Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has said his administration was ready to breathe life into the newly created Local Council Development Authorities with the submission of the report on boundary delineation and assets sharing by the various committees.
 

 
The Governor also stated that a team that will make an official presentation of the newly created councils to the National Assembly are already working to ensure that an approval is given and to make it part of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
 
The Governor stated this in his office while receiving the reports of the committees set up on the boundary delineation and adjustment as well as the report of the assets sharing committee for the newly created LCDAs and Area offices.
 
Aregbesola held that the old and new Local Government Areas must be presented formally to the National Assembly, saying that as soon as this is done it will not only be a local affair but nationally recognised and accepted which will be a first in Nigeria.
 
 
The Governor stated that all the processes have been diligently passed through, expressing confidence that an approval for the establishment of the local councils will be given by the National Assembly. He also said that the operators of the LCDAs will have a good ground to operate on, assuring that the state is not short of the technicalities  needed for smooth operations.
 
The Governor then thanked members of both committees for their commitment towards the state governments objective of giving the grassroots the structure that can mobilise them for effective administration and economic development.
 
Presenting the report on the boundary delineation and adjustment, Chairman of the committee, Hon. Justice Akin Oladimeji, who highlighted the challenges faced by the committee said most of the challenges were instruments of creation. He said there were different versions despite the fact that the committee used the instrument signed by the governor, claiming that they got information on the field that an amendment was in the offing.
 
Also making her own presentation, the leader of the Assets Sharing Committee for the new LCDAs, Hon. Justice Kudirat Akano said the Committee traversed the nooks and crannies of the state so as to get a credible report that can be relied on with facts and figures.

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola on Saturday addressed issues on the importance of Africa as a continent at the lunch of Africa Business Club by Imperial College Business School in London. Speaking at the occassion the governor indicated that innovation is an important driver of growth and development that Africa as a continent must take seriously.
 

 
Rauf Aregbesola, delivering a speech at the London Imperial college in London Read his speech in full:
“I am most pleased to be at this renowned academic institution, the Imperial College, for the launch of Africa Business Club and discuss a matter that is of utmost importance to the African continent. I will therefore like to thank the organisers, the African Business Club of Imperial College Business School, for the privilege of the invitation to this great meeting.
 
To begin with, Africa is a paradox of sort. Without being immodest, Africans are the remaining real human beings on earth. By this I mean in their essential humanity, having not been so tainted by human progress, which some have argued, quite paradoxically, as being responsible for the continent’s arrested development.
 
However, this is false choice, for to argue like this is to say that being essentially human and being developed are mutually incompatible. But I digress. I stated in a recent conference held at Redeemers University, an institution in my home state, Osun, that there are two conceptual Africas. The first is the Africa endowed with humongous human and material resources.
 
The second is the largely underdeveloped Africa that mirrors a continent ravaged by slavery and colonialism, made desolate by wars, hunger, poverty and is the leading global aid recipient region. Africa is said to be a young population, even with her 1.2 billion people, most of whom are young, with the potential of providing a huge market and a pool from which a vibrant labour force can be derived. These are critical elements of development.
 
This is besides the abundant natural resources that make Africa one of the resource-richest regions of the world. However, on the converse, while slavery and colonialism ravaged much of the world, including the Americas and Asia, until mid 20th Century, Africa had the worst experience from which she is yet to recover. Beyond language, no other part of the world still carries the scaring imprimatur of colonialism the way Africa does. While colonialism was an episode in Asia and the Americas, it was an epoch in Africa and has largely determined the trajectory of the continent since.
 
This tragic phenomenon has been well documented as neo-colonialism. Again, while the continent never fully recovered from its own internal combustion from inter-ethnic conflicts of the pre-colonial era, Africa’s conflagration has been accentuated by artificial partitioning by European powers in the late 19th Century. Even with independence, Africa has not had much peace, as it became the battle ground in proxy wars between the superpowers until the end of the Cold War.
 
