Director, Partnership for Child Development (PCD), Lesley Draice (6th right); representative of KanoState governor, State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Tajudeen Gambo(5th right); World Bank representative, Professor Don Bundy (4th right); Permanent Secretary,Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Macjohn Nwaobiala (3rd right) and other dignitaries at the Technical Workshop on Home-Grown School Feeding Programme at TranscorpHilton Hotel, Abuja, last Monday. Photo: STATE OF OSUN GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

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Fake Voters’ Cards FloodOsun, PDP Fingered

Authenticate Your Claims - APC Tells Omisore

Smart card for Osun

workers: Another first

For an administra-tion that has long beenacknowledged asclear leader in inno-vative ideas in gover-nance, it comes as nosurprise that the RaufAregbesola adminis-tration is again blaz-ing the trail in theadoption of informa-tion technology

to address two criti-cal challenges in the de-livery of the publicgood: the menace ofghost

workers on the pay-roll; and the imperativeof a credible data baseof its workforce.

For the purpose-driven,

development-minded administra-tion in the state, therecent introductionof smart identitycards and biometricautomation systemamong the state’swork-force acrossthe board is certainlyno accident.

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2 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014News

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•(R-L) The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Executive Director, Partnership for Child Development(PCD), Lesley Draice; former governor, State of Osun, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola and World Bank Representative,Prof. Don Bundy at the Technical Workshop on Home Grown School Feeding Programmes at Transcorp Hilton HotelAbuja last Monday. Photo: STATE OF OSUN GOVERNMENT HOUSE.

Fake Voters’ Cards Flood Osun, PDP FingeredBy ISMAEEL UTHMAN

INTELLIGENCE report gathered by OSUN DEFENDERhas indicated that there are hundreds of thousands offake voters’ cards in circulation in the State of Osun,

barely two months to the governorship election.The fake voters’ cards,

according to sources, wereallegedly being circulatedby some chieftains of thePeoples Democratic Party(PDP).

Some of the voters’ cardswere reportedly distributedto some people, particularlythe underage, in Ila-Orangun on Sunday by thePDP agents.

An impeccable source,who prayed not to benamed, said the fake voters’cards looked like a clonedcopy of the PermanentVoters’ Cards.

According to the source,who claimed to have seenthe fake cards, they werebeing given to PDP elders,

whose sons, daughters andrelatives were unable toregister for the last voters’registration exercise.

The source said: “I sawthe fake voters’ cards in Ilaon Sunday. I was shockedwhen I saw it. They lookexactly like the PermanentVoters’ Cards. But they arelighter in weight with fadedcolour and blurredgraphics.

“The fake cards wereboth in laminated paper andplastic cards like the PVC.The cards were beingdistributed by PDPchieftains in Ila-Orangun. Itwas a serious situation.

“Without mincingwords, the circulation of the

fake voters’ cards isdefinitely meant to rig theforthcoming August 9, 2014governorship election in thestate.”

It would be recalled thatthe All ProgressivesCongress (APC) in the state,had, few weeks ago, allegedthe PDP of planning tocompromise the data base ofthe Independent NationalElectoral Commission (INEC)in a bid to clone authenticvoters’ cards.

It would be recalled thatcivil societies in the state hadcalled on INEC to deploycard-reading machinesduring the poll in order tohave a fair and credible pollin the state, saying thedecision by the commissionnot to use the machine is notcomprehensible.

Reports of purchase ofvoters’ cards by somepoliticians was the firstmajor issue in the statebefore INEC eventuallyannounced that it hasdetected multipleregistration in the recentvoters’ registration exerciseit conducted.

Reacting to the issue,Comrade Abiodun Agboola,the Coordinator of OsunCivil Societies Coalition(OCSC), disclosed that if theelections in Osun and Ekitistates have any flaw, it is asa result of the refusal ofINEC to deploy card readers.

He said the commissionin its own assessment hadconfirmed that there aremultiple registrations andpeople have been raisingalarm on the fact that their

permanent voters’ cards aremissing, then what stops thecommission from wanting todetect the authenticity ofcards during the polls.

He warned that if INECcreates a lacuna formanipulation, politicianswould go to any length atensuring that they discreditthe electoral process andthe bulk of the blame wouldbe on the commission.

According to him, thecivil societies would notstop calling on thecommission to deploy card-reading machines duringthe polls in Ekiti and Osunto give the electorate the fullright of determining whothey want to vote for in thecoming elections in thestates.

Agboola reiterated the

OCSC’s commitment toembark on a peacefulprotest to INEC with a viewto making the position ofthe organisation clear onthe use of card-readingmachines during the poll,saying it would be a goodavenue to testrun the deviceahead of the 2015 generalelections in the country.

Also, the Inter-PartyAdvisory Council (IPAC),State of Osun chapter, hasalso joined the call for theuse of the VCR for thegovernorship election.

According to IPAC, thenon-use of the VCR, hassaid by INEC, would aidelection malpractices andsabotage all efforts to havefree, fair and crediblegovernorship election in thestate.

Osun Assembly Appeals For SuspensionOf NASU Strike By KAZEEM MOHAMMED

THE State of Osun House of Assembly has appealed tothe non-teaching staff of the state-owned tertiaryinstitutions to call off their three-month old strike

action in the interest of the students.

Man Dies In GraveTrying To Exhume Body

By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

AN unidentified man, suspected to be a ritualist, hasbeen mysteriously killed while trying to exhume aburied corpse.

The state parliament madethe appeal at a joint meetingwith the Joint NegotiationCouncil (JNC) of Non-academicStaff Union (NASU) of the

institutions, Head of Serviceand the Commissioner forFinance in Osogbo, the statecapital on Monday.

NASU of the state-ownedtertiary institutions embarkedon strike action on March 11over their demands for theremittance of their contributorypension fund till date and theirinclusion into the 65 yearsretirement age bill for theacademic staff, which ispresently before the statelegislature among others.

Addressing the meeting, theSpeaker of the Assembly,Honourable Najeem Salaam,said the state parliament woulddo everything within its powerto address the demands raisedby the union.

He added that the Housewould see to the inclusion ofthe non-academic staff in thenew retirement age asdemanded by them.

“We want to appeal to youto go back to work and believein us that we will see to yourdemands.

“Embarking on strike cannotsolve the problem. It will ratherworsen the situation and that

is why we are appealing to youthat for the sake of the futureof our children, go back towork.”

Salaam also reaffirmed thecommitment of the statelegislature to ensure that thestate government solves theproblem surrounding the non-remittance of their contributorypension.

Also speaking, the DeputySpeaker, HonourableAkintunde Adegboye, whopresided over the meeting,urged the union not to allowthe strike to be politicised.

Adegboye said a committeewould be set up to look intothe demands of the union,while calling for theunderstanding of the unionmembers.

“The issue of workers andunion should not be politicisedand that is why we areappealing to you to call-off thestrike,” Adegboye said.

Explaining the rationalebehind the circumstancessurrounding the non-remittanceof the contributory pensionfund till date, the StateCommissioner for Finance, DrWale Bolorunduro, the situationwas caused by paucity offunds, due to the reduction inthe federal allocation to thestate, adding that the fund hadso far been remitted up to June

2013.He stressed that it was

difficult for the stategovernment to pull out of thecontributory pension schemebecause it is a federal law.

Bolorunduro then statedthat the government would doeverything possible to workout the gap in the contributorypension, which is the majorissue resulting to the strikeaction.

The commissioner assuredthe non-teaching staff that allthe deductions made since thebeginning of the scheme by thegovernment had been well keptin the Central Bank of Nigeria,as the former Head of Service,Segun Akinwusi was compelledby the governor to do so inaccordance with the law,.

Earlier in his remarks, theNASU’s JNC Chairman, Mr.Olusoji Fasipe, noted thatsome of the demands of theunion had been on before theadvent of the currentadministration, while some arenew.

Saying that the union leadershave been able to take theexplanations and the appeal ofthe government and theAssembly with maturity, hestressed that it would berelayed to the congress forappropriate action on thecurrent strike.

According to reportsgathered on the strangeincident, which took place inIlobu community, located in theIrepodum Local GovenrmentCouncil Area of the State ofOsun, the supposed ritualistwas found dead, half-buried ina grave from which he had triedto cut off the head of an agedwoman, who had been buriedthere.

A source in the community,who spoke with OSUNDEFENDER, revealed that thecorpse had been buried for overfive years and that the manfound dead did not operatealone.

“This particular corpse wasburied five years ago and thesuspected ritualist attended theburial in Ilobu. There areindications that he did not digthe grave alone.

“What we discovered wasthat he may have beenattempting to cut off the headof the corpse, when somethingsuddenly hooked him, as hemanaged to force half of hisbody into the grave to cut offthe head.

“He got hooked and died onthe spot, a development which

possibly compelled otherritualists to run away from thescene, so that they may notbe affected by the mysteriousthing that killed theircolleague,” the source said.

Speaking on how theresidents of Ilobu got to knowabout the incident, the sourceexplained that the half-buriedbody of the suspected ritualistwas discovered by a hawkerin the early hours of the day.

“A woman, who washawking pap early in themorning of Wednesday,spotted the torso of thesuspect sticking out of thegrave and raised the alarm.

“His corpse was discoveredaround 6.30am and his headwas covered in mud. Theresidents here alerted thepolice division in Ilobu andthey later came to evacuate thebody and put it in their vanbefore taking him away,” hesaid.

The remains of the deceasedwere said to have beendeposited at the LadokeAkintola University TeachingHospital (LAUTECH),mortuary in Osogbo, the statecapital.

Maternal, Child Health WeekCommences In Osun

By FRANCIS EZEDIUNO

THE Wife of the Governor of the State of Osun, MrsSherifat Aregbesola, has called on all mothers tocome out en masse to ensure that their children

are properly immunised against the six childhood killerdiseases.

She made this knownduring the occasion of theflag-off ceremony ofMaternal, Newborn andChild Health Week(MNCHW), which was heldat the New Freedom Park,Ijebu-Jesa, headquarters ofOriade Local GovernmentCouncil Area of the state.

The Osun First Ladycalled on all mothers to seethe opportunity as one thatshould be effectivelyutilised in order to secure agood future for the children.

The wife of the governor,who was represented by theState Commissioner for

Health, Dr. (Mrs.) TemitopeIlori, reiterated that sincepromotion of functionalhealth care is part of the six-point integral action plan ofthe administration ofOgbeni Rauf Aregbesola, itis imperative that thegovernment would doeverything to see to it thatits citizens, both womenand children, enjoy thebest that the healthprogramme would provide.

On her part, the StateCommissioner for Healthnoted that the MNCHWhad recorded huge

successes in the area ofservice delivery to womenand children.

These areas, thecommissioner disclosed,included; Vitamin Adistribution, deworming ofchildren, screening ofchildren for malnutrition,routine immunisation,distribution of ‘Mama Kit’,family planning communitiesand promotion of keyhousehold practices such ashand-washing and exclusivebreast-feeding among underfive children and women inthe state.

She maintained that it wasthe desire and objective ofthe state government toimprove on the above result.

The health commissionerappealed to all the ExecutiveSecretaries to continue torender their support in theirrespective councils,especially as it concernsmothers and children.

3 News OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

•The State of Osun Commissioner for Health; Dr. (Mrs.) Temitope Ilori, holding a set of twins, while the ExecutiveSecretary, Oriade Local Government, Hon. Taiwo Fatiregun, administers vaccines during the commencement of the2014 Maternal and Child Week at New Freedom Park, recently in Ijebu-Jesa.

Osun Gov Election: Make Your Intention Known, Labour Party TellsPotential Aspirants By ISMAEEL UTHMAN

BARELY two and a half months to the election in theState of Osun, the Labour Party (LP) has called onall qualified and capable members of the party, who

are interested in the governorship ticket of the party, tosignify their interest.

A press statement signedby the Chairman of the partyin the state, Comrade RufusOyatoro, said no member of

the party has neither beennominated nor chosen to becandidate of the party in theAugust 9, 2014

gubernatorial election.Oyatoro said he was

speaking in his authority asthe authentic chairman ofthe party recognized by thecourt of law, in accordancewith the constitution of theparty.

He said, Alhaji FataiAkinbade, one of the

governorship aspirants ofthe LP, at a meeting held withhim and the police, has saidthat he only met with hisfollowers at the NelsonMandela Freedom Parkrecently, a programmebelieved to be the flag-off ofhis campaign.

Oyatoro alleged that

Akinbade had deceived thepolice that the programmewas just a convergence ofhis followers, stating thatthe event was meant forAkinbade to declare hisintention.

The press statementmade available to OSUNDEFENDER on Mondayreads in part: “TheChairman of Labour Party inOsun State, Comrade RufusOyatoro, has seen anecessity to clarify andenlighten the general publicand the people of the stateon the current status of theLP as an entity in thepolitical environment of thestate.

