The Oyo state government has expressed its commitment to achieve more than 50% exclusive Breastfeeding by nursing mothers by the end of year 2017, saying that series of sensitization activities will be done to commemorate the 2017 World Breastfeeding week in the state.

The testimonials on safety and security in the Oyo state of today keep coming in droves, and they are actually very immersive.
It was very bad before now; those among us who can remember do understand.
Well, the times have changed, aren't they?
#AsiwajuNiWa

LOOKING BACK - Achieving a streak of SECURITY has been one of the major legacy landmarks of this Ajimobi government in Oyo state, and it is those who acknowledge how our state was before now, will appreciate this fact better.
When was the last time we had violent and deadly breakouts in Ibadan or Oyo for example, something that was almost a societal staple?
Well, we choose this day to appreciate how well the Pacesetter has fared in crime reduction and safety, we commend the men, women and policies that have made it happen, and as these pictures below show, it's been a long time coming.
#AsiwajuNiWa
#AjumoseSecurity

BY QUICKSILVER
There is no doubting the fact that an average citizen of Oyo State is politically sophisticated, highly intelligent and sagacious. They don’t suffer fools gladly and they call a spade by its name without minding whose ox is gored. All these attributes have always come to play during political discourse and whenever the need to make informed political decisions arises. It could, therefore, be safely concluded that their resolve to give Governor Abiola Ajimobi an unprecedented second term in office in 2015, through their overwhelming votes, was not a blunder.

Rather, it was a reward for his monumental achievements in the areas of peace and security, road construction, education, health, agriculture, physical and social infrastructure, among others, during his first term. This feat has equally received applause from far and wide.

For instance, a respected Ibadan elder and former envoy, Ambassador Olu Sanu, had, while acknowledging the governor’s exemplary performance, once said: “we are indeed very lucky to have Sen. Ajimobi as the governor of Oyo State. He came around at a time that Oyo State needed a leader who would not be insular in his thinking; a leader who would harness all our resources for the development of our state and one who would create an enabling environment for people to achieve the best they could.’’

A former Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria in Oyo State, Apostle Sunday Popoola, had also, in a letter to the governor entitled “A Word of Encouragement’’ saluted what he called Ajimobi’s courage, vision and determination.

The cleric had said further, “Ibadan had been a huge slum and a disgraceful sight to behold in the state called the Pacesetter. Now, the change we need is ongoing. I also appreciate the speed at which the work is being done. It takes guts to leave the ruts.

I am so delighted that we have found in you a leader with guts to get us out of the ruts we have found ourselves in the land.” In spite of these accolades, the governor had not rested on his laurels. Rather, he has sustained the tempo of development in all sectors, including industrialization, even in the face of dwindling resources.

But, to the uninformed, and those who have allowed political affiliations to becloud their sense of judgment, Ajimobi has got it all wrong. One of their reasons, which are jejune in all intent and purposes, is that Ajimobi has challenged the stat us quo by insisting that things should be done differently.

In their reckoning, the governor has committed many ‘sins’ and should be crucified. They care less if the paradigm shift has changed the typeface of Oyo State for the better and thus resulted in the tremendous growth and development of the state; a state that had earlier been held by the jugular by some reactionary elements.

Upon his election in 2011, Ajimobi met an Ibadan with the renown of one of the dirtiest cities in Nigeria, a development, he said, was unacceptable. As part of his administration’s comprehensive urban renewal policy aimed at changing the face of not only Ibadan, the state capital, but also other major towns and cities in the state, a ban was placed on street trading. An ultra-modern market was built by the state government at Scout Camp, Molete, Ibadan, as an alternative for the displaced traders, while the stalls were allocated to them free.

The governor also mandated the 11 local governments in Ibadanland to build neighbourhood markets in their respective council areas to ease trading. Aside helping in restoring sanity and improving the aesthetics of the city, the policy has most importantly saved the lives of the traders who hitherto had the unfortunate history of being overrun by vehicles while plying their trade by the roadside. Interestingly, this has become one of Ajimobi’s undoing as political jobbers have arm-twisted his good gesture to turn the gullible traders against him.