Africa is still a hotbed of armed conflicts in the post Cold War era, with the continent deeply enmeshed in religious and civil wars. According to the National Interest, ‘In 2014, Africa experienced more than half of worldwide conflict incidents, despite having only about 16 percent of the world population. This is a slightly larger share of the world’s conflicts than even during the chaotic years of the post-Cold War 1990s’. All these have arrested or slowed development in Africa and the statistics are not flattering.
 
According to the World Bank estimate of GDP per capita in 2015, the average for sub-Saharan Africa is $1,571.3 compared to Middle East and North Africa’s $7,342.3, or EU’s $31,843.2, North America’s monstrous $54,580 and even the world’s average of $9995.6. Even the $1,571.3 average figure would appear deceptive if we consider that Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Botswana recorded $25,439.92, $19,818.11, $17,053.47 and $16,578.59 respectively, with most countries in the bottom half recording less than $1,000 and those at the rock bottom registering less than $400. By the account of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Africa led the global begging troupe with a total aid outflow to Africa in 2013 at $46 billion, only followed by Asia in a distant second with $25 billion. From these grim statistics emerged the fact that one in two persons in Africa is poor.
 
That is even on the average; it is worse in some places. But we don’t need academic statistics to know that there is poverty, ignorance and diseases in Africa. Of course, we should by now be tired of asking the paradoxical question or wonderment on why Africa should be so blessed and the people are so poor. I believe that our meeting here should be part of the solution to unravelling this mystery.
 
This is why the theme of our engagement here, ‘Using innovation to reengineer Africa’s development – moving from talk to action’ is most apt. This speech is not a review of the challenges of development in Africa; it catches only the highlights. We might as well look into the most salient issues and see how we can bring innovation to address them.
 
Innovation is an important driver of growth and development. The economic, political, social and even entertainment leadership of the OECD countries in the world is as a result of their leadership in innovation. We see this in the creation and diffusion of new products, processes and methods. Their firms invest as much in the knowledge-based assets that drive innovation, such as software, databases, research and development, firm-specific skills and organisational capital.
 
The third edition of the Oslo Manual (OECD and Eurostat, 2005) defines innovation as the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service) or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or external relations. An innovation must have novelty.
 
This novelty can be to the firm, to the market or to the world. Sometimes, it can be a combination of some or all. Inventions like electricity, automobile, computer and, lately, applications, fit this bill. Indeed, it will take an innovation to solve any problem. It stands against reason that a problem can be solved by repeating an approach, instrument and idea that hitherto failed, as we are always tempted to do.
 
It is innovation, the bringing of something new into a situation, that brings change. In other words, change is innovation. Therefore, if you want to change a situation, bring innovation. In looking at Africa’s development challenges, there is the need to identify the persistence of certain issues. The first problem is the disarticulation of Africa’s economy.
 
Africa is the least economically integrated region in the world. This is best illustrated in the pattern of trade within the continent. According to the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in a 2015 report, only 14 percent of Africa’s total trade is within the continent. This implies that the remaining 86 per cent is with other regions.
 
In contrast, North America’s internal trading is 61 per cent, EU is 62 per cent while Central America is 45 per cent. The reasons for this, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is that Africa produces primary products and imports finished products which the continent does not produce.
 
This can be effectively addressed with switching from being producers of primary to secondary goods and adding values. Adding values creates a value chain that increases the momentum of development. In our own little way, when our administration was inaugurated, we made a policy that all government’s purchases must be made within the state, except where it is absolutely necessary to do otherwise.
 
This created a value chain that raised the economy of our state from bottom up and empowered people mostly in the grassroots, especially artisans. In a small way, that is innovation. If this should happen on a larger scale, continent wide, where most of government spending is retained locally, the result would be transformational in a very short time.
 
There have been several and far-reaching attempts at African integration. These are commendable. However, rather than geld the continent economically, they are dangerously going towards political integration. Specific attempts should be made, apart from the point I made earlier on adding value and transiting secondary producers, tariff and non tariff barriers to trade in the continent should be removed.
 
There has to be a creative ways of doing this. It is disheartening that more economic interaction is done informally than is done formally because of tariff and non-tariff hindrances. One other factor is non-competitiveness in Africa’s economy. A 2015 competitiveness report by the World Bank laments that Africa’s economy is the least competitive globally and has remained in the same position for 15 years.
 