“A meeting was held withthe Commissioner of Policein the state and Alhaji FataiAkinbade on Wednesday,May 7, 2014. Akinbade

informed all stakeholdersincluding myself that he wasonly trying to meet with hisfollowers at the FreedomPark, Osogbo.

“That is against his firstletter, where he was billed tostage the flag-off of hiscampaign, which eventuallyturned to a campaign/flag-off rally, having deceived thepolice into believing that itwas just a convergence ofhis followers.

“We are using thismedium to invite all qualifiedand capable individuals thatare interested in thegubernatorial ticket of the LPin the state to signify andmake known their intentionbetween now and sevendays. Such individual shouldhave membership of the LPproperly and adequatelyformalized.”

Osun Govt Intervenes InHerdsmen, Farmers’ Crisis

By KAZEEM MOHAMMED

GOVERNMENT of the State of Osun hasintervened in the looming crisis between theherdsmen and farmers in Araromi Iwata

Community in Ejigbo Local Government CouncilArea of the state over the alleged destruction offarm produce by cattle rearers in the community.

The intervention cameon the heel of a letteraddressed to GovernorRauf Aregbesola by theDepartment of StateServices on the alleged“threat to law and orderover the activities ofBororo cattle rearers inAraromi IwataCommunity”.

The letter stated that thedestruction of farms andfarm crops of the farmersin the community bycattle belonging to theFulanis was generatingtension, as the farmerscomplained that theherdsmen have been takentheir cattle to graze ontheir farms.

It also stated that thefarmers had alsocomplained that whenever

they tried to stop theherdsmen from enteringtheir farms, the cattlerearers threatened themwith dangerous weapons.

The security agencythen sought theintervention of the stategovernment to preventescalation of hostilitiesbetween the aggrievedfarmers and the warringherdsmen.

As a follow-up to theletter, the governor,through, his AssistantChief of Staff, HonourableOguntola Toogun,conveyed a meeting, wherehe cautioned both partiesagainst any action thatcould truncate the currentpeace of the state.

He recalled that the issueof cattle rearers andfarmers was not peculiarto the community, as it hadled to loss of lives andproperties in many parts ofthe country.

Toogun then appealed tothe parties to live togetherwith love and not allowanything to cause crisisamong them, saying;“there is every tendency ofhaving disagreement wheretwo or more people livetogether, but the level of theproblem will depend onhow much they love eachother.”

Part of the resolutions atthe meeting was that thefarmers, Fulanis and theBororos cattle rearersshould ensure peaceful co-existence amongthemselves.

It was also agreed thatany herdsman who wantsto settle down in thecommunity during the dryseason should be referredto Fulani leaders for propercontrol.

A nine-man committeewas subsequently set up,comprising of the farmers,herdsmen and governmentofficials to handle any caseof abnormal grazing in thearea.

Omisore Is A Liar – AlimiBy ABRAHAM JESUDOYIN

THE Commissioner for Local government andChieftaincy Affairs in the State of Osun; Mr. KolapoAlimi, has described the governorship candidate of

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Mr Iyiola Omisore,as a liar and fault-finder.

Kolapo stated that allallegations posed byOmisore and his cohorts,that the state governor,Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, isinflating the costs of majorprojects in the state, is false.

He stated this during achat with OSUNDEFENDER last Saturday inOsogbo, the state capital.

The commissioner addedthat the state government isnot in any bad-debtsituation, as no bank willever lend to a poor state.

“If those banks lendingto the state have not seenanything worthwhile, theywouldn’t have lend to thestate”

He disqualified anallegation by Omisore thatthe governor has borrowed

another N40 million from aNigeria bank as mere tissuesof lies.

“Which bank in Nigeria

will borrow a state N40million, when some banksare folding up just becauseof N25 million?

“It is said that fault-finders will find faults evenin paradise, among who isOmisore,” he said.

Kolapo therefore,reiterated that Omisore’sclaims about the currentadministration are nothingto write home about.

He added that since theinception of GovernorA r e g b e s o l a ’ sadministration in the state,there have been radicalchanges in all sectors ofgovernance.

“The governor providedstipends for the aged,massive employmentopportunities for theteeming youths of the stateand provision of ever-available ambulanceservices for emergencysituations within the state,”he said.•ALIMI

Authenticate Your Claims - APC Tells OmisoreALL Progressives Congress (APC) has told the

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that a politician likeits governorship candidate in the State of Osun

cannot protect a personality he doesn’t have, if all he keepsdoing is to lie about things and issues he cannotauthenticate.

The APC was counteringIyiola Omisore’s statementthat he influenced thesighting of Air Force SafetySchool in Ipetu-Ijesa, theNavy CommunicationsSchool in Ile-Ife and theArmy Recruitment Centre inEsa-Oke in the Osun EastSenatorial District.

“If any person or personscould justifiably lay any suchclaim, they are former Chiefof Defence Staff, AirforceMarchall Oluseyi Petinrin(rtd) former Chairman of theHouse Committee onDefence, Hon. Wole Oke,and Erelu Olusola Obada.

First of all, these projectsOmisore made reference to,were federal governmentinstitutions, which ideasabout their creation wereinitiated and their locationsdecided within the securityapparatus of thegovernment before they wereconfirmed by theappropriate DefenceCommittees of the Houseand the Senate.

“What Omisore’sAppropriation Committeeperhaps did was to approvethe funds estimated for theprojects, which were alreadya done-deal before it got tothe appropriation committee.It is a blatant lie for Omisoreto claim responsibility forinfluencing these projectsinto Osun,” the APC said.

“What we challengedOmisore about is to identifyany “spectacular”achievement to his credit in

his home town of Ile-Ife thatwas his idea or which heinfluenced. The NavyCommunications School wasa naval idea and it was notunder Omisore’s watch in theSenate.

“So the man lied when hesaid he influenced thatschool’s location in Ile-Ife”,the APC said.

Omisore lied that he had“facilitated manyi n f r a s t r u c t u r a ldevelopment” in Ile-Ife;“why couldn’t he namethem?” The APC asked.

“Anybody in Osun oranywhere else whocontinues to say withoutproducing detailed credibleevidence that Aregbesolahas led Osun State intoindebtedness of N403 billionis a shameless liar unworthyof being a governor of anystate. And that is whatOmisore has been doing inthe last one year.

“The most ridiculous ofOmisore’s lies is thatAregbesola has spent N3billion on billboards andposters for a second termcampaign. Again, the mandid not produce a shred ofevidence to back hisallegation.

According to the APC:“Omisore needs educationon what’s going on in Osun.It will interest the shamelessliars in the PDP underOmisore’s leadership that upto this point in time,Aregbesola has no idea whois putting up those billboards

across the state, neither hashe engaged any group orindividuals to print or pasteposters anywhere inside oroutside the State of Osun,”the APC argued.

“We maintain thatOmisore is both unworthyand unqualified to begovernor of the State ofOsun because he lacks themoral, ethical andresponsible credentials tooccupy that post, especially

so because he had once beenimpeached for wrong-doingas a former deputygovernor,” the APC alleged.

“Only within the fold oflawlessness, impunity andutter disregard for respect ofthe law, as the PDPexemplifies today, can ex-criminals be supported intothe office of governor, as weare witnessing in Ekiti andOsun states,” the APCconcluded.

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 20144 News

•(L-R) Assistant Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Oyo Zone (NSCDC); Alhaji AhmedBodurin; Publisher of Nigeria Vogue Magazine, Mr Taliat Gafar and other dignitaries during this year’s presentationof Awards of Excellence and Integrity to patriots in Osogbo last Saturday. Photo: JESUDOYIN ABRAHAM

By MURTALA AGBOOLA

Group Carpets PDP Youths OverStatement On APC, Tinubu

By SHINA ABUBAKAR

A socio-political youth group, Aregbesola Students’Vanguard (ASV), has described the position of PDPYouth Frontiers as ‘silly’ over the threat of anarchy

in Osun and Ekiti states.

Muslims Tasked To Be Dedicated

THE President, Osun State Muslim Community(OSMC), Sheik Salaudeen Olayiwola, has chargedMuslims in the State of Osun to be steadfast in Islam

by adhering to the tenets of the religion.

He made the charge inIlobu, headquarters ofIrepodun Local GovernmentCouncil Area of the state onSunday at the monthlymeeting of the OSMC heldat Ilobu Central Mosque.

The cleric noted thatIslam is a religion of peace,saying that anything that aMuslim would do mustalways be in line with theprinciple.

Sheik Salahudeen alsourged clerics to alwayspreach acts that would maketheir followers closer to Godand ensure cordialrelationship with oneanother.

In his lecture, a Muslimscholar, Alhaji AbdulAzeezAbdulsalaam, enjoined allMuslims to follow the stepsof Prophet Mohammed bybelieving in Allah andobeying the Prophet’sdeeds.

He said, it is only bydoing this that one can claimto be a true Muslim.

The cleric alsoemphasized the fact thatbearing the name alone isnot enough to make one agood Muslim.

While tracing the historyof OSMC, the VicePresident, Osun East, AlhajiSadiq Bello, recalled that theformation was conceivedduring the pilgrimage to

Mecca in 1997, whenMuslims from the state,among whom were AlhajiMustafa Olawuyi, AlhajiLateef Olayanju and theAragbiji of Iragbiji, ObaAbdul Rasheed AyotundeOlabomi, met in Mecca.

He stated that theybrainstormed on the need tohave a common forum for allMuslims in the state, whichnecessitated theestablishment of thecommunity.

The cleric expressedhappiness that thecommunity has eventuallycome to stand.

Amongst theachievements of OSMC, hesaid, were the recruitment of250 Muslim teachers intopublic schools under theimmediate-past governmentof Prince OlagunsoyeOyinlola; radio Dawahenlightenment programmethat educates Muslimsabout the religion.

However, some of thestanding committees of theOSMC are the Sharia Panel,which looks into mattersinvolving Muslims in thestate; the building

committee, which isinvolved in the constructionof the secretariat for OSMC.

Meanwhile, the OSMChas resolved to hold a pre-Ramadan lecture titled:“Bridging the Gap betweenIslam and Muslim”scheduled for Saturday,June 15, 2014 at thesecretariat of thecommunity.

The newly-electedofficials were inauguratedwith Shiek Salawudeenretained as the Presidentand the Ataoja of Osogbo,Oba Jimoh Olanipekun andthe Aragbiji, ObaAbdulRasheed Olabomi, aspatrons.

The group in a statementsigned by its Coordinator,Miss Kikelomo Saka, saidthe statement PDP YouthFrontiers issued saying theAPC and Tinubu should beheld responsible foranarchy in Osun and Ekitiafter the forthcominggubernatorial polls in bothstates was not well thoughtout.

It would be recalled thatSenator Bola Tinubu haddeclared that any attempt torig polls in the two stateswould attract severepunishment for those whomight want to perpetratesuch act.

The PDP Youth Frontiersalleged that should anyanarchy arose after the poll,the APC and its leadersshould be held responsible.

The ASV in the statementdescribed the statementcredited to the PDP youthgroup as lacking substance,describing it as a way ofputting excuses toperpetrate their evil acts,which the party is known forin all elections.

The group disclosed that

what Tinubu said regardingroasting of poll riggers wasjust a public warning, sayingthe people of Osun havevowed to put up resistanceagainst anyone whoattempts to subvert their willduring the poll.

According to thestatement, the people of Ekitiand Osun states know theright persons they want atthe helms of affairs in thetwo states and would notallow anybody fromanywhere to influence theirdecision in whatsoever way.

The statement added thatwhat the PDP did during theApril 14, 2007 election in thestate is still fresh in thememory of the teemingresidents, hence, the resolveto severely deal withanyone attempting totamper with popular will ofthe people.

It reiterated that the moveamong members of the PDPin Ekiti and Osun has shownthat they do not wish toallow the people vote anddetermine who govern themthrough the ballot, but tosuppress the people’s will,which would be vehementlyresisted.

The statement reads:“What Asiwaju Bola Tinubusaid was just to re-echo thedetermination of the peopleof the two states that anyattempt to rig the electionwould be chaotic becausewe will not fold our arms andallow anybody subvert ourwill as a people, hencepoliticians must playaccording to the rules of thegame.

“Elections are guided bythe rules stipulated by theElectoral Acts and webelieve if politicians play thegame in line with the rules,the people and the countrywould be better off, hence,whoever seeks tomanipulate the process,should be dealt with inwhatever manner.”

Ajegunle APC Prays For Aregbesola’s Re-election

THE All Progressives Congress (APC), Ajegunle AutoSpare Part Market in Osogbo, the state capital ofOsun, has cautioned the people not to allow

themselves to be deceived by opposition politicians, who aredesperate to take over the governance of the state by hook orcrook.