One of the many sins of the governor is also the staff verification that was conducted in all ministries, departments and agencies across the state with a view to eliminating fraud, errors in the payment of salaries and pensions, as well as determining ghost workers.

But the governor was vindicated with the mindboggling discovery of several cases of multiple salary payments into single accounts or to single names in other instances, as well as revelation of employees who have passed retirement age still drawing salaries.

Among other infractions was the discovery of invalid BVN, invalid bank accounts and name details, as well as employees with mismatched names, totalling 16,532, out of the 100,259 workers verified. While some with valid proofs have so far been cleared and re-absorbed into the payroll, available records show that several others have either voluntarily exited or have been eased out of civil service, thus reducing the state’s huge monthly wage bill. Also, when the automatic promotion policy in public secondary schools was abolished in 2016 and the students who failed some compulsory subjects were refused promotion, hell was almost let loose.

Critics went to town, calling Ajimobi all sorts of names for daring to stop the policy, which had unfortunately resulted in poor outings in public examinations by the students. Interestingly, the policy paid off, with the state coming second in the 2016 National Examination Council (NECO) examination among the 36 states in the country.

Part of the moves by government to address the infrastructural decay in stateowned secondary schools was the introduction of School Government Board (SGB) to serve as a masterstroke for education revival in the state. With membership drawn from the alumni associations, parents, community leaders, among others, the boards were constituted by the governor in all the 628 public secondary schools for all-inclusive management of the schools. Although critics have been unrelenting in their failed attempt at shooting down the policy, instances abound that it has started yielding result.

For instance, the old students of Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, recently donated a block of classrooms constructed at a cost of N18 million for their alma mater. Similarly, Lagelu Grammar School, Ibadan, also got a block of toilets worth N11 million from its old boys. A private firm, BOVAS and Company Limited, has just handed over a block of six classrooms with the capacity of accommodating 300 students, valued at N16 million, to Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora.

This is aside the 70,000 books covering different subjects, donated by a US-based non-governmental organization, Jewel of Africa, to the state government. Governor Ajimobi has also erred over his foreign trips which, in the estimation of his sworn critics, were mere jamborees; and the ultimate aim of which was to fleece the state government of its scarce resources in their narrow reasoning.

Whereas, those trips, particularly to China, had, at the last count, attracted no fewer than 36 new companies to the state, with close to 4,000 direct employment, according to the statistics obtained from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.

A further dividend of these trips was the rating of Oyo as the fifth most investment friendly state by the National Bureau of Statistics, with the governor adjudged to have attracted more than $61m (N22.4 billion) foreign direct investment to the state in the last six years.

The establishment of the Polaris-Pacesetter free trade zone and an industrial park along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, and the fact that seven firms, among the 157 expected to berth in the zone, are scheduled for inauguration by the end of the year is a testament that the China shuttles have been of immense benefit to the state.

Inexplicably, the ongoing review of the 1957 Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration, which is aimed at modernizing the process of ascension to the Olubadan throne and ultimately lift the status of Ibadan as a modern city, has also pitted Ajimobi against those masquerading as the custodians of the tradition.

The antagonists are unfazed by the argument that the review would give room for the emergence of more beaded crowns in the ancient city, who would be answerable to the Olubadan as the imperial majesty. While the critics are busy spreading falsehood and setting the revered Olubadan, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji and indeed, a section of the public against the governor, prominent Ibadan indigenes, including members of the Olubadan-in-Council have asked Ajimobi to forge ahead with the exercise. Only recently, the immediate past President of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII), Chief Wole Akinwande, said in an interview that there was nothing bad in the review as long as it was aimed at further enhancing the status of the Olubadan and, by extension, the ancient city.

The wide acceptance of the exercise was also manifest at the public sitting of the Justice Akintunde Boade-led commission of inquiry on the review, where 91, out of a total 118 memorandum submitted, were said to be in support. On June 16, 2017, Ajimobi flagged off the construction of the 32km first phase of 110km Ibadan Circular Road to boost the socio-economic development and transportation system in Oyo State. The project was conceived in 2002 by the Alhaji Lam Adesina-led administration but had suffered neglect and abandonment under successive administrations. It is estimated to cost N70 billion and will be financed through a facility sourced from the Nexim Bank of China by the contractor, the ENL Consortium, on a `build, operate and transfer’ arrangement with the state government.