The various causes of these include absence of innovation and poor productivity. I believe these two are mutually reinforcing. Even in agriculture which is the main occupation in Africa, productivity has been very low. While Nigeria and much of Africa are leading producers of cassava for instance, the traditional yield per hectare has been around 10 tonnes while global average in 2010 was put at 12.5 tonnes. However, India’s average yield in 2010 was 34.8 tonnes per hectares.
 
If Africa can double her food output from cultivating the same land size as she currently does, it is possible to eliminate hunger from the continent. But this will require innovation in crop science, mechanisation, improved inputs and agriculture entrepreneurship. The knowledge base has to be widened and scientific findings have to be brought to (and applied by) the farmers. Regrettably, much of agriculture practices in Africa are still primitive.
 
One interesting cause of low productivity is poor health, especially caused by malaria. It has been established that malaria cuts productivity in Africa by as much as 40 per cent. It is a major cause of poverty, just as it is also a product of poverty. There should be an innovative way of eliminating malaria and other common diseases that debilitate health and reduce productivity in Africa.
 
Simultaneous antimalaria treatment of all persons and destruction of vectors in a continent wide exercise have become necessary; a clear departure from the old practice of haphazard treatment that consistently generate drug resistant strains of the notorious plasmodium falciparum.
 
There is also the urgent need to bring innovation to agriculture for farm produce to be converted into secondary products. For instance, our foods have remained the same from time immemorial. It is the same type of foods we derive from our crops in the past that we still do now. Nutritionists and food scientists should find better uses for our crops.
 
For instance, coconut in some parts of the world has become big business, with candies, cosmetics, medicine and animal feeds providing an industry that is geometrically bigger than the old practice of just cracking the hard shell and eating the nut. There should also be specialisation, as way of increasing competitiveness and shore up the volume of trade within the continent.
 
There are some places in Africa, in the eastern and central parts, countries like Zambia, Uganda and Kenya that are good in meat production. They can and should be made to specialise in producing the meat for the continent. There are other food items in which other countries have comparative advantages. A system of interdependence should be built around the strengths and needs of the countries of Africa.
 
The primary engine of development is education. This is where innovation is most needed. A functional system of education that develops and put to use the creativity of the people of Africa is urgently needed. I conceive of education as the preparation and development of worthy citizens for the immediate society and the world at large. Education is that infrastructure of the mind that develops our youths to become models of good character, innovation and competence.
 
This is what we call Omoluabi in Yoruba. Omoluabl is the epitome of virtue. An Omoluabi persona is honest, courageous and rational; one who excels in character, innovation and competence. The educated person is well connected to his or her culture and heritage.
 
Everything he/she does with others, the society, family and friends is driven by the desire to live and demonstrate good deeds. It is only when we interrogate this definition that we can know if we are meeting the objectives of education. Education in Africa has not been an engine of development, rather, it is a system of social stratification where bland certificates are issued in order to separate the political and economic elites from the others.
 
This is one of the factors responsible for poor productivity. Those who have certificates without the requisite skills cannot drive enterprise. They only see their certification as entitlement to privileges.
 
Education therefore is not harnessing Africa’s brain for her development. We see, sadly, how Africa’s vast human resources are tapped and brushed by other parts of the world and deployed for their own development. For instance, a report in the late 1980s put the population of Nigerian trained medical doctors in United States to be around 5,000.
 
It should more than that today, if it has not doubled. Invariably, the tendency is for the brightest and the best to be sucked into the Euro-American development vortex, in what has been infamously dubbed ‘brain-drain’. Africa’s educational and research institutions should be innovative to be able to attract and retain the continent’s best brains.
 
The universities and research institutions should in the real sense begin to provide idea leadership. Contemporary issues and challenges should be the focus of research. Too often we see a gap between academic output and societal challenges.
 
There should be workable academic solutions to the challenges of food shortage, housing shortage, unemployment and other ills of our society. These ideas should be clear departures from orthodoxies and failed attempts at solving the problems ab initio.
 