By KAZEEM MOHAMMED

This came at an inter-religious prayer sessionorganised by the APC in themarket on Monday to seekGod’s intervention for the re-election of Governor RaufAregbesola in the August 9governorship election andrelease of the abductedstudents of the GovernmentGirls Secondary School,Chibok, Borno State, bymembers of the Boko Haramsect.

The Islamic version of theprayers was led by ImamIsmail Atilola and Alhaji

Ganiyu Bintinlaye, while theChristian version was led byPastor Ayobami Adeyemi.

Speaking at the session, theAPC leader in the market,Alhaji Sule Aderemi, warnedthe politicians that are planningto cause violence to rig theelection, saying that the peopleof the state would not fold theirarms and allow the future oftheir children destroyed.

He stated that Aregbesolahas been able to prove to thepeople of the state that he iscommitted to thetransformation of human and

material resources of the stateand deserve to be given anotherchance.

Describing the governor as afocused and prudent leader, theAPC leader noted that despitethe distractions from theopposition, Aregbesola has notrelented in making the state areference point to other statesin Nigeria and the whole ofAfrican continent.

“Those desperatepoliticians should be cautionedthat what they did in 2007 bystealing our votes would not bepossible this time around,because the people of Osun areready to defend their future andthe future of their children.

“Aregbesola has set Osun ona right path and he deserves tobe given another chance,because the people appreciatehis efforts.

“Anything that wouldtruncate the current peace andprogress we are enjoying underthe present administration, wewill not allow it,” he said.

Also speaking, the partychairman in the market, AlhajiWahab Oyewale, urged theelectorate not to be deceived bythe action of the oppositionpoliticians who engage in theexchange of voters’ cards formoney because of theirdesperation.

“We are all witnesses to thedevelopment that Aregbesolahas brought to this state duringhis first term and I am sure thatthe people of Osun cannotafford to allow it to stop.

“For us to achieve this, wemust be committed andsteadfast, so that we will notderail from the path of progressthat we are taking,” he charged.

For Defacing Osogbo Road, Angry Pupils Remove Omisore’s PostersSOME pupils of public schools on Monday evening,

along the popular Alekuwodo area of Osogbo, the Stateof Osun capital, were seen removing campaign

posters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate,Iyiola Omisore, unprompted over what they believed was adeliberate attempt to deface the beauty of the newly-constructed boulevard.

The new avenue inOsogbo is part of themanifestations of the urbanrenewal scheme of theAregbesola administration,where the government saysit hopes to turn around theenvironment and outlook ofnine selected cities to make

the state more attractive tovisitors and investors.

The new AlekuwodoRoad wears the look of anymodern avenue withwalkway lined with flowersover a well-constructedroad.

Residents of Osogbo

woke up on Monday to findthe beautification exerciseon Alekuwodo beingdefaced by Omisore’sposters.

According to themedium’s findings, thepupils were angered by thefact that ever since thebeautification of the road, nopolitician has toyed with theidea of pasting posters onthe walk-way anddemarcation newlyconstructed by the presentadministration in the state.

Of the almost known sixcandidates of differentpolitical parties that havebecome prominent for theAugust 9 governorshipelection, the medium furthergathered, only Omisore’sposters have surfaced onthe new road; adevelopment many viewedas total disregard forongoing urbanbeautification exercise ofA r e g b e s o l a ’ sadministration.

Most of the pupils, who

were returning from theirvarious schools after theschool hours, took turn toremove the posters of thePDP candidate from thewall.

As if it was intentional,the campaign posters ofOmisore lined the pillar of thepainted wall from the Oke-fia through Akindeko areaon both sides.

The posters, which werepasted overnight, did notcatch the attention ofmajority until noon ofMonday, as passers-by andresidents of Alekuwodosteered at the said posterswith disdain.

Ibrahim Adegbayi, aresident of Alekuwodo said:“It is quite insensitive ofanybody to have pastedsuch on that wall, even the

incumbent governor, withhis posters all over Osogbo,dares not do that onAlekuwodo.

“This shows that the PDPhas no respect for thebeautification ofAlekuwodo. Ever sinceAregbesola came, the ideaof turning Osogbo to astatus of a state capital ismanifesting through severalbeautification efforts.

“Similar thing happenedduring the declaration ofsame person, when posterswere pasted on Federal roadsignposts and there wasnobody to come out tocomplain about it. I have noproblem with politicianspasting posters, but thereshould be some areas thatshould be spared,” hepointed out.

5 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Smart card for Osun workers: Another firstThe simplest way to

justify it is that it isborne of the need toeliminate sources of fi-nancial waste andleakage used by somedishonest workers todeprive government ofneeded funds. Indeed,it comes as a bold mea-sure to overhaul thepersonnel paymentsystem, to ensure thatthe state derive maxi-mum value from per-sonnel costs.

More than thesehowever is that it rep-resents a multi-pronged response tothe growing demandfor the application ofInformation Commu-nications Technology(ICT) in the processes

of governance. Andhere, it does not matterwhether the challenge isone of tax administra-tion or personnel is-sues, the reality is thatthe world has come tosee ICT not only as atool to get the jobsdone, but the most effi-cient one. It is thereforeheartwarming that theforward-looking ad-ministration is not onlyleading the pack in em-bracing change, but inshowing the rest of thefederation the limitlesspossibilities inherent init.

If anyone was ever indoubt about the placeof ICT in theAregbesola administra-tion, that ought to have

been settled with thegovernor’s emphaticresolve to go thewhole hog: “We havesince intensified oureffort to make ICT aninherent part of ourpublic administrativesystem. The intro-duction of this newsmart electronic iden-tity card is anothercomponent of thatoverall effort”.

And as for the re-sults – which under-lies the wisdom in theendeavour – the gov-ernor, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola was evenmore upbeat when henoted that “To besure, it was throughthe application ofICT to our tax admin-istration and

Osun And Religious Tolerance

I know this issue Iwant to write toyou about needs a

bit of caution, but I amgoing to write basedon the littleinformation at mydisposal.

Any government,which aims to super-impose one religionor religious groupover the other, to me,is an unreasonable oneand I am sure OgbeniRauf Aregbesola is ar e a s o n a b l eadministrator.

Yes, he is a Muslimand he is not hidingthat fact, but the truthis that apart from thetheatrics of politics,does Aregbesola looklike an Islamicfundamentalist or aMuslim fanatic?

OSUN DEFENDERPublisher – Moremi Publishing

House Ltd.

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OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing HouseLimited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guarantee Trust BankGTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun.All correspondence to the above mail address.ISSN: 0794-8050Telephone: 0803-392-7286, 08033880205Website: www.osundefender.com/index.phpe-mail: osundefender@yahoo.com

For God’s sake, theman is not religiouslyfanatical, but I wouldsee him in the realmof being pious; hedoesn’t joke with hisreligion.

If you tag him aMarxist, a welfarist ora socialist, then you

might be right,because this is allwhat characteristicsyou can find in the‘enigma’ called RaufAregbesola.

The other day, I waswatching hisbiographical film onOSBC and I noticed

the way he stood up toa bully in his schooland beat the boy blue-black and I jokinglysaid it was a characterhe still had; he simplyabhors cheating.

I don’t want to go tohis politicalappointees, having

more Christians thanMuslims but the truthis that these peopleare working withoutany quarrel and thestate is moving.

So, what is the fussabout?

I am a Christian ofthe Pentecostal

extraction with anorthodox backgroundand I can categoricallytell you that theOgbeni has been fairto christians.

To our Muslimbrethren, my advise isthat you should notsee the governor asonly your own, beinga fellow Muslim, butrather, you should seehim in the light ofbeing a sacrifice thatyou have bequeathedthe whole State ofOsun.

After his term ofoffice, then you canhave him back.

With this done, Ican assure you thatpeace would in Osun.

• A B O S E D EFELIX, Edunabon,State of Osun.

Of course, for theindividual civil servant,it means that he nowhas a personalisedelectronic card withbiometric features foridentification. Whilethe holder’s profileembedded in the cardoffers a guarantee ofsecurity, the card,linked to internationalpayment platformsalso enjoys the dualadvantage of beingused as either a creditor a debit card forpurposes of financialtransactions.

And for the govern-ment, it promises theelimination of the fraudthat has long been as-sociated with person-nel management;

revenue collectionthat enabled us to in-crease our internallygenerated revenue by100 per cent within thefirst few months of ouradministration”.

We are thereforeparticularly enthused atthe promises of thesmart card - a tripar-tite arrangement be-tween the state govern-ment, Charms Plc andFirst Bank Plc. In anationwhere astandardised means ofidentification remainsunderdeveloped, thecoming of the inte-grated card will obvi-ously fill that importantgap, not to talk of themultiple benefits invalue addition to theuser and the issuer,alike.

with the coming ofthe card, the stategovernment can lookforward

to maximising itsrevenue and with it,additional prospectsof enhanced value-delivery, improvedcapacity by theworkforce, and bet-ter optimisation of thecost of running thegovernment.

That is why thisnewspaper couldn’tagree more with oneof the partners in theproject that it is aproduct of goodthinking.

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 20146 INTERVIEW

PDP Has Nothing To Offer Osun - AkereleSikiru Akerele is an ambitious politician

from Ila-Orangun, who is committed to thedevelopment of the society. He sojourns in theUnited States of America.

In this online interview with KAZEEMMOHAMMED, he spoke on the activities ofthe administration of Governor RaufAregbesola and his expectations in the August9 governorship election in the state. Excerpts:

OSDF: Within the last three andhalf years, will you say that

theadministration of Ogbeni

Rauf Aregbesola has performed tothe expectations of the people?

AKERELE: There is no gainsayingthe fact that a responsible governmentcan only be recognised by his policiesand programmes and that is theresponsiveness which the presentadministration has been able todisplay. It is an understatement to saythat Aregbesola has performed to theexpectation of the people, but it will beproper to say that he has performedbeyond the expectation of all of us.We all knew what Osun was beforethe advent of the administration andwe all know what it is now. The truthis that in all sectors of governance,Ogbeni Aregbesola has demonstratedthat he is indeed a leader committed toservice and betterment of lives of themasses.

It is on record that in the history ofthis state, no government has beenable to introduce ground-breakinginitiatives like the presentadministration in all sectors ofgovernance. Do you want to talk inthe area of education, health,agriculture, massive infrastructuraldevelopment, economic development,industrialisation, youth employment orwhat?

In the history of this country, nogovernment, either at the federal orstate level has been able to employ20,000 youths within 100 days ofassumption of office as Aregbesoladid under Osun Youths EmpowermentScheme (OYES). Two years after,another 20,000 youths were employed,making it 40,000 youths that havebeen empowered under the scheme.Please tell me, which government hasbeen able to achieve such milestone.Apart from that, I am aware that notless than 4,000 were employed intothe civil service, more teachers wereemployed, several youths are beingempowered through agriculture andother skills, industries are springing upand employing more youths, just asseveral women are being empoweredthrough soft loans and skill acquisition.

In the area of education, I amaware that the enrolment into publicschools has doubled now because ofthe several initiatives of thisgovernment. Do you want to talk ofO’MEAL programme through whichelementary school kids are being fedwith nutritious food, or Opon Imo(tablet of knowledge), which givespupils opportunity to read withoutcarrying heavy books, or the newschool building environments that areenough to attract pupils to the schools.That is the kind of committedleadership they are enjoying abroadand we thank God that we also have

such person in Osun.Apart from that, tell me which

government has come and constructedthe kind of massive road network thatthis government has embarked on inthis state. None! When I came aroundthe other time, I moved round manyparts of the state and I was marvelledto find out that hardly will you see atown where roads are not beingconstructed by this government. Theadministration of Chief Bisi Akandethat reigned between 1999 and 2003did all it could to restore our lost glory,but the enemies of progress did notallow him to finish it before theyrigged him out. After that, we sufferedso much before God eventually gaveus Aregbesola; a gift that we mustvalue and not allow to go withoutexhausting eight years. Inspite of thelimited resources accruable to thestate, Osun has been transformedunder the present government.

OSDF: But the opposition,especially the PDP, are saying thatthis government has performedbelow expectation and promisingthat they can do better?

AKERELE: Everyone can recallthat for seven and half years afterChief Bisi Akande was rigged out, thePDP was in government and Osunwent through hell. Everything wasturned upside down and people weresubjected to trauma throughout theperiod. There was no opportunity foremployment, people could not sleepwith their two eye closed, our roadsare bad, education was in shambles,our health system was nothing toreckon with and Osun was far behindits peers in the country. None of thepolitical players in that party can comeout and say this is what we have doneto better the lives of the people. Butnow, things have changed and thisgovernment has recorded first in manyof its programmes in this country, evenin the whole of Africa, if not in thewhole world. OYES was aprogramme that no government hasever done, the same thing goes forOpon Imo, care for the elderly andseveral others.