No sooner had the project been flagged off than those professing to be the ‘dreamer’ of the project took to town to condemn Ajimobi, the ‘actualizer’ of our generation, for daring to resuscitate the project. Explanations that the project would enlist Oyo among the elite states with modern road network; that it would ease the congestion within the city; and ultimately incentivize investors fell on deaf ears. Ajimobi’s other ‘wrongs’ are his knack for merit, orderliness, due process, doing things right and doing the right things; cleanliness, his bold and confident posturing, and public acknowledgment of his wife, Chief Florence Ajimobi, as the cornerstone of his political odyssey.

As a former Secretary-General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr. Kunle Olajide, would say, “Nigerians are usually very quick to criticize leadership when things go wrong but often, they never commend government when they perform.” While waiting for their commendations would be tantamount to waiting for Godot, the opposition should at least acknowledge the giant strides of Ajimobi.

Ajanaku koja mo ri n kan firi, t’aba r’erin ka so pe a r’erin (only the visually impaired will deny the commanding presence of an elephant). Posterity, no doubt, will vindicate Ajimobi as the game changer of the modern Oyo State.

For a while now, the Ajimobi government has devoted 100% of the Federal allocation to offset salaries, pensions and gratuities. Now, more than the FG's suggested 50%, Governor Ajimobi has approved the use of 72% of the latest Paris Club refund to pay 2 months of workers salaries; thus making it the 4th time Oyo workers would be receiving 2 months of pay at once in recent times.
It is clear that the Ajimobi government is determined to lead the people way past the biting effects of recession through this very prominent and practical WELFARIST policy.
#AsiwajuNiWa
#AjumoseWelfare

The continued revamping of the Health facilities and Healthcare delivery in Oyo state is what this visionary and first-of-its-kind N50 billion HEALTHCARE ENDOWMENT FUND is primarily set up for; this is evident in the projects already outlined for this fund.
We join many to commend the state government for this, and it's no surprise that many individuals and organizations, Pacessetters and patriots alike, from within and in the diaspora, are ready to contribute to the fund.
#AsiwajuNiWa
#AjumoseHealth

Our public universities need to think out of the box to find creative solutions to their funding crisis
The nation woke up recently to the decision by 38 public universities to jack up their tuition fees. According to the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Deji Omole, the hike was necessitated by poor funding from the owners, the federal and state governments. Whatever may be the merit of this decision, we are concerned that it may obstruct the peace of the universities, whose students have already notified the authorities of their intention to oppose the proposal because it would shut out many of them who might not be able to afford the increment.

There is no doubt that the nation’s public universities are facing hard financial times. This is a corollary of government’s meagre attention to education, a fact attested to by its poor annual budgetary allocation to the sector. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommends that developing nations allocate 26 per cent of their annual budgets to education to enable them close the yawning gap in the sector’s development and to lay a solid foundation for their future growth, which would rely largely on the quality of their human resources.
Government, at all levels in our country, has performed abysmally on this front. In this year’s budget, for instance, the share for education in the federal government N7.3 trillion appropriation is a mere N448.01 billion, a miserly six per cent. But nothing demonstrates the perennial disdain for the sector than the allocation of a miserable N50 billion to capital development while a whopping N398.01 billion is allotted to recurrent expenditure. But reports on education from the 36 states of the federation are no better. The figures for 2016, for instance, showed that 33 of the 36 states allocated N653.53 billion, representing 10.7 per cent of their combined total budget estimates of N6.1 trillion to the sector.
These poor allocations fly in the face of government’s own realization of the dire situation in the Nigerian universities. An enquiry commissioned by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2012 on the needs of these universities led the federal government to earmark N1.3 trillion for special intervention in the Nigerian public universities over the next six years. Only N200billion has been released to date.
With low budgetary allocation to education, it is little wonder why tertiary institutions, particularly universities are broke with the attendant degeneration of their infrastructural facilities as well as lowering of standards of teaching and learning. The situation has led to perennial shut down and instability in the public institutions. Their global ranking has sunk so low that none of them is ranked among the top 800 in the world or among the top 10 in Africa.
Meanwhile, in spite of government’s stated commitment to education, widespread agitations for increased budgetary allocation to the sector has not persuaded it to take more substantive steps in that direction, notwithstanding its complimentary funding of tertiary education through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
While we support the clamor for increased funding, we nonetheless think that given the dwindling resources of government, the tertiary institutions need to think out of the box and find more creative solutions to the problem. Elsewhere, universities have explored several ways of raising money to fund their operations. In this regard, ours need not reinvent the wheel. The common avenues include donations, endowments, professional chairs, gifts, grants and consultancy services. We note that many of our universities have embarked on these but their performance needs to be stepped up.
The total earning of Nigeria’s 89 universities was N340.6 billion in 2016. Clearly much more work has to be done to shore up internally generated revenue in order to wean the universities of their virtual total dependence on government funding. More importantly, our universities’ administrators also need to manage their resources prudently and transparently as part of the challenge in several cases has been misappropriation of funds kept in their care.
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Elsewhere, universities have explored several ways of raising money to fund their operations. In this regard, ours need not reinvent the wheel. The common avenues include donations, endowments, professional chairs, gifts, grants and consultancy services. We note that many of our universities have embarked on these but their performance needs to be stepped up