In other words, there should be innovation. We should be worried for instance that there are faculties of agriculture and even specialised universities of agriculture with full complement of professors. This is against the stark reality of hunger and food shortage in the continent. Research should not be for the purpose of obtaining promotion and academic chairs after which the papers begin to gather dust in some shelves.
 
A template should be developed to convert research into practice. Also, in light of the seminal works of Prof Babatunde Fafunwa, we should also consider the medium of teaching, which has remained the English language, French, Portuguese and possibly Arabic. Our children are not being taught in their mother tongue.
 
The process of translating thought in English to Yoruba or any other indigenous language takes a long time. It takes not less than 25 years to be able to reason in English. Sometimes, some scientific concepts in foreign language are never understood, even when we pass examinations on them with flying colours.
 
Education received the greatest attention and resources from our administration. One of our first tasks was to convene an education summit, headed by the Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka. That summit produced the blueprint of our education reforms.
 
In a state of roughly four million people, we embarked on an ambitious programme of building from scratch 100 elementary schools, 50 middle schools and 20 high schools. Each of these schools has a capacity for 600 pupils, with the high school being a three in one, each designed and equipped to sustain 1000 pupils.
 
These new public schools soon began to displace private schools. We provided a stand-alone e-learning tablet, which we named ‘Opon Imo’ (tablet of knowledge), for final year students in public schools, in share display of creativity.
 
This tablet contains all the recommended 56 textbooks by the three examination bodies for senior school certificate examinations in Nigeria. It contains also past questions of these bodies, a virtual classroom, extracurricular zone and the themes of Yoruba traditional religion. This tablet was the saving grace in a year when teachers went on strike for eight months and did not prepare the final year students for their examinations.
 
We also pioneered in a sense, the home grown school feeding programme (OMEALS), in which sumptuous meals are provided for 252,000 elementary school pupils on every school day. We say ‘in a sense’ because the programme had existed in an attenuated form prior to our coming, but our administration gave it a new identity and prominence.
 
Because of its success in Osun, it has now been nationally adopted by the Federal Government. Earlier in the week, our state organised a national induction for other states understudying the programme, preparatory to implementing it in their own states. I have also been invited to the British Parliament to share our experience with the world.
 
The interesting aspect of this programme, as it relates with innovation, is that it is integrated with our agriculture policy and local empowerment. Under it, 3000 community based caterers were employed, trained and assisted financially to set up. Also, to be able to feed these pupils, 15,000 whole chickens, 254,000 eggs, 35 heads of cattle and 400 tonnes of catfish are purchased weekly from farmers and food vendors.
 
This has kept the farmers in profitable business and even attracted other youths to farming. In keeping with the original objective of making the programme home grown, the O’MEALS has an input supply chain that is linked to our various agricultural development projects. Consequently, our Osun Fisheries Out-growers Production Scheme (OFOPS) provide the catfish used for the school feeding programme while Osun Broilers Out-growers Programme (OBOPS) provide part of the chickens.
 
Another innovation we brought to governance is the engagement of two tranches of 20,000 youths in public works. They were not given permanent employment but engaged as volunteers and given a monthly allowance.
 
They were eventually given soft landing in the various empowerment schemes of the government in agriculture and information communication technology. In less than two years of taking the youths off the streets, crime rate in the state dropped to rock bottom. It also reflated the local economy since the N200 million monthly allowances given to them percolated into the grassroots. It is government money well spent. The programme has since been adopted by the World Bank and introduced nationally in a modified form.
 
Again, the blueprint for national implementation was provided by our administration. It is to be imagined what a programme like this can achieve in a continent-wide basis if most of the unemployed youths are mopped off the streets and put in a place of self development while carrying out public works. African governments must also introduce innovations into public administration in order to increase their revenue base, reduce the cost of governance and bring effectiveness.
 
A simple policy of e-payment doubled our revenue from N300 million to N600 million, when we directed that all government’s revenues through taxes, fines, levies and dues be paid directly into government accounts in the banks, and not through middlemen or directly to any government agency again. On a final note, let me say that we don’t have to reinvent the wheel again. We can take the principles that brought development for others and modify them to our peculiar circumstances and needs in a most innovative way.
 