So, even a party that had failed usnow come back to tell us that theywould better the lives of the people,you should know that they aremischievous and deceptive. If trulythey are sincere about what theyclaim they want to do for us, theywould not be condemning all the goodpolicies of this government like OponImo, transformation of the educationalsystem, the OMEAL programme, themassive road construction amongother. They are liars and they are notsent by God to rule us because theyare failure. They have nothing good tooffer, rather, their target is to comeand share our money again and bringOsun backward, but we must not

allow that to happen.OSDF: Your party, APC had

alleged that the PDP is planningmayhem and there have also beencounter-accusations from the PDP,what is your take?

AKERELE: My brother, when youare talking about a party that is knownfor violence, you can trace the historyof the PDP and also trace the historyof our own party to arrive at aconclusion. We don’t need a priest totell us that PDP is known for violence.Have you forgotten the mayhem theyunleashed before, during and after the2007 elections? They killed a numberof people in Igbajo, Ikirun, Ile-Ife,Ilesa, and many other places andthose that were killed were our partymembers. Several others were injured,just because they knew that they hadbeen totally rejected and they want tooccupy the governorship seat by allmeans. The same thing happened in2011 when people were murderedinside a church close to the house of acontestant from our party. There is noprogramme the PDP holds that youwill not experience one attack or theother and the recent one was theattack on a former governor of Osun,Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke, who was aPDP governorship aspirant. He wasattacked because he was contestingagainst Iyiola Omisore. We know theyare a planning to unleash mayhem onthe people due to their desperation, butI am sure that God is supreme and Hewould not allow their evil plan towork.

OSDF: How do you think allthese can be stopped?

AKERELE: The first solution isthat the security agencies should bealive to their responsibilities andensure that there is security of livesand property. No doubt, thegovernment of Aregbesola has doneso much to make the security of lives

and property effective, but theagencies must also do more, so thatthe peace we are enjoying since theassumption of this administrationwould not be terminated.

Secondly, the youths should have arethink and shun any politicianplanning to use them for violence.Youths are the leaders of tomorrowand they must not allow that dream tofade because of the ambition of somedesperate politicians, who havenothing reasonable to offer.

OSDF: What is your take on theAugust 9 governorship election inthe state?

AKERELE: Aregbesola and ourparty have been able to demonstratetheir capacity to transform the stateand we are all living witnesses. Basedon that alone, it is sure by the grace ofGod, Ogbeni Aregbesola will ruleOsun for another four years, becauseour people are not daft as the PDPthink. Osun people are wiser than allthese people that think we don’t knowwhat we are doing and I know thatwould be demonstrated by re-electingAregbesola, a committed leader.

However, when the peopledemonstrate their willingness to allowAregbesola to continue, we mustmake sure that we defend our votesand not allow election riggers to stealour votes. We should be wise with ourvotes and we should not sell our votesbecause that is the power we have tosecure a better future for our children.We learnt that these mischief makersare deceiving people to get theirvoters’ cards by giving them token, butwe must not allow ourselves to bedeceived by selling our rights.

We also call on the IndependentNational Electoral Commission(INEC) to allow our votes to count, sothat people can continue to enjoy theongoing development in our state.

•AKERELE

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014 7FOR THE RECORDS

Address Delivered By The Governor Of The State Of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, At TheHigh-Level Technical Meeting On Home-Grown School Feeding And Health Programme,Held At Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, On Monday, May 19, 2014.IT is with genuine warmness of the

heart that I stand here today to shareour experience on the Osun Elementary

School Feeding and Health Programme,which we christened O’MEALS.

The O’MEALS, I must say, has come along way. The progress we have made andthe achievements we have recorded in theState of Osun is on the one hand a cleartestimony to what can be gained frommulti-layered and multi-level coordination.It is, on the other hand, an affirmation ofthe benefit of political vision and passion.

The O’MEALS had its humblebeginning in the inclusion by AfricanGovernments of locally-sourced schoolfeeding programmes in theComprehensive Africa AgricultureDevelopment Programme (CAADP) in2003.

The same year also witnessed thelaunch of an initiative by the NewPartnership for Africa’s Development(NEPAD), along with the World FoodProgramme (WFP) and the MillenniumHunger Task Force. The initiativeinvolved ‘a pilot Home Grown SchoolFeeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP)designed to link school feeding toagricultural development through thepurchase and use of locally anddomestically produced food’.

Our country, Nigeria, happened to beone of the 12 pilot countries invited toimplement the programme. As a result, theFederal Government came up with theUniversal Basic Education (UBE) Act in2004, which provided the enablinglegislative backing for the execution of theHome Grown School Feeding and HealthProgramme (HGSFHP).

The Federal Ministry of Educationselected 13 states of the federation,including the Federal Capital Territory(Abuja), to begin a phased-pilotimplementation of the programme. Osunwas fortunately among the selectedstates.

Thus the pilot primary school feedingprogramme in our state began as OsunState Home Grown School Feeding andHealth Programme in May 2006. However,on our assumption of office in November2010, we undertook a comprehensivereview of the programme and re-launchedit as O’MEALS on April 30, 2012. Weimmediately began its execution across allthe 1,375 Elementary Schools in Osun.

The home grown feeding programmefor school pupils has the advantage ofbeing consistent with our owngovernment’s goals – of banishingpoverty, banishing hunger, creating workand wealth, creating functional education,restoring healthy living and engenderingcommunal peace and progress.

Hence, we integrated it within the largercontext of our overall developmentprogramme implementation. Theobjectives behind O’MEALS are:improvement of the nutrition and health ofour school children; increase in schoolenrolment, retention and completion; andreduction of poverty and stimulation ofsmall and medium scale enterprisesdevelopment.

Towards these ends, experts wereconsulted to draw up suitable school-daymenu, while 3007 community caterers wereemployed to provide the meals on a dailybasis. The days and menu are as follows:

MONDAY (YAM with FISH STEW andORANGE);

TUESDAYS (RICE and BEANS withCHICKEN and ORANGE);

WEDNESDAYS (BEANSPORRIDGE and BREAD with WHOLEEGG and BANANA);

THURSDAYS (RICE with EGUSI-GARNISHED VEGETABLE SOUP withCHICKEN and BANANA);

FRIDAYS (COCOYAM PORRIDGE with

VEGETABLE SOUP and BEEF, with ASLICE OF PAWPAW).

The community caterers were organisedinto 124 functional CooperativeInvestment and Credit Societies (CICS) inorder to benefit fully from bulkprocurement and allied services.Necessary operational funds are thentransferred to the personal bank accountsof each caterer through their CICS.

The account from which this fundingemanates is secure because it is notaccessible through issuance of bankcheques. Funds can only be transferredfrom the account into the caterers’ andother contractors’ accounts by approvedmandates.

The caterers receive funds in advanceconcerning meals to be prepared forschool pupils within a two-week period(i.e. 10 school days). For organisationalpurpose, the number of pupils assigned toeach caterer varies and so is the fundallocated.

The caterers each benefit from agovernment facilitated interest-free loanof N41,500 for the acquisition of theircooking and other kitchen utensils. Theloan repayment period is spread over 36months, with N1,152.78kobo deductedfrom their account every month. Already,our community caterers have each repaida third of their loans.

I must also note that the communitycaterers are provided free-of-charge with apair of uniforms (comprising gowns, capsand aprons) by the State Government ofOsun at a cost of N11.6 million to thegovernment.

The financial implication of feeding ourElementary school pupils is theexpenditure of N12.7 million every schoolday, while the sum of N601,400 is paid outto the 3007 community caterers astransport fares on a daily basis. The

financial expenditure for the O’MEALS isshared between the State Government andthe constituting local governmentcouncils on a 40-60 per cent ratiorespectively.

For effective implementation, theO’MEALS Programme is monitored atvarious levels. At one level, there arePlanning Officers within the LocalGovernment Education Authority officewho are responsible for carrying out theimplementation logistics. They act asliaison between the O’MEALS Office andthe community caterers.

There are also the Local Inspectors ofEducation who also operate at the localgovernment authority level. Then, thereare the Independent Monitors who aredrawn from the ranks of retired civilservants, Parent Teachers Associationand community leaders. The O’MEALSSecretariat staff act as coordinators forthe monitors.

In keeping with our BackwardIntegration policy, the O’MEALS has aninput supply chain that is linked to ourvarious agricultural development projects.Consequently, our OFOPS (OsunFisheries Outgrowers Production Scheme)provide the catfish used for the schoolfeeding programme.

The same applies to eggs, chickens,and cocoyam, which also serves asmaterial input for the feeding programme.Indeed, our administration initiated a‘Cocoyam Rebirth Programme’, which is amajor project under the direct supervisionof the Osun Deputy Governor.

The Cocoyam Rebirth Programmescheme was designed with the aim ofdirectly reaching the grassroots andpracticing farming communities on how toimprove and enhance cocoyamproduction, utilisation and marketing inthe state. The ultimate objective is to

revitalise cocoyam cultivation, with a viewto using it on the O’MEALS menu.

In view of this, a training session wasconducted for state and local governmentextension workers on cocoyam utilisation,production, marketing and post-harvesthandling. The training programme, heldon June 28, 2012, was attended by 234extension workers.

A similar training programme wasconducted for 2,000 farmers on August 8,2012 across all the nine FederalConstituencies in the state. In the end,332 Osun Youth Empowerment Schemecadets, one from each of the electoralwards in the state, were selected asCocoyam Off-takers for the rebirthprogramme.

The passion, prudence and seriousnesswe deployed to the implementation of theO’MEALS has earned us the worthysupport and partnership of the London-based Partnership for Child Development(PCD).

Through this fruitful collaboration, wehave received technical assistance inredesigning the school feedingprogramme through endorsement of theTransition Strategy Plan Document. ThePCD also facilitated a Study Visit for fourofficers from O’MEALS Secretariat, alongwith a member of House of Assembly, toAccra in September 2013 to see the GhanaSchool Feeding Programme.

In the same vein, the PCD hasfacilitated technical assistance incollaboration with CHI Pharmaceuticalsand Osun State Government on SchoolHealth and Nutrition (SHN) activities inpublic Elementary schools, especiallyregarding deworming of school pupils.

It is also, among other assistanceprogramme, helping in the production of aprogramme document to better guide theimplementation of the programme, as wellas the appointment of a consultant tofacilitate the development of Monitoringand Evaluation System for O’MEALSProgramme.

The introduction and sustenance of theO’MEALS Programme has enabled us toachieve many of our developmentobjectives. These include among others:Increased enrolment of pupils in ourElementary schools. To be sure, within thefirst five weeks of our introduction of theO’MEALS, elementary school enrolmentshot up by 38,935 pupils.

Today, Osun has the highestElementary school enrolment in Nigeria,second only to Niger State, according tothe National Bureau of Statistics. This hashad the implication of increasing ourannual expenditure on O’MEALS to aboutN3 billion. And this does not include staffsalary.

The programme has likewise improvedthe health status of our school pupilsbenefiting from the programme. It hasdrastically reduced the incidence ofschool absenteeism in comparison withthe pre-O’MEALS period.

As a result of the O’MEALS, theproduction capacities of the farmer-suppliers of farm produce has beenboosted, with corresponding increasedprosperity for smallholder farmers.

The multiplier effects of the economicand material empowerment of differentsegment of society, consequent upon theimplementation of O’MEALS, has had aredounding impact on the lives of ourpeople and economy of Osun.

The O’MEALS is thus one programmethat is worthy of every naira and kobothat had gone into it.

I thank you all for giving me yourvaluable time.

•AREGBESOLA

O’Meal Has Impacted On Our People, Economy - Aregbesola

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 201412 INTERVIEW

Adedoyin Shares On The Agricultural VisionOf The State Of Osun

Osun.gov.ng team caught up with HonWale Adedoyin, the HonourableCommissioner for Agriculture and FoodSecurity in the State Of Osun. It was an op-portunity to shed more light on the agrictransformation in the state and the vision ofOgbeni Aregbesola to turn around theeconomy of the state through agriculture.An explicit interview indeed… Below areexcerpts from the interview.OSUN.GOV : What is the vision

of the present administrationconcerning agriculture?

Hon Adedoyin: The vision of thepresent Administration is to supply atleast 10% of daily #3.5 billion worth offood (i.e. food consumptionpropensity) in Lagos market. Thiswould be achieved through theevolvement of a progressive, buoyantand productive agricultural sector ableto guarantee food security and adequatereturns on agricultural investmentcapable of attracting youths, otherindividuals and corporate bodies to thesector. The mission is achieving foodsecurity, wealth and job creation, youthempowerment, economictransformation and making the State ofOsun the hub of agriculture and anemporium of commerce in the SouthWest of Nigeria.