Unprecedented governance - that's what we've largely seen in Oyo State for a while now, the facts are there and bare for every proud Oyo State citizen to see in these past 6 years. Governance, #koseleri way. #AsiwajuNiWa

JUMOSE INDUSTRIALIZATION & INVESTMENT - #DoYouKnow:

▪That since 2014, Oyo state has been ranked by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission and Nigerian Bureau of Statistics among the top 5 most investment-friendly states in Nigeria?

▪That before 2013, Oyo state languished in the 26th position amongst the 36 states of the country in terms of investment friendliness and opportunities?

▪That in order to attract investments, #Koseleri focused primarily on ensuring peace and security that once seemed unachievable by past governments?

▪That our state embarked on providing enabling infrastructure for investment opportunities by the way of rural and urban road construction, about 2,000km till date?

▪That #Koseleri also provided administrative infrastructure, setting up a 'Bureau of Investment Promotion' to focus on piloting, procuring & promoting Oyo-centric investments?

▪That a 4000-hectare Free Trade Zone (FTZ) was set up to encourage an influx of both indigenous & foreign investments?

▪That 162 plots of this FTZ has been commissioned as the Polaris Pacesetter Industrial Park, with 157 foreign companies already registering interest to pitch in?

▪That 7 of these foreign companies will start operations by the end of this year, 2017?

▪ *That what all these above means to the Oyo state citizen is a minimum of 20,000 gainful jobs, a surge in intra-state commerce, over $250 million turnover, and a bustling economy that breeds wealth for all?*

▪That already, in the past 4 years, #Koseleri policies has attracted $65 million in investments and 34 new companies across the state?

Well, now you know!

#AsiwajuNiWa
#AjumoseInvestment
#AjumoseIndustrialization

AJUMOSE INDUSTRIALIZATION & INVESTMENT - #DoYouKnow:
▪That since 2014, Oyo state has been ranked by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission and Nigerian Bureau of Statistics among the top 5 most investment-friendly states in Nigeria?
▪That before 2013, Oyo state languished in the 26th position amongst the 36 states of the country in terms of investment friendliness and opportunities?
▪That in order to attract investments, #Koseleri focused primarily on ensuring peace and security that once seemed unachievable by past governments?
▪That our state embarked on providing enabling infrastructure for investment opportunities by the way of rural and urban road construction, about 2,000km till date?
▪That #Koseleri also provided administrative infrastructure, setting up a 'Bureau of Investment Promotion' to focus on piloting, procuring & promoting Oyo-centric investments?
▪That a 4000-hectare Free Trade Zone (FTZ) was set up to encourage an influx of both indigenous & foreign investments?
▪That 162 plots of this FTZ has been commissioned as the Polaris Pacesetter Industrial Park, with 157 foreign companies already registering interest to pitch in?
▪That 7 of these foreign companies will start operations by the