The Managing Director of Osun State Investment Company (OSICOL), Alhaji Bola Oyebamiji, has attributed recent achievements recorded by the company to the various policies and programmes put in place by the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration in the State of Osun.
Oyebamiji stated this last Thursday during the handing-over of a brand new L200 Mitsubishi bus presented to the company by Nestle Products Plc.
The organisation also emerged as the outfit with the highest volume of sales of the company’s products for the just-concluded quarter of the year.
The van presentation ceremony, which was held inside the expansive premises housing OSICOL’s corporate office located at the precincts Old Orisunmbare Market in Osogbo, the state capital, was graced by dignitaries including representatives of Nestle, management and staff of OSICOL, customers and well-wishers of the investment outfit.
It would be recalled that OSICOL was resuscitated into its current state of vibrancy by the Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration three years ago.
In his speech on the occasion of official presentation of the keys of the van, Nestle’s Regional Sales Manager, South West, Mr. Adewumi Adejumo, who did the presentation on behalf of his company’s management, commended the laudable achievements of the recipient, while encouraging them not to relent so as to carry the existing business partnership between the two companies to a higher pedestal.
Speaking further at the event, Alhaji Oyebamiji, while receiving the keys to the vehicle, thanked the management of Nestle, while promising greater performance for the present and future quarters.
The presented van, a brand-new L 200 Mitsubishi van with registration number LAGOS AAA 853 XH, branded in brilliant Maggi colours came in handy as the most recent in the long retinue of awards and presentations, which OSICOL has garnered since its resuscitation by the Rauf Aregbesola administration.
Fielding questions from journalists on the occasion, Alhaji Oyebamiji extolled the giant strides of the governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who he said took the OSICOL project with utmost priority upon his assumption of office as governor three years ago.
He recounted how Governor Aregbesola mandated him to turn the fortunes of the hitherto moribund OSICOL around after providing all the necessary support.
According to him, the laudable achievements of the Aregbesola administration included the revamping and revitalization of OSICOL and its subsidiaries from grass to grace.
A cited case was that of the Livingspring Bulk Purchase Limited, a subsidiary of OSICOL, which had witnessed dramatic transformation within the space of time that the recent government intervention lasted.
It is placed on record that the Osun State Investment Company Limited has recorded strings of awards and laurels, including earlier awards by Nestle, Standards Organization of Nigeria, as well as those of the NIS.
Giving details of tentacles of operation of the company, Alhaji Oyebamiji revealed that the activities of OSICOL in providing ultimate consumers with quality end-products are not confined to the State of Osun or the South West territories; but stretch as far as Kano and other parts of the core-North.
The business helmsman also gave foresight to brighter future prospects for the company, based on the strength of investments, resources of kinds at its disposal, achievements made so far and the formidable structures already instituted.
Other dignitaries present on the occasion included Mr. Gani Owolawii, Head, Livingspring Bulk Purchase Limited; Mr. Oluseye Agboola, Manager, Nestle PLC; and Mrs. Harriet Amole, OSICOL’s AGM Corporate Affairs.
OSUN DEFENDER

Government of the state of Osun has said that last week’s beating up of Principal of the Baptist High School, Ejigbo has nothing to do with the ongoing reclassification of public primary and secondary schools in the state and described it as an act of gross misconduct and insurbodination.
The state Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, stated this today while fielding questions from newsmen.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori, who doubles as the Commissioner for Education, said the reclassification exercise was introduced into the state’s education sector with the sole aim of impacting proper learning to students in the state and bring out the best from them.
According to her, an advisory committee that will study the immediate and remote causes of the act, make recommendations to government on how to forestall future re-occurrence and advise the state government on necessary punitive measures that should be metted out to all culprits has been set up by the state government and will report to the state government in a matter of days.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori thereafter advised parents to ensure proper upbringing of their children because children are leaders of tomorrrow. She said since future of the state belongs to her youths, good leadership traits must be impacted into them through proper learning.
She however submitted that no culprit in the ignoble act will go unpunished .
OSUN DEFENDER

Governor of the state of Osun, Mr. Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, has been commended for fulfilling his electioneering campaign promises to the people of the state and for living up to the dictates of his manifesto.
The state Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, gave this commendation at the weekend in Lagos while featuring on an Ebony Life Television programme minutes after receiving a Special Award as a Man Making a Difference on behalf of Governor Aregbesola.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said Governor Aregbesola is a governor with a difference who believes in positive transformation of his people and would stop at nothing to improve on their standard of living.
According to the Deputy Governor, the governor’s accountability character led him to the printing of his manifesto in a booklet to give room to people to hold him responsible for any failure that may arise in his administration saying that has been the driving force behind his achievement since coming into office on November 27, 2010.
Speaking on the 2013 GAME Award, Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said the award serves as an encouragement to youths to be able to see that there is recogition in service delivery saying future belongs to youths who prepare for it today.
She however advised Nigerian youths to be focussed in whatever they do, join hands to rebuilding Nigeria and give better future to the them.
OSUN DEFENDER

Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has stressed the need for Nigerians to be hardworking and productive so as to get out of the problem of poverty facing the people of the country.
He advocated that Nigerians ,no matter how highly placed in the society ,should turn to the job of food production which is farming, saying that a large chunk of the nation’s debt ,which should have been spent on developing infrastructures ,had been spent on frivolous things which accounts for the pathetic state which the country is today.
Ogbeni Aregbesola said this on Sunday in Osogbo at a special prayer session organised to mark the third year anniversary of the present administration in office held at the NASFAT prayer village.
He said if just 25million out of the about 160 million Nigerians can work and earn a total income of 4million naira per year, it means about 100million naira will be in circulation which will be huge for the nation’s economy noting that the money Nigeria spends on the importation of food items in a year is over 200 million dollars.
Ogbeni Aregbesola explained that countries with the best basic amenities in the world are countries that are in debt and have made use of the debt judiciously He lamented the fact that with over 60billion dollars as debt, Nigeria is still backward in terms of ensuring good life for its citizens.
While thanking God for the wisdom with which the state has been run successfully in the past three years, the Governor pointed out that despite the reduction in the Federal allocation to the state almost every month ,the internally generated revenue of the state has shot up by over 500% from the point it was before the coming of the present administration without enforcing tax on any indigene of the state.
He said the steady rise of the state through the various developmental projects going on at the same time from the provision of good roads to construction of model schools and assurance of security among others are pointers to the fact that God is with the administration and the state.
Reading from the Holy Quran chapter 3 vs 186 which talks about how a muslim should relate and behave with people of other faith, Ogbeni Aregbesola charged muslims to imbibe the spirit of patience, tolerance and love at all times, saying that Islam is not a religion of violence, war or chaos.
While decrying the ugly incident that occurred in Ejigbo, the state helms man stressed that Islam did not come to yorubas through war, violence or crisis but came through the upright and good manners of the first set of muslims who came into the region very many years ago noting that the good characters of the first set of muslims distinguished them as the pride of the society which attracted a lot of people into Islam.
Earlier in a sermon on the topic: Thanksgiving and Reflection, the Branch Missioner of the Osogbo NASFAT prayer village, Alhaji Isiak Lawal who read from the Holy Quran chapter 2vs132 and Quran chapter 2vs204-205 said anniversary period is not a period for celebration but a period for reconciliation just as Allah told the Holy Prophet Mohamed (peace be unto him) to remember the good he has done so also the Governor should remember the good things Allah has done for him and the administration.
The cleric advised the Governor to always give thanks to Almighty Allah who has made him a pace setter in the many laudable life touching programmes of the administration which have attracted accolades and awards from both within and outside the country.
While congratulating the Governor on the third anniversary of the present administration in the state, the NASFAT Missioner advised the Governor to remember that everything in life has a beginning and a end saying that God will one day ask everybody questions on accountability.
Among those who accompanied the Governor to the special prayer session were the First lady, Alhaja Serifat Aregbesola, legislator representing Irewole/Ayedaade/Isokan at the Federal House of Representatives, Hon.(Mrs) Ayo Omidiran, Assistant Chief of Staff, Bar. Gbenga Akano, Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr Ajibola Basiru, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Culture and Tourism, Mr Sikiru Ayedun among others.
OSUN DEFENDER

David Cameron’s vindication of Governor Aregbesola Had the throng of unthinking critics of the Aregbesola administration not been blinded to see anything good in its efforts to re-engineer the finances of the state, they ought to be sobered by the news coming in from the United Kingdom that the government of British Prime Minister David Cameron would soon become the first in the non-Islamic world to issue a Sukuk – the Sharia compliant bond to raise $324 million.
To start with, it isn’t exactly true to suggest that Islamic bonds are anything new to the predominantly Christian British society; British companies such as HSBC and Tesco are known to have issued Islamic bonds in the past. What is new is that Her Majesty’s government has finally found the wisdom in tapping into Middle Eastern investors’ huge cash reserves whose unique attraction is that it is interest-free and allows the investor a share of the profit from an underlying asset.
Now, the typically conservative Brits not only consider it a strategy to solidify London’s status as a global financial hub, allowing it to fighting off the EU’s encroachments, but one designed to open up the city to international players. The country’s Finance Minister George Osborne even did an opinion piece for the Financial Times to extol the potentials of the Islamic financing option.
Now, how is the British issuance of sukuk relevant to the state of Osun? The answer is – in several ways. First, it is more than ample vindication of the state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who has long insisted that while the sukuk may be Islamic in origin, it is like other financial instruments, not tied to any religion or creed. For a state yearning for development funds, his position was that the state could use the sukuk window to further its development agenda given the relatively higher cost of alternatives.
The development in the British Isles therefore answers directly to the asinine charge by elements of the opposition and their company of sympathisers that the use of the globally recognise financial instrument is a ploy to Islamise the state of Osun. Another way of saying that development capital would flow towards those who have the mind, will and discipline! Now, it seems doubtful that the critics would be silenced by the fact that Britain – a highly developed nation – is only now tapping into the financial instrument to address its own development needs. That obviously is a reflection of how light years behind the thinking of those who claim to have the answers to the challenges facing the state is.
Conversely, it is a measure of how far-sighted and daring the Aregbesola administration has been in its attempt to re-order the state’s finances – something that only a transparent administration, one that has nothing to hide can contemplate. That was why this newspaper celebrated it as something of a breakthrough when the news first broke; and this against the background of what we know to be the strict requirement to access the bond market.
Of course, the administration could have bandied the usual refrain of lack of funds as an excuse for doing nothing – which was what the immediate past PDP administration did. Rather, it has since shown that with rigour, courage and the determination, the possibilities available for development as many as they are infinite depending on whether or not the leader is willing to put his mind to work.
The lesson here is that a lot can be achieved to turn the tide of development in the State of Osun provide the right leadership is in charge. Today, no longer is the debate as to what the N60 billion debt programme expected to be deployed to finance education projects and other allied infrastructure can achieve. Hopefully, the embrace by Prime Minister Cameron of sukuk would settle the dust over the matter for the state to make progress.
OSUN DEFENDER EDITORIAL