OSUN.GOV: How far has thisvision been achieved?

Hon Adedoyin: The vision had beenachieved to a very great extent with theinitiation and implementation of OsunRural Enterprise and AgricultureProgramme (O-REAP) under theAregbesola Administration. TheGovernment has put in place O-REAPas an intervention programme toexplore the potential of the State toensure massive food production, boostthe state economy, achieve anacceptable level of farm income, reduceincome variability, improvecompetitiveness of the agriculturalsector assure safe and high qualityproduce as well as food security.

The notable AgriculturalInterventions and laudableachievements follows:1,606 OYESCadets have been trained in ModernAgriculture at the newly established O-REAP Youth Academy located in the 9Federal Constituencies while 250 otheryouths have been trained in agriculturalproduction at Leventis Foundation,Ilesa; also 20 youths including O-YEScadets, O-REAP Youth and the generalpublic have been sponsored toGermany in pursuit of advancedpractical training in Agriculture, andtwenty others are receiving refreshercourse in German Language at theObafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ifeand would soon go to Germany.Concerning agric in schools, we arecatching them young, in that wise 153Secondary Schools across the Statehave been supported in variousAgricultural programmes such asPoultry, Piggery and Crop Production.

We also have Young Farmers Clubalso launched in Schools; In the area ofstorage facilities, we have built 1 (No.)

1000 MT Warehouse, 1 (No.) 500 MTWarehouse, 7 (Nos.) 120 MT MiniWarehouses and 92 (9.2MT) Cribs havebeen constructed across the State toserve as On/Off Farm StorageFacilities; Our farmers have also beenprovided with credit facilities,presently 3,645 Farmers across theState benefitted from the sum ofN476,350,000 from the GovernmentGuaranteed Agriculture Loan Scheme;268 Farmers benefitted from the sumof N45,662,065 from O-REAP LoanScheme and we have earmarked N40mas loan to support Piggery Farmers inthe State.

Land clearing is a challenge tofarmers because they do not have thecapacity to do that but we intervened, 3,070.3 Ha of Land Cleared; 6,209.4 Haof land Tractorised across the State. Itis useless to plant and not transport theproduce to the market, with regards tothat, a total of 156 Km of rural roadswere constructed including 25 Km roadasphalted in Mokore Farm Settlement,20 Km in Alaguntan at Ago-Owu FarmSettlement), 6 Km road at Esa-OkeFarm Settlement, 39 Km road atPataara, 58 Km roads at other farmsand an 8 Km road under the QuickImpact Intervention Project (QIIP). Wehave also invested in aquaculture, 3Fish Farm Estates was established atthe 3 Senatorial districts in the Statenamely Esa-Odo, Iwo & Owalla.

A total of 120 Metric Tons of Catfishhave been produced in partnership withKayolad Nigeria Limited, under OsunFisheries Outgrowers Scheme(OFOPS) which was supported withN36, 800,000 to promote Fishproduction and train Youths. Similarly,under OFOPS, a sum of N253millionwas provided under arrangement withFeg-Agro Nig Ltd which is the SchemeManager, Association of AquaticFarmers & Agro-processor ofNigeria(AAFAN), State of Osun branchto produce 800 metric tons of catfishas well as processing for value addition.The scheme has supported 400 FishFarmers.

The big one which has impacted onour school feeding programme is thepartnership between TUNS Farm NigLtd, TUNS is the Scheme Managerunder our Broiler promotionprogramme. We call it Osun BroilerOutgrowers Production Scheme. A sumof N539,435,200 was provided for 578farms in which over 3,779,400 Day-oldChicks were raised. The farmers havemade over N185million as profit in thisscheme.

We have invested and encouragingevery aspect of agriculture for the

benefit of our people and oureconomy.We are encouraging piggeryproduction, catfish tilapia breeding,honey breeding, cattle breeding andprocessing. This medium is not enoughto detailed all that we have done.

OSUN.GOV: You promise to offerfree transportation services by Railwayfor farmers, what is the status of thisprogramme?

Hon Adedoyin: The freetransportation services by railway forfarmers was initiated and implementedto facilitate transportation of goods andfarm produce to and from Lagos free-of-charge. This was intended toeliminate transports cost and invariablytranslate to more profit for farmerswho will not pay for transport. Thegoal is to make farm produce availableat farm prices in Lagos and throughthat capture 10% of the food market inLagos. The free freight for foodcommodities is part of our agriculturalprogramme intended to assist ourfarmers to market their produce,minimize wastage and improve theirearning power. The food hub is yet tobe completed to the desired level whilethe depots are not fully ready forsupply of agricultural products to 57markets in each of the 57 LocalGovernments in Lagos.

The free freight for agriculturalcommodities is not catching on withthe people as much as we would want,as farmers are yet to take full advantageof the free freight because they are stillheld down by the old method oftransportation.The government of thestate of Osun is still improving upon theMemorandum of Understandingbetween her and the Nigerian RailwayCorporation. There is no prohibition onhow many times goods can be moved.

OSUN.GOV: Osun Cattle Hub inIwo, what informed the project and

how far have you gone in theseprojects?

Hon Adedoyin: The Osun CattleHub, otherwise referred to as the BeefChain Development Project, wasinitiated by the AregbesolaAdministration with the primaryobjectives of introducing new geneticsto improve the carcass and meat qualityof local cattle. The programme targetsan initial 10% of the Lagos cattlemarket estimated between 165,000 –200,000 cattle per year. Theprogramme is expected to fatten andslaughter cattle in Osun for the Lagosmarket. The facilities we have providedin the hub includes: Construction ofthree (03) feedlot paddocks, sinking offour(04) boreholes rehabilitation ofelectricity supply, re-construction ofone of the two(02) junior staff quarters and grading and construction of farmroad within the complex.

OSUN.GOV: The Government isupgrading infrastructure in the FarmSettlements, can you please enlightenus further on this?

Hon Adedoyin: The upgrading ofinfrastructure in the nine (09) FarmSettlements were undertaken to createfavourable and conducive environmentsfor farmers in the rural areas so thatthey have access to their farmlands.The Administration of Ogbeni believesthat infrastructures such as good roads,electricity, potable water, etc would notonly enhance human living but wouldalso greatly boost socio-economicactivities of our people. In collaborationwith Rural Access and Mobility Projectof the Ministry of Rural andCommunity Development, the Ministryof Agriculture and Food Security(MAFS)

•ADEDOYIN

Continued on page 13

8 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014PHOTOTALKAll Progressives Congress (APC) Ajegunle Community Organized A Special PrayerFor State Of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, On The ForthcomingGovernorship Election In The State, Held At Ajegunle Market, Osogbo, Last Monday.

Photo: SHOLA ADERINTO.

•A cross section of All Progressives Congress members at Ajegunle Market.

•Another cross section of APC members on the occasion.

•Another cross section of Christian and Muslim clerics during the prayer session.

•(L-R) Engineer Olayemi, Alhaji Sule Aderemi APC Leader at Ajegunle Market, AlhajiWahab Oyewale, APC Chairman at Ajegunle Community and Alhaji Rasheed Adebisiduring the prayer programme.

9OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014 PHOTOTALKComparison Between The Old Olufi Secondary School And The Ongoing Olufi MiddleSchool In Gbongan, Under The Government Of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola As Capturedby Our Cameraman, JESUDOYIN ABRAHAM, Few Days Ago.

•The ongoing construction of Olufi Middle School project.

•The old structure of the school in Gbongan.

10 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014PHOTOTALK

•(R-L) Guest Lecturer/Governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Executive Director, Partnership for Child Development (PCD), Lesley Draice and World BankRepresentative, Prof. Don Bundy at the Technical Workshop on Home-Grown School Feeding Programme at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, last Monday.

•A cross section of Muslims at the meeting.

State Of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, At The Technical Workshop On Home-grownSchool Feeding Programmes Held At Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Last Monday.

The Monthly Meeting Of The Muslim Community Held At Ilobu Central Mosque,Ilobu, State Of Osun, Last Sunday Photo: ABRAHAM JESUDOYIN

•(L-R)The Chief Imam of Erin-Osun, Alhaji Abdul-Fatai Aladewura; Chief Imam of Ilobu, Alhaji Muhamadu Jamiu and President of the Muslim Community, SheikSalarudeen Olayiwola, at the meeting.

11 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014FEATURE

Bring Back Our Girls: BeyondPolitics, How To Avoid A RepeatI am a Nigerian, proud of my country

and what our fathers and thosebefore them have achieved. I am

an “Andrew”, one of those that leftthese shores for greener pastures butfortunate enough to be one of thosethat have come back home after 18years of living in the West.

I would like to first address thebarrage of western media coverage ofthe unconscionable act of theabduction of over 270 of our daughtersand children in Chibok about threeweeks ago. I want to statecategorically that this is a sad time inthe history of our nation with ourdaughters missing. The question is;does this event warrant the nonstopbarrage by the western press on ourcountry and how ‘we’ and our countryare failures? Nigeria all of a sudden isa pariah in the world stage because ofthis single event carried out by evilmen?

Let us take a step back in the nottoo distant history; did the event ofSeptember 11th 2011 not happen in theUnited States with over 4,000 lives loston a single day in a single location?Did the terrorist bombing on theLondon Underground not happen inJuly 2005 in the United Kingdom withseveral lives lost? Did thegovernments and people of thesecountries become pariahs on the worldstage? All nations and peopleworldwide rallied around the people ofthese western countries to condemnand support them through the difficultperiod in their history. The people andmost importantly of the UK and USAlearnt from these incidents, looking atroot causes and taking preventiveactions to avoid a repeat of thosehorrendous incidents. Nigerians needto proudly be united at this difficulttime and ensure this never happensagain.

We must and will find our girls withthe assistance we are now receivingfrom several countries but as a nationand people, we need to address a fewissues.

The incident at Chibok was a failureof leadership, whose leadership youmay ask? Failure of leadership of youand I; not just the Federal Governmentof Nigeria or the state governmentsalone.

As a people, we have buried ourheads in sand individually likeostriches, with no concern for ourfellow Nigerians, while this may havebeen more rampant with the politicalclass, we have all stood by over thelast few years of our democracy,watching as the divide between therich and poor grew wider, equality instandards no longer existed in thenation our fathers and fore fatherfought and died for. The middle classdisappeared and we just watched; it isnot my business! I am not a politician!As long as I can feed my immediatefamily, nothing else matters! “We thepeople” had the power through theballot box to engender change, put trueservant leaders in leadership positionswith policies and programmes to dealwith germane issues of infrastructure,

By DOTUN BABAYEMI

development, improving the economiclot of Nigerians as a people both nowbut most importantly for the future butwe keep failing in this regard! Weallow a few miscreants without visionor leadership qualities either get votedor rigged into office. That is a topic ofdiscussion for another day and piecethough!

Let’s get back to the issue at hand,why did Chibok happen? What do weneed to do to avoid a repeat! Arethere local solutions that have workedanywhere in the African or Nigerianenvironment?

Respectfully, I put it to you thatChibok happened due to a lack ofengagement of the youths in ourenvironment. It happened because ofthe inequality of standard of livingbetween the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’that are neighbors in my country andthe flagrant display of ill gotten wealth.

Rather than engage our youthsconstructively, they were used forpolitical gains, stupidly in mostinstances armed and then dumped bytheir political benefactors! What doyoung people in this situation do? Helpthemselves through violence andcrime! Why are we surprised!

It is at this point that I will like torefer our leaders and but mostespecially you, the reader of this pieceand our nation to one of the states inNigeria, the state of Osun, where aguy who calls himself ‘Mister’Governor has led his team andpositively dealt with a variant of thisissue of youth engagement, personalself worth, building bridges andsecurity through various programs ofwhich I will only focus on one, theOYES program.

In three years, 40,000 unemployedyouths were engaged by theleadership of this state between 2011and 2013, what do you as an intelligentNigerian think happened to crime rate

in the State of Osun? Of course itwent down! These were individualsthat were sitting at home frustratedwith themselves, their parents,community and of course theirgovernment. These were youths thathad little or no self worth ofthemselves now adding value to theircommunity. Waking up in the morningand having a sense of purpose, dignityin contributing to their community andenvironment but most importantlybeing taught life skills onindependence. Some of the graduatesof this scheme have become farmers,business owners etc. The first femaleambulance driver in Nigeria is agraduate of this scheme.

Is this scheme an end all be allsolution to our issues? No, but it is abridge, a solution in the right direction.My fellow compatriots and lovers ofour nation, why would the World Bankrecognise this initiative as a solutionthat addresses youth engagement indeveloping countries but we in Nigeriacannot see the benefits as leverage!Forget whose innovation it was, forgettheir political party, let us as a peoplebegin to use what has worked or isworking towards the development ofour nation, Nigeria, the Giant ofAfrica.