Let me conclude on a positive note. In place of Afro-pessimism and Afrocentric inspired optimism, we should develop an Afro-realism with a little optimistic outlook.
 
The democratic ferments in Africa, emanating from increased understanding by people that government, the basis of its composition and by extension, the policies it embarked upon, must be derived from the consent of the people and; secondly, the diffusion of developments in other places continues to put pressure on leaders. This brings a glimmer of hope.
 
This hope should be watered and nurtured into concrete action that will bear the fruits of the desired development.
 
There are already surfeits of predictions that Africa has the greatest potential for growth and empirical evidence that she has a very favourable return on investment and may soon overtake Asia. I thank the Africa Business Club once again for the invitation and wish this association great success in its mission of development for our continent. I thank you all for your attention.

Justice‎ Olamide Folahanmi Oloyede, of the High Court in the state of Osun has been recommended for compulsory retirement by the National Judicial Council (NJC).
 

 
The council also stated that ‎Justice Mohammed Nasiru Yunusa of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, has been kicked out of the bench for alleged misconduct.
The council said pending the time President Muhammadu Buhari and Aregbesola confirm the compulsory retirement, the NJC, in the exercise of its disciplinary powers under the constitution has suspended the two judges.
A statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the council’s acting Director of Information, Mr Soji Oye‎, said: “The council under the chairmanship of the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed at its 77th meeting which was held on 15th July, 2016 recommended the compulsory retirement from office of Hon. Justice Mohammed Nasiru Yunusa of the Federal High Court of the Lagos Division and Hon. Justice Olamide Folahanmi Oloyede of the High Court of Justice, Osun State.
“‎Justice Yunusa was recommended for compulsory retirement from office to President Muhammadu Buhari pursuant to the findings by the council following the allegations contained in petitions written against him by the Civil Society Network Against Corruption that His Lordship granted interim orders and perpetual injunctions, restraining the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police, the Independent Corruption Practices and Related Offence Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from arresting, investigating and prosecuting some persons accused of corruption in the following seven cases: FHCLCS14712015: between Simon John Adonimere & 3 Ors Vs. EFCC; FHCLCS47714: FRN V Michael Adenuga; FHCLCS134215: Senator Stella Oduah Vs. AG Federation, EFCC, ICPC & IGP; FHCLCS128515: Jyde Adelakun & Anor Vs. Chairman EFCC & Anor; FHCLCS1455: Dr. Martins Oluwafemi Thomas Vs. EFCC; FHCLCS126915: Hon Shamsudeen Abogu Vs. EFCC & Ors; and FHCLCS101215: Hon. Etete Dauzia Loya Vs. EFCC.”

The statement said that during‎ deliberations, council found as follows: “That Justice Yunusa assumed jurisdiction in the Federal High Court, Lagos, in suit FHCLCS134215 wherein the infringement of the applicant’s rights occurred in Abuja contrary to Section 46 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).
“That His Lordship contravened Rule 3.1 of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers in Suit FHCLCS144515 by claiming ignorance of the provisions of the Money Laundering Act when he made an order stopping EFCC from carrying out an investigation into a money laundering case involving $2.2 million against the applicant.
“That Hon. Justice Yunusa’s decision restraining the anti-graft agencies from carrying out their statutory functions in the first six cases mentioned is contrary to the judgment of the Court of Appeal in A.G Anambra State Vs. UBA which His Lordship quoted but did not apply in his rulings.”
On the allegations levelled against Justice Oloyede by a group, Osun Civil Societies Coalition, the council also recommended her compulsory retirement from office to the Osun governor sequel to the findings of its fact-finding committee that: “The judge failed to conduct herself in such a manner as to preserve the dignity of her office and the impartiality and independence of the judiciary when she wrote a petition against the Osun State governor and his deputy to the members of the state House of Assembly and circulated same to 36 persons/organisations.
“The petition written by the judge was said to contain political statements, unsubstantiated allegations and accusations aimed at deriding, demeaning and undermining the government of Osun State, the person and character of the governor (as one who is cruel, a liar and a traitor), his deputy and aides.
“The council also found that the petition contained statements calculated to incite the residents of Osun State against the state government and its elected officers.”
NJC added: “Justice Oloyede crossed the fundamental right of freedom of speech and created a negative perception of the Nigerian judiciary to the public.
“The allegations against the judge constitute a misconduct contrary to Section 292(1) (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended and Rules 1(1) and 5 of the 2016 Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The Chairman, Southwest Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Magnus Atilade has called for reconciliation, peace and harmony between CAN and Muslim community in Osun State for development to be realised.
 