I know I said I will only mention onething but pardon me I just love mycountry too much.

When will you and I start holdingour leaders to account to implementpolicies that may not be popular butthat positively impact and benefit ourpeople? In Tanzania, Julius Nyererechanged the national language fromEnglish to Swahili to bring about unityof purpose amongst the several tribesand languages in his country; today thepeople are stronger as a nation.Nkrumah in Ghana made the ‘Kenteh’the uniform of the nation, can youimagine the number of jobs that policycreated and maintains in their textileindustry, what that single policy has

done and continues to do for theGhanaian economy?

In the State of Osun, RaufAregbeshola, Mr. Governor introduceda single free uniform for all students inprimary and secondary schools. All theuniforms are produced in his statemaking over 3,000 unemployed peopleget trained as tailors with a feedersystem with new student intakes andreplacements yearly. Is it a surprisethat the Nigerian Federal Bureau ofStatistics named Osun the state withthe least unemployment in 2013 withless than 3%.

While I’m not a statistician, I was ata forum a few days ago whensomeone said that Katsina and Kanoindigenes at some point in the historyof Nigeria formed around 20% of themanufacturing workforce because ofthe textile industry, which is nowdocile!

Can you imagine what it wouldmean to unengage youths in the statesof Katsina and Kano, even the entirenorthern Nigeria if the Federalgovernment of Nigeria made ‘Ankara’the uniform of this nation with all civilservants wearing it with minimaldeduction made from their salaries.Cap that with a ban on importation offabrics into Nigeria, and BOOM!What happens to the economy ofnorthern Nigeria, it explodes with jobsand industry

Leadership is not always aboutbeing the innovator, it is aboutleveraging and implementing policiesand solutions that have or are working.Leadership is about taking toughdecisions, probably rejected by a fewbut to the benefit of the majority.

Nigeria, bring back our girls butmost importantly, start the process toavoid a repeat of Chibok.

•Wife of State of Osun Governor, Mrs Sherifat Aregbesola (6TH right); State Deputy Governor, Otunba (Mrs) Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori (5th left); a member, House of Representatives, representing Ayedaade/Irewole/Isokan Federal Constituency, Alhaja AyoOmidiran (5th right); Wife of the Speaker, State of Osun House of Assembly, Mrs Adebimpe Salaam (3rd left) and other dignitariesduring the protest by women and female school pupils in Osun led by Mrs Aregbesola and Otunba Laoye-Tomori over theabduction of some female pupils of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in Osogbo, recently.

OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 201412 INTERVIEW

Adedoyin Shares On The Agricultural VisionOf The State Of Osun

Osun.gov.ng team caught up with HonWale Adedoyin, the HonourableCommissioner for Agriculture and FoodSecurity in the State Of Osun. It was an op-portunity to shed more light on the agrictransformation in the state and the vision ofOgbeni Aregbesola to turn around theeconomy of the state through agriculture.An explicit interview indeed… Below areexcerpts from the interview.

OSUN.GOV : What is the visionof the present administrationconcerning agriculture?

Hon Adedoyin: The vision of thepresent Administration is to supply atleast 10% of daily #3.5 billion worth offood (i.e. food consumptionpropensity) in Lagos market. Thiswould be achieved through theevolvement of a progressive, buoyantand productive agricultural sector ableto guarantee food security andadequate returns on agriculturalinvestment capable of attractingyouths, other individuals and corporatebodies to the sector. The mission isachieving food security, wealth and jobcreation, youth empowerment,economic transformation and makingthe State of Osun the hub ofagriculture and an emporium ofcommerce in the South West ofNigeria.

OSUN.GOV: How far has thisvision been achieved?

Hon Adedoyin: The vision hadbeen achieved to a very great extentwith the initiation and implementationof Osun Rural Enterprise andAgriculture Programme (O-REAP)under the Aregbesola Administration.The Government has put in place O-REAP as an intervention programmeto explore the potential of the State toensure massive food production, boostthe state economy, achieve anacceptable level of farm income,reduce income variability, improvecompetitiveness of the agriculturalsector assure safe and high qualityproduce as well as food security.

The notable AgriculturalInterventions and laudableachievements follows:1,606 OYESCadets have been trained in ModernAgriculture at the newly establishedO-REAP Youth Academy located inthe 9 Federal Constituencies while 250other youths have been trained inagricultural production at LeventisFoundation, Ilesa; also 20 youthsincluding O-YES cadets, O-REAPYouth and the general public havebeen sponsored to Germany in pursuitof advanced practical training inAgriculture, and twenty others arereceiving refresher course in GermanLanguage at the Obafemi AwolowoUniversity, Ile-Ife and would soon goto Germany. Concerning agric inschools, we are catching them young,in that wise 153 Secondary Schoolsacross the State have been supportedin various Agricultural programmessuch as Poultry, Piggery and CropProduction.

We also have Young Farmers Clubalso launched in Schools; In the areaof storage facilities, we have built 1

(No.) 1000 MT Warehouse, 1 (No.)500 MT Warehouse, 7 (Nos.) 120 MTMini Warehouses and 92 (9.2MT)Cribs have been constructed acrossthe State to serve as On/Off FarmStorage Facilities; Our farmers havealso been provided with creditfacilities, presently 3,645 Farmersacross the State benefitted from thesum of N476,350,000 from theGovernment Guaranteed AgricultureLoan Scheme; 268 Farmers benefittedfrom the sum of N45,662,065 from O-REAP Loan Scheme and we haveearmarked N40m as loan to supportPiggery Farmers in the State.

Land clearing is a challenge tofarmers because they do not have thecapacity to do that but we intervened, 3,070.3 Ha of Land Cleared; 6,209.4Ha of land Tractorised across theState. It is useless to plant and nottransport the produce to the market,with regards to that, a total of 156Km of rural roads were constructedincluding 25 Km road asphalted inMokore Farm Settlement, 20 Km inAlaguntan at Ago-Owu FarmSettlement), 6 Km road at Esa-OkeFarm Settlement, 39 Km road atPataara, 58 Km roads at other farmsand an 8 Km road under the QuickImpact Intervention Project (QIIP).We have also invested in aquaculture,3 Fish Farm Estates was establishedat the 3 Senatorial districts in the Statenamely Esa-Odo, Iwo & Owalla.

A total of 120 Metric Tons ofCatfish have been produced inpartnership with Kayolad Nigeria Limited, under Osun FisheriesOutgrowers Scheme (OFOPS) whichwas supported with N36, 800,000 topromote Fish production and trainYouths. Similarly, under OFOPS, asum of N253million was providedunder arrangement with Feg-Agro NigLtd which is the Scheme Manager,Association of Aquatic Farmers &Agro-processor of Nigeria(AAFAN),State of Osun branch to produce 800metric tons of catfish as well asprocessing for value addition. Thescheme has supported 400 FishFarmers.

The big one which has impacted onour school feeding programme is thepartnership between TUNS Farm NigLtd, TUNS is the Scheme Managerunder our Broiler promotionprogramme. We call it Osun BroilerOutgrowers Production Scheme. Asum of N539,435,200 was providedfor 578 farms in which over 3,779,400Day-old Chicks were raised. Thefarmers have made over N185millionas profit in this scheme.

We have invested and encouraging

every aspect of agriculture for thebenefit of our people and oureconomy.We are encouraging piggeryproduction, catfish tilapia breeding,honey breeding, cattle breeding andprocessing. This medium is not enoughto detailed all that we have done.

OSUN.GOV: You promise to offerfree transportation services byRailway for farmers, what is thestatus of this programme?

Hon Adedoyin: The freetransportation services by railway forfarmers was initiated and implementedto facilitate transportation of goodsand farm produce to and from Lagosfree-of-charge. This was intended toeliminate transports cost andinvariably translate to more profit forfarmers who will not pay fortransport. The goal is to make farmproduce available at farm prices inLagos and through that capture 10%of the food market in Lagos. The freefreight for food commodities is part ofour agricultural programme intendedto assist our farmers to market theirproduce, minimize wastage andimprove their earning power. The foodhub is yet to be completed to thedesired level while the depots are notfully ready for supply of agriculturalproducts to 57 markets in each of the57 Local Governments in Lagos.

The free freight for agriculturalcommodities is not catching on withthe people as much as we wouldwant, as farmers are yet to take fulladvantage of the free freight becausethey are still held down by the oldmethod of transportation.Thegovernment of the state of Osun is stillimproving upon the Memorandum ofUnderstanding between her and theNigerian Railway Corporation. Thereis no prohibition on how many timesgoods can be moved.

OSUN.GOV: Osun Cattle Hub in

Iwo, what informed the project andhow far have you gone in theseprojects?

Hon Adedoyin: The Osun CattleHub, otherwise referred to as theBeef Chain Development Project, wasinitiated by the AregbesolaAdministration with the primaryobjectives of introducing new geneticsto improve the carcass and meatquality of local cattle. The programmetargets an initial 10% of the Lagoscattle market estimated between165,000 – 200,000 cattle per year. Theprogramme is expected to fatten andslaughter cattle in Osun for the Lagosmarket. The facilities we haveprovided in the hub includes:Construction of three (03) feedlotpaddocks, sinking of four(04)boreholes rehabilitation of electricitysupply, re-construction of one of thetwo(02) junior staff quarters andgrading and construction of farm roadwithin the complex.

OSUN.GOV: The Government isupgrading infrastructure in theFarm Settlements, can you pleaseenlighten us further on this?

Hon Adedoyin: The upgrading ofinfrastructure in the nine (09) FarmSettlements were undertaken tocreate favourable and conduciveenvironments for farmers in the ruralareas so that they have access to theirfarmlands. The Administration ofOgbeni believes that infrastructuressuch as good roads, electricity, potablewater, etc would not only enhancehuman living but would also greatlyboost socio-economic activities of ourpeople. In collaboration with RuralAccess and Mobility Project of the Ministry of Rural and CommunityDevelopment, the Ministry ofAgriculture and Food Security(MAFS)

•ADEDOYIN

Continued on page 13

13 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

had completed a 12-kilometer road fromIwo to Pataara, an 18.7 kilometerMokore Farm Settlement Road inAyedaade Local Government Area ofthe State and a 5-kilometer Esa-Oke toEsa-Odo Farm Settlement Road inObokun Local Government Area aswell as a 10.8 –kilometer Idi- iroko toAkinleye road in Iwo Local GovernmentArea of the State. It also supervised theconstruction of four cell box culverts atRiver Oba on Idi-iroko and Akinleyeroads.

To sustain the roads and ensure thatthe over #2 billion spent on rural roadsby the Government do not amount to awaste, maintenance groups were formedto carry out routine maintenance on theroads. This giant stride has givenfarmers unrestricted access to transporttheir farm produce from farm to marketin urban cities. With the upgrading ofinfrastructures, the MAFS had touchedthe lives of rural dwellers positively andrepositioned the people at the grassrootsfor economic vibrancy. The interventionis now paying off as it is aidinggovernment efforts of guaranteeing foodsecurity in the State.

OSUN.GOV: What is theGovernment of Osun doing onopening up land and clearing it forfarm purposes?

Hon Adedoyin: The StateGovernment is opening up land and hasbeen given such farmland to farmers inorder to boost food production in theState. In 2011 ,the Government 50hectares of land at Mokore Farmsettlement and allocated the land to O-REAP farmers, while in 2012, 100hectares of land Was cleared atAkinleye, Iwo Farm Settlement andallocated to 20 O-REAP farmers. In2013, the administration cleared77.8hectares in Ifon- Orolu, 74.7 hectaresin Ila- Orangun, 52.4 hectares in Ago-Owu and 48.3 hectares in Iwo.Government also gave support to thesettlers on land tractorization in 2011/2012 in four farm settlement includingAgo- Owu, Esa-Oke, Iwo and Mokore

OSUN.GOV: School feedingprogramme and Agric are inter-related, what is the connection?

Hon Adedoyin: The Osun BroilersOut-growers Scheme (O-BOPS) andOsun Fisheries Outgrowers Scheme (O-FOPS) are the two agricultural initiativesunder O-REAP that are inter-related tothe Osun School Feeding Programme(O-MEAL). Both O-BOPS and O-FOPS under the Scheme Manager enjoylinkage with O-MEALS which isanother laudable initiative of theAregbesola-led Administration wherebybroiler chickens, fresh fish and redcocoyams are bought back by the StateGovernment from the participatingfarmers to feed primary school children.

The MAFS supplies chicken and fishfor a balanced meal for almost 250,000pupils. The Ministry of Agriculture andFood Security is represented at theSteering and monitoring Committee ofthe Osun School Feeding Programmewhich facilitates continuous dialogue forthe success of the Programme. Thescheme is hereby recommended forreplication in other states of theFederation on accounts of itstremendous success.