 
Atilade, who gave the advice in a chat with Southwest Report in Lagos said all hands must be on deck so as to achieve peace in Osun State without which there would be no tangible development.
The cleric praised the efforts of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in providing free food to all students in public schools, building of new schools, new roads and extension of new roads which are praiseworthy.
He stressed that the church is not against the wearing of Hijab by Muslim girls because Catholic Rev. Sister wear it. He, however, said the school as an institution should promote uniformity which is why every school has a uniform to identify it.
On all schools being public, he said: “The mission schools established by the missionaries and other private school proprietors were forcibly taken over by the state governments.

“Ultimately our prayer is that the schools be returned to their original owners just as the former  Governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu did in Lagos.
“It is evident that no government can conveniently run public institutions. Why should government insist on taking over of schools?
“All over the world, no government,  be it capitalists, socialists or communists, has the sole responsibility of providing education for its people,” he said.
He lamented the non-payment of salaries by 28 state governments, saying it is pertinent for government to hand over mission schools to their original owners.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo  weekend commended Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State for his neutrality in the crisis in the state following recent court ruling permitting the use of female head scarf “hijab” in Osun State  public schools.
 

 
Obasanjo, who was the chairman of the occasion at the  handover ceremony of a multi-purpose hall and a library donated by Senator Yinka Omilani to Ode-Omu community stated that the recent utterances of Aregbesola on the court verdict on hijab had doused tension in the state.
 
Osun hijab crisis Aregbesola had at the wake of the controversy that trailed the order allowing the use of hijab, denied ordering the use of hijab in schools because he did not order his wife and daughter to use hijab.
 
Obasanjo, who was represented by Gbaabile of Egbaland, Dr. Femi Majekodunmi, said the statement from the governor confirmed his neutrality in the conflict over the use of hijab by female Muslim students in public schools in the state.
 
He said, “He (Obasanjo) is in China now. He said the governor (Aregbesola) said something which confirmed his neutrality in the matter; that word went a long way in dousing the tension which recently heightened in the state.”
 
Obasanjo described the donor, Senator Omilani, a former Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the South West, as a great philanthropist, noting that his contribution to his community, Osun State and Nigeria at large could never be overlooked. He urged the community to make judicious use of the facilities which he described as a significant legacy.
 
Speaking, Aregbesola reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to improving infrastructure in nooks and crannies of the state regardless of the current economic situation. He announced that the ongoing construction of Gbongan/Ode-Omu dual-carriageway would be completed before the end of the year.
 
The Governor attributed the slow-pace of work at various construction sites and projects by his administration to the effect of fall in the revenue accruing to the state, assuring that all the ongoing projects in the state would be completed before the end of his tenure.
 
He lauded Senator Omilani for his kind gestures, calling on other well-meaning Nigerians to emulate him, noting that no matter how committed government was, it could not do everything and called for support from the privileged and wealthy individuals in the society.
 
On his part, the donor of the library,  Senator Omilani attributed the construction of the ultra modern library and multi-purpose hall as part of his commitments towards the development of education and Ode-Omu community.
 
Omilani said the provision of supplementary readers in schools and public libraries was one way of expanding the horizon of knowledge and acquisition of life-long skill, saying the act would save the teeming youths from idleness and juvenile delinquency.

Osun Divisional Conference of Obas has lauded Governor Rauf Aregbesola for his frantic efforts towards overcoming the economic challenges facing the nation vis-à-vis the State of Osun.
 