OSUN.GOV: From when you took

Adedoyin Shares On The Agricultural Vision Of The State Of Osun

over as Honourable Commissionerand till now, how will you rate thisadministration effort?

Hon Adedoyin: The Governmentefforts have focused on massive foodproduction through land preparation,mass mobilization of existing and newfarmers, and introduction of newtechniques, improved seedlings and easyaccess to other important inputs thatwould make farming extremely profitableand attractive. No doubt the efforts ofthe State Government have yieldedpositive results and the government isstill very much committed to turning theState into the food basket of the nation.The state Government of Osun hadinvested much in Agriculture and hadcommitted more time and energy toagriculture which is the primary focusof the present Administration. Thoughour people would say,” you cannot be ajudge in your own case” l, however, inthe words of Chinua Achebe “A lizardthat jumped from a tall “Iroko Tree”would praise itself even if no one elsedid”.

The present Administration hadrecorded tremendous success in diverseareas of agriculture including landclearing, provision of improved varietiesof seeds and seedlings free- of charge,provision of fertilizer at highly subsidizedrates e.t.c. Indeed we have broughtback the lost glory of agriculture in theState and efforts of the Aregbesola-ledAdministration should be rated very highfor the sterling achievements in manyareas of agriculture.

OSUN.GOV: What is the greatestproblem agric is facing in the State?

Hon Adedoyin: Agriculture in the

State of Osun is confronted bymultifarious challenges including Landtenure system, poor storage,transportation, processing facilities thatare surmountable. Other major challengefacing Agriculture in the State is rain-fed agriculture, the unpredictability ofrain and long spell of dry season. Thegreatest challenge facing Agriculture inthe State is that of marketing withoccasional market gluts recorded aboutcertain commodity. The marketingchallenges were identified on maize,cassava and fish due to bomber harvestoccasioned by the O-REAP interventionprogramme.

OSUN.GOV: Osun has beenclassified as the 7th largest economy.Has Agric played any factor in this?

Hon Adedoyin: Yes! Agriculture is themainstay of our economy in the State ofOsun, Nigeria. The sector provides foodfor the citizens, raw materials for theagro-allied industries and employmentfor over 70% of our economically activepopulation who are engage (directly orindirectly) in the practice of agriculture.

OSUN.GOV: Youths are runningaway from agric what efforts you aremaking to encourage and attractthem to it.

Hon Adedoyin: One of thepeculiarities of Agriculture is thegestation periods of agricultural producetakes place over time and space. Youthare not aroused to the fascinations ofagriculture because agriculture does notgive quick gains compared to the Okadasyndrome.In its bid to empower,encourage and attract the youths toAgriculture, The Aregbesola-ledAdministration had initiated and

implemented many youth friendlyprogrammes including O-REAP YouthAcademy, Agriculture – in- Schoolsprogramme and the Young FarmersClub. Twenty (20) youths (including O-YES cadets, O-REAP Youth and thegeneral public) have been sponsored toGermany in pursuit of advancedpractical training in Agriculture, andtwenty others are receiving refreshercourse in German Language at theObafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ifeand would soon go to Germany while1,606 were trained in modern agriculturalpractices for massive food production.

The youths have been formed intocooperative groups and registered withthe Ministry of Commerce,Cooperatives, Industry andEmpowerment for self employment..The Government of the State of Osunhad put in place other programmes inthe area of agricultural input supply at50% subsidy as well as fisheries,livestock and veterinary services tomitigate the various challengesassociated with agriculture.

There are also agriculturalmechanization (land clearing andtractorization) services rendered free ofcharge or at highly subsidized prices toreduce the drudgery of human labour,about which youth are known to havedemonstrated a strong aversion. TheYouths have been equipped withrequisite skills that will enable them tocontribute adequately to agriculturalproduction even as they legitimately earna decent and virtuous living. Theinvolvement of youth in agriculture isanother way of tackling the menace ofyouth unemployment.

OSUN.GOV: There is a partnershipbetween Osun and the State ofSaxony-Anhalt, Germany; can youbrief us about this?

Hon Adedoyin: There is a robustcollaboration and partnership betweenthe State of Osun and the State ofSaxony-Anhalt, Germany in the area ofagriculture especial on training in modernand establishment of soil and foodlaboratory. The decision to send 40youths for training in Germany wasprompted by the country prowess in thefield of agriculture. We believed intapping from the wealth of experienceof a leading economy in Europe(Germany) that does not import butexport food products. The 20 youthshave been formed into cooperatives andempowered for self employment.

OSUN.GOV: What other innovationis the administration making inimproving agric practices in theState?

Hon Adedoyin: Government cannotdo everything. We are strategizing andimproving more on Public-PrivatePartnership in the implementation ofprojects for efficiency andsustainability. In addition, we are alsoinvesting in soil and food LaboratoryAnalysis, provision of irrigation facilitiesfor all year round farming andagricultural land expansion and landbank. In all, we are in partnership withinternational research institutes and wewill always introduce innovationscapable of raising the standard of livingof our people and the state in general.

OSUN.GOV: Thank you so muchsir for taking time out to attend to us

Hon Adedoyin: I also say thank youtoo. It is a pleasure.

Continued from page 12

•ADEDOYIN

INTERVIEW

14 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

Orji Kalu’s Endorsement Of AregbesolaREPORTS filtered through a few days

ago in all the major newspapersacross the country that former

Governor Orji Uzor Kalu broke with thePeoples Democratic Party, PDP, to endorseOgbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of Stateof Osun for a second term in office. Kalu isa respected political actor who served twoterms as Abia governor between 1999 and2007.

His visit to State of Osun coincided withtwo major political events in the state.

First, it was the day his political party,the PDP, conducted primary election for itsgovernorship aspirants in the state: namely,Senator Iyiola Omisore, SenatorOlasunkanmi Akinlabi a former Minister ofYouth Development and Honourable WoleOke former chairman, House ofRepresentatives Committee on Defence.Earlier, Senator Adeleke, the first governorof Osun had withdrawn from the race with aproviso: “I don’t want the blood of mypolitical supporters to be shared becauseof my governorship ambition.”

The Senator alleged that he and hissupporters were thoroughly beaten by thethugs of Senator Omisore and those of theMinister of Police Affairs, Alhaji JeliliAdesiyan. “There is a likelihood of abreakdown of law and order if I participatein the primary election. Therefore, I amannouncing that I will boycott tomorrow’sprimary. Why should I allow somebodypossessed by the devil to waste the lives ofour people because I want to be a governor?

“A minister has continued to threaten thathe would waste so many lives in the primary.I am boycotting the primary; I will participatewhen our party decides to conduct a free,fair and violence-free primary. But I will workfor the success of President GoodluckJonathan in 2015.” Senator Isiaka Adelekehas a reason to be circumspect for notletting down his guides.

The PDP candidate in Osun, Omisore hasyet to explain satisfactorily to the people ofOsun state and Nigerians at large, his allegedinvolvement in the murder of Chief Bola Ige,then Minister of Justice and AttorneyGeneral of the Federation under formerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo’sadministration. If he did, it’s likely thatNigerians are not satisfied with hisexplanations, even though he has beenexonerated by the courts.

Kalu may have been disenchanted by thePDP’s inordinate strive for bloodcurdlingpolitics. He sees in Ogbeni a model of civilpolitical buffer and a transformational figurewhose commitment to good governancegoes beyond merely gloating over areconstructed kilometre of road by theprevious administration. More so, he sawno reason to be wild about an Omisore’scandidacy.

The PDP leader, therefore endorsedGovernor Aregbesola’s continuation inoffice, saying: “You don’t change a winningteam”. He made the endorsement onSaturday, April 5, at the 15th edition of theWalk-to-Live in Ipetumodu, Osun State.Walk-to-Live is a monthly physical exercisethat involves trekking of at least, eightkilometres by interested citizens of the stateafter which a round of various other physicalexercises follow to ensure that the citizensremain physically fit and mentally alert.

The programme – in no small dimension– appears the best in closing the gapbetween the people and the government.Each edition of the programme sees excitedcitizens who cannot join the usually longand winding procession either staying infront of their houses; climbing topmost partsof their buildings to catch glimpses of thegovernor, movie actors and actresses andsportsmen who have become regular

features of the event.Young mothers who cannot stay at home

strap their babies to their backs. Physically-challenged persons waddle their waysthrough the crowd to ensure they completethe ‘race’. Students, market men andwomen, old and the young want to be partof what they see as an engaging event thathelp them regain their self-confidence. It iscommon scene to see excited, ordinarycitizens wanting to get handshakes with thegovernor and other top members of hisadministration.

Under the six-point development agendaof the state administration, which he calls“My Pact with Osun”, promotion of healthyliving is one. “There can be no healthyliving without constant physical exercises.”Ogbeni is always quick to remind his peopleeach time people troop out to partake inwhat is appearing the biggest platform formobilizing the people to action in the state.

Apart from other benefits now accruingfrom the event such as raising the politicalconsciousness of the people, GovernorAregbesola has never failed to remindenthusiasts at the events on monthly basisthat “Walk-to-live exercise was introducedbecause we realised that we have allforgotten the need to physically exerciseourselves. We are highly sedentary andsocially wild; we must compliment this withengaging in physical exercise. Osun ispromoting Walk-to-Live to ensure that wehave a healthy people in a healthy state.”

This was what attracted the sport-lovingformer governor of Abia State to Osun thatled to his endorsement of the governor ofthe state. He would later enthuse: “I am astatesman and PDP man. I made a promise amonth ago to honour this Walk to Liveevent. Omisore is a personal friend of mine.Aregbesola is my friend as well. GovernorAregbesola has worked for the people ofOsun. You don’t need to change a winningteam. I also wish to express my support for

our President, He is trying. Let’s pray forPresident Jonathan and let’s pray forAregbesola.”

He would also add: “I want to thank theGovernor for making today’s Walk Exercisein a way I have never done before. GovernorAregbesola has done well. I am not here onparty basis. II am a bona fide member of myParty (PDP) …When someone has worked,we should learn to recognise performancein Nigeria. Governor Aregbesola has worked.There are few governors that can walk aswe have walked today, without pure waterbeing thrown at them. If what I have seentoday is a test of popularity, then Aregbesolais indeed popular.”

Dr Kalu has engraved his name in goldas one individual who turned his back oninconsistent characters with moral deficitswithin the same political party to pitch histent with a progressive candidate who candeliver the goods to the people – just thesame way General Colin Powell broke withRepublican Party to endorse BarackObama’s presidency.

But when twinned with the partisanblindness in Nigeria political orientation, hisendorsement of Aregbesola does reflect asignificant shift. Kalu studiously spoke theminds of Osun citizens after several yearsof inelegant style of governance andoutright despondency.

It’s obvious that the people have beendelivered from the grip of an administrationand a political party that has little or nosocio-political and economic direction forthem. Being permanently welded to acidicpolitics of bloodletting cannot change thepeople of Osun’s resolve to remain on thepart of change. That is what Orji Kalu’sendorsement of Governor Rauf Aregbesolafor continuity in office is about.

• Ikhide wrote in from Lagos, Nigeria.

Culled from THE NATION

Unravelling The Nigerian ParadoxNO one doubts that Nigeria is a (potentially) wealthy

nation. Here is a country that ranks among the top10 oil producers or exporters in the world and is

now the largest economy in Africa. Besides, Nigeria has thelargest corps of trained professionals in Africa, some ofwhom were loaned to other African countries at the dawn ofindependence. Today, many of these professionals arescattered throughout the world, contributing to growth andinnovations in education, health care, business, engineering,and technology, wherever they are.

Paradoxically, Nigeria is also among the “extremely poornations” on earth, when the focus is on the number ofcitizens living in abject poverty. Nigeria also ranks very lowon the Human Development Index, especially in lifeexpectancy and in the quality and distribution of politicalgoods. Moreover, Nigeria’s unemployment rate is amongthe highest in the world. It is not enough to explain thisparadox in terms of the concentration of the nation’s wealthin very few hands, leaving the rest of the population toscamper for the crumbs.

Amplifying the paradox is the wide gulf between thenation’s oil wealth and the quality of political goods madeavailable to the citizens by the political class. This gulf isparticularly evident in poor infrastructure and inadequateinvestment in education, health care, and social welfare.

The trio of poor leadership, weak institutions, andcorruption is often blamed for the existence of this gulf.Some have argued that once corruption is removed, all willbe well with Nigeria. But then, strong leadership is neededto reduce or control corruption. The strongest of institutionscan be weakened by poor leadership, thus allowing forvarious loopholes that allow corruption to thrive. Althoughthis is the situation at the federal level, there are a few statesthat paint a different picture.

Against the above backgrounds, I was curious about themaiden edition of the Business World’s Most InnovativeGovernor Award, which celebrates innovative approachesto governance and development. The ceremony held at theexpansive Zanabab Hotel and Resort in Ilesa on Saturday,May 3, 2014. After a survey of first-term governors acrossthe country, 12 were shortlisted for the award, two fromeach geopolitical zone. A team of experts was despatched toeach state to document and assess major innovations ingovernance as well as the nature and extent of development.After all the data were assessed, analysed, and compared,Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State emerged as theoverall winner.

After verifying the innovative programmes identified inthe award citation and brochures, I decided to share the

award experience for at least two reasons. First, in performingthe traditional functions of the Fourth Estate, the press must becareful not to be seen only as a one-eyed critic, who sees nothingbeyond the government’s shortcomings. The other eye must beopened to see good models that are driven by innovations. Indeed,if the goal of critical commentaries is to provide the basis fordesirable social change, then good models, typified by innovativeprogrammes, deserve our attention. I made the same argumentwhen I wrote about Dr. Olusegun Mimiko’s innovative health,education, and community development programmes in OndoState during his first term.

Second, there has been so much negative press about Aregbesola,due partly to his initial over-enthusiastic approach to governanceand partly to his outspokenness on the issues he cares about. Asa result, his achievements have been overlooked, misrepresentedor completely distorted.

One such achievement is his wide-ranging education reform,which is beyond school mergers and reclassification of gradelevels into Elementary, Middle, and High Schools as reported inthe media. It also involves the provision of lunch for Elementarygrades, textbooks for Elementary and Middle grades, Opon Imo(Tablets of Knowledge) for High School grades, and uniforms forall grades and for the food vendors in all Osun schools. Theseinnovations are complemented by a massive construction ofdistinctive mega schools. On completion, 100 Elementary, 50Middle, and 20 High Schools would have been built. Furthermore,the teachers’ morale is boosted by capacity building programmes,rewards for excellence, and transparent promotion exercises.Appropriate security and quality assurance measures were alsoset up for all schools throughout the state.

A unique feature of the state government’s education reform ishow well it dovetails into the provision of employment forcontractors, building materials suppliers, daily wage labourers,food vendors, farmers, tailors, and youths. For example, thegarment factory established for the production of uniforms, thefood vending project, and the empowerment of farmers and youthsfor food production to feed the schoolchildren have generatednearly 10,000 employment opportunities across the state.

Furthermore, Aregbesola’s innovative approach toemployment led to the establishment of a popular youthemployment scheme, which recruits at least 20,000 youths, whoare deployed to various jobs for a period of three months, at theend of which some are permanently recruited by the state and anew batch comes on board. The youth employment scheme iscomplemented by a social security programme for vulnerableadults throughout the state, who are paid a monthly allowance

and provided with free medical care.Realising that farming provides employment for many Osun

residents, Aregbesola embarked on a massive, but highly integrated,road construction and rehabilitation projects across the state,including boundary highways; township roads; inter-city roads; ruralroads; and a 17-kilometre, dualised, ring road around Osogbo. Wherenecessary, untarred roads are opened up by direct labour to provideaccess to remote farms.

Furthermore, to facilitate the movement of goods to Lagos, whichhas the largest concentration of consumers of Osun goods, a newroad project was embarked upon, linking Osun with Ogun Statealong the Gbogan-Odeomu-Ijebu Igbo axis. The railway station inOsogbo is undergoing massive restructuring not only for themovement of farm produce but also for the movement of passengers,especially during festive occasions when the state provides free railtransport.

According to Muyiwa Ige, the state Commissioner for Lands,Physical Planning and Urban Development, the station is beingdeveloped in terms of the Chicago Michigan Avenue concept of theMagnificent Mile, connecting the station with Osun River, the OldGarage, and Omiseke. The transport network is capped by an airport,whose 3.2-kilometre runway and Tower are under construction.

Because many of the innovative projects are visible throughoutthe state (see Business World, Vol.8, No 22, May 5-12, 2014 fordetails), let me highlight an invisible one that really drives the wheelof efficiency and transparency in project execution throughout thestate. It is the Bureau of Social Services, the first of its kind in thecountry, established by Aregbesola and headed by Femi Ifaturoti, anengineer and Project Assessment Manager. BOSS is staffed withadministrators, engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, and ITspecialists.

According to Ifaturoti, “The mission of BOSS is to leverage humanresources and technological innovation in driving effective monitoringand evaluation of social service delivery, thereby ensuring publicvalue and fiscal discipline”. BOSS functions as a conduit betweenthe governor and the commissioners, by monitoring and evaluatingall state projects and ensures that comparative data on all projectsare collected, analysed, tabled, and archived, thus facilitating quickchecks of project status and comparisons across similar projects.The monthly evaluation meeting between BOSS and statecommissioners keeps commissioners on their toes, while leaving thegovernor free to pursue other ways of improving citizens’ life chances.

Aregbesola’s innovative projects have attracted partnerships fromlocal and international organisations, because they are functionaland cost-effective. And BOSS drives them to successfulimplementation. That’s why he has been able to achieve so much inso little time. This has helped unravel the Nigerian paradox.

•Culled from THE PUNCH

By NIYI AKINNASO

By ERASMUS IKHIDE

OPINION

15 OSUN DEFENDER Thursday, May 22, 2014

THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014

www.osundefender.org THE 6TH MOST-VISITED NEWSPAPER WEBSITE IN NIGERIA

OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guaranty Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. All correspondenceto the Managing Editor, KOLA OLABISI, Telephone: 08033927286 (kolaolabisi@yahoo.com); Editor, KAYODE AGBAJE, Telephone: 0803-388-0205, E-mail: osundefender@yahoo.com,kayodeagbaje@yahoo.com. ISSN: 0794-8050.Website: www.osundefender.org.

U n r a v e l l i n gThe NigerianParadox

No one doubts that Nige-ria is a (potentially) wealthynation. Here is a country thatranks among the top 10 oilproducers or exporters in theworld and is now the largesteconomy in Africa.

Besides, Nigeria has thelargest corps of trained pro-fessionals in Africa, someof whom were loaned to otherAfrican countries at the dawn of independence.Today, many of these professionals are scat-tered throughout the world, contributing togrowth and innovations in education, healthcare, business, engineering, and technology,wherever they are.

Paradoxically, Nigeria is also among the “ex-tremely poor nations” on earth, when the focusis on the number of citizens living in abject pov-erty. Nigeria also ranks very low on the HumanDevelopment Index, especially in life expectancyand in the quality and distribution of politicalgoods. Moreover, Nigeria’s unemployment rateis among the highest in the world. It is notenough to explain this paradox in terms of theconcentration of the nation’s wealth in very fewhands, leaving the rest of the population to scam-per for the crumbs.

Amplifying the paradox is the wide gulf be-tween the nation’s oil wealth and the quality ofpolitical goods made available to the citizens bythe political class. This gulf is particularly evi-dent in poor infrastructure and inadequate in-vestment in education, health care, and socialwelfare.

The trio of poor leadership, weak institutions,and corruption is often blamed for the existenceof this gulf. Some have argued that once cor-ruption is removed, all will be well with Nigeria.But then, strong leadership is needed to reduceor control corruption. The strongest of institu-tions can be weakened by poor leadership, thusallowing for various loopholes that allow cor-ruption to thrive. Although this is the situationat the federal level, there are a few states thatpaint a different picture.

Against the above backgrounds, I was curi-ous about the maiden edition of the BusinessWorld’s Most Innovative Governor Award,which celebrates innovative approaches to gov-ernance and development. The ceremony heldat the expansive Zanabab Hotel and Resort inIlesa on Saturday, May 3, 2014. After a surveyof first-term governors across the country, 12were shortlisted for the award, two from eachgeopolitical zone. A team of experts was des-patched to each state to document and assessmajor innovations in governance as well as thenature and extent of development. After all thedata were assessed, analysed, and compared,Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun Stateemerged as the overall winner.

After verifying the innovative programmesidentified in the award citation and brochures,I decided to share the award experience for atleast two reasons. First, in performing the tra-ditional functions of the Fourth Estate, thepress must be careful not to be seen only as aone-eyed critic, who sees nothing beyond thegovernment’s shortcomings. The other eye mustbe opened to see good models that are drivenby innovations. Indeed, if the goal of criticalcommentaries is to provide the basis for desir-able social change, then good models, typifiedby innovative programmes, deserve our atten-tion. I made the same argument when I wroteabout Dr. Olusegun Mimiko’s innovativehealth, education, and community develop-ment programmes in Ondo State during his firstterm.

Second, there has been so much negativepress about Aregbesola, due partly to his ini-tial over-enthusiastic approach to gover-nance and partly to his outspokenness on theissues he cares about. As a result, his achieve-ments have been overlooked, misrepresentedor completely distorted.

One such achievement is his wide-ranging educa-tion reform, which is beyond school mergers and re-classification of grade levels into Elementary, Middle,and High Schools as reported in the media. It alsoinvolves the provision of lunch for Elementary grades,textbooks for Elementary and Middle grades, OponImo(Tablets of Knowledge) for High School grades,and uniforms for all grades and for the food vendorsin all Osun schools. These innovations are comple-mented by a massive construction of distinctive megaschools. On completion, 100 Elementary, 50 Middle,and 20 High Schools would have been built. Further-more, the teachers’ morale is boosted by capacitybuilding programmes, rewards for excellence, andtransparent promotion exercises. Appropriate secu-rity and quality assurance measures were also set upfor all schools throughout the state.

A unique feature of the state government’s educa-tion reform is how well it dovetails into the provisionof employment for contractors, building materials sup-pliers, daily wage labourers, food vendors, farm

ers, tailors, and youths. For ex-ample, the garment factory estab-lished for the production of uni-forms, the food vending project,and the empowerment of farmersand youths for food production tofeed the schoolchildren have gen-erated nearly 10,000 employmentopportunities across the state.

Furthermore, Aregbesola’s in-novative approach to employment

led to the establishment of a popular youth em-ployment scheme, which recruits at least 20,000youths, who are deployed to various jobs for aperiod of three months, at the end of which someare permanently recruited by the state and a newbatch comes on board. The youth employmentscheme is complemented by a social securityprogramme for vulnerable adults throughout thestate, who are paid a monthly allowance and pro-vided with free medical care.

Realising that farming provides employmentfor many Osun residents, Aregbesola embarkedon a massive, but highly integrated, road con-struction and rehabilitation projects across thestate, including boundary highways; townshiproads; inter-city roads; rural roads; and a 17-kilometre, dualised, ring road around Osogbo.Where necessary, untarred roads are opened upby direct labour to provide access to remote farms.

Furthermore, to facilitate the movement ofgoods to Lagos, which has the largest concentra-tion of consumers of Osun goods, a new roadproject was embarked upon, linking Osun withOgun State along the Gbogan-Odeomu-Ijebu Igboaxis. The railway station in Osogbo is undergo-ing massive restructuring not only for the move-ment of farm produce but also for the movementof passengers, especially during festive occasionswhen the state provides free rail transport.

According to Muyiwa Ige, the state Commis-sioner for Lands, Physical Planning and UrbanDevelopment, the station is being developed interms of the Chicago Michigan Avenue conceptof the Magnificent Mile, connecting the stationwith Osun River, the Old Garage, and Omiseke.The transport network is capped by an airport,whose 3.2-kilometre runway and Tower are un-der construction.

Because many of the innovative projects are visiblethroughout the state (see Business World, Vol.8, No22, May 5-12, 2014 for details), let me highlight aninvisible one that really drives the wheel of efficiencyand transparency in project execution throughout thestate. It is the Bureau of Social Services, the first of itskind in the country, established by Aregbesola andheaded by Femi Ifaturoti, an engineer and ProjectAssessment Manager. BOSS is staffed with adminis-trators, engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, andIT specialists.

According to Ifaturoti, “The mission of BOSS is toleverage human resources and technological innova-tion in driving effective monitoring and evaluation ofsocial service delivery, thereby ensuring public valueand fiscal discipline”. BOSS functions as a conduitbetween the governor and the commissioners, by moni-toring and evaluating all state projects and ensuresthat comparative data on all projects are collected,analysed, tabled, and archived, thus facilitating quickchecks of project status and comparisons across simi-lar projects. The monthly evaluation meeting betweenBOSS and state commissioners keeps commissionerson their toes, while leaving the governor free to pur-sue other ways of improving citizens’ life chances.

Aregbesola’s innovative projects have attractedpartnerships from local and internationalorganisations, because they are functional and cost-effective. And BOSS drives them to successful imple-mentation. That’s why he has been able to achieve somuch in so little time. This has helped unravel theNigerian paradox.

Aregbesola