 
 
In a communiqué issued at the end of its first quarterly meeting held at the Aragberi of Iragberi’s Palace, the conference admonished the entire people of the state to exercise patience and perseverance in this trying times, expressing the hope that all will soon be well.
The communiqué which was jointly signed by the Orangun of Ila, Oba Wahab Oyedotun and the Aragbiji of Iragbiji, Oba Adul-Rasheed Ayotunde Olabomi who are the Chairman and Secretary of Osun Divisional Conference of Obas respectively called on all able-bodied residents of the state to take advantage of the raining season by embarking on
farming to ensure mass food production.
The conference warned those who are in the habit of adorning themselves with beaded crowns, walking sticks and other paraphernalia of traditional rulers to desist from such acts, challenging the law enforcement agencies to enforce compliance with extant laws on this.
In their bid to ensure adequate security of lives and property, the royal fathers admonished the entire people of the state to be constantly vigilant and report all suspicious movements in their areas to law enforcement agencies and their respective traditional rulers.

…..charges Journalists to always cross check facts before rushing to press.
The Government of Osun has described the report in some newspapers that the Chief Judge of Osun, ‎Justice Oyebola Adepele Ojo has granted an Order compelling the state Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to provide information about the debt profile of the State‎ as totally false.
 

 
Osun Government in a statement signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Moshood Adeoti charged journalists to always cross-check facts before going to the press.
Adeoti held that the fact that newspapers could go to press with such falsehood leaves much to be desired, saying it depicts the abysmal level into which journalism has sunk.
He pointed out that the order of Court granted the applicant at the last week Wednesday was the right to put the other party on notice which in this instance, the Governor of the State, and not an order granting the substantive reliefs of the Applicant.
The SSG stressed that a little due diligence by journalists would have revealed to them that the process leading to the report was made “ex-parte”, which means that the other party needs not be put on notice before such application for leave is heard by the court.
‎
He added that a simple inquiry on the proceeding from the Clerk of the Court would have made this fact known to the reporters instead of rushing to the press without adequate understanding.
Statement noted, “The captioned news item in several newspapers including The Vanguard, Nigerian Tribune, The Guardian and The Nation of Thursday, 16 June, 2016 wherein it was reported that the Chief Judge granted an Order of Mandamus compelling the State Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, to provide information about the debt profile of Osun State and its defrayment modality among other orders is patently false.
“It is both sad and disheartening a journalist would go to press with a story without cross-checking the facts. The report referred to above is total falsehood. The applicant in the case is a well-known member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from Ikeji Arakeji, who served in the last PDP administration in the state.
“The Order of Court granted him is the right to put the other party on notice, in this instance, the Governor of the State of Osun. It is not an order granting the substantive reliefs of the Applicant.
“While we are not surprised by this type of unprofessional Journalism because so many self-styled journalists have taken over the entire media space, what we are particularly miffed about is that some reputable media outfits could publish a story of this nature without getting their facts right”.
Osun Government averred that the journalists in question are obviously acting in cahoots with some unscrupulous individuals to malign the person of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola and by extension the Government of the State of Osun.
It noted that like so many others who have tried to do so in the past, such persons will continue to fail in their dubious enterprise.
 
The statement added that the administration of Aregbesola is a respecter of the Judiciary and as such would not do anything to undermine the judicial process in any way or shy away from defending the acts of government at any point it is called upon to do so.
It called on the management of the relevant newspapers to call the journalists in question to order so that the news organisations would not be subjected to retracting stories at all times.

As the conversation on the actions of the Osun State Chapter of CAN continues, various perspectives and remarks are coming into play. Interestingly, Interestingly, ‘westerns-style’ education’ and ‘uniforms’ seems to be common parallels being used to justify positions. Therefore, the below is a review of the Hijab practices in those ‘Western Countries’.
 

1. In America, Hijab wearing is protected under the constitutional right to freedom of religion. Any school that violates this right can come under federal lawsuit. Organizations like the Americans Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) make sure that religious rights in schools are respected as well as make sure that schools do not endorse any religions. It can be a fine line. In addition to protecting the rights of girls to wear hijab it also allows for other religious articles such as the Jewish yarmulke or jewelry with the Star of David. It also protects the rights of Christians to wear the cross. It also guarantees that reasonable accommodations be made for students religions. So Muslims wanting to make their 5 daily prayers must be allowed to pray in school. However, schools can make certain requirements about a student’s hijab. For example, schools that require uniforms can require that a hijab be a specific color. Nursing and Medical schools can require that a hijab be a specific color (usually white) and that it be tight fitting and must be tucked into a shirt so that there are no ends hanging which could transfer diseases from one patient to another.
2. In Quebec, Canada, Emilie Ouimet, a 13-year-old high school student, was sent home from school for wearing the Hijab. The primary reason given by the principal was that the school had a strict code that forbade the use of caps or attire that would distinguish students from their peers – part of a dress code for disciplinary reasons. Soon after, a debate raged for months through Quebec society.
The parents of Dania Bali, a straight-A student who was asked to remove her Hijab filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. The Commission made a landmark ruling that turned the tide: Quebec schools did not have the right to prohibit any student from wearing religious attire (be it a Sikh turban, a Jewish yarmulke, a Christian cross, or Islamic Hijab).
More importantly, Quebec society was asked to consider the issues of religious pluralism in the emerging “global village”. The Quebec Charter of Rights guaranteed religious freedom, and no school administrator or employer could take that right away.
3. The Metropolitan Police in London has accepted Hijab as a uniform option for Muslim women serving in the force. The announcement was made at a conference on the theme of “Protect and Respect: Everybody’s Benefit”. The move is seen as a further sign of official acceptance of Britain as a religiously diverse society where faith-related accommodations should be made for all individuals.
4. In Scotland, the Police introduced a hijab to its uniform in an effort to attract more Muslim women to a force which is failing to reflect the diversity in the country’s population.
5. In Minnesota, Kadra Mohamed, (in the attached photo) became Minnesota’s first hijab wearing police woman and the first Somali female officer. Kadra Mohamed is only 21 years old and already making history.
We can go on and on with examples from Western Countries you want to tell us our education is styled after. You have also seen that Hijab can also be a part of a uniform too.
Aregbesola may have other faults, are we going to fault him on the ruling of a competent court of law?
I asked a question which no one endeavored to answer: what does a person’s hijab stops you from doing? How does a piece of scarf constitute a distraction when half-naked dresses do not?
Maybe we should do away with uniforms to please all, after all students in Anne Arundel County schools in the state of Maryland, USA do not wear uniforms.

The Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, has denied claims that he is behind the hijab crisis rocking the education sector in the state.
 

 
“Let me say this there is no official pronouncement on hijab. I have not ordered the use of hijab in schools and I challenge them to bring evidence,” Aregbesola said during a roundtable on developing collaborative framework for education organised by the Development and Advancement in Western Nigeria.
“It might interest you that my wife does not use hijab, my daughter does not use hijab. So, I did not order the use of hijab.
“My view on Islam is why I am suffering unmerited persecution. My crime is that I struggle to be a good Muslim and not because I hurt anybody.”
The governor insisted that there was no crisis in the state’s education sector and accused the media of celebrating idiocy by focusing on the decision of some “misguided students” of Baptist High School to wear church garments to school.
He said it was wrong for any religious body to claim the ownership of any public school in the state as government took over the schools about 41 years ago.
The governor also said it was not true that schools founded by Muslim were merged with schools established by Christian missionaries.

He explained that the hijab crisis started in 2012 when four Muslim students were prevented from using hijab after they were transferred to Baptist High School from a school where they were allowed to use hijab.
Meanwhile, some Muslim clerics stormed some public schools in Osogbo on Monday, insisting that female Muslim students should be allowed to wear hijab to the schools in accordance with the judgment of the Osun State High Court.
It was gathered that the clerics went to St. Charles’ High School and Ife Oluwa Middle School early in the morning but the teachers told them it would take a directive from the Ministry of Education for that to happen.
“Some Muslims came this morning and said they wanted to enforce the use of hijab. We explained to them that we will allow our students to wear hijab whenever we get instruction from the state government to do so,” the Principal of St. Charles’ High School, Mr. Anthony Famoriyo, said.
“You know that everything we do in schools follows procedure; what you teach, the way you teach. We are not against any group. We are here to teach our children and that is our mission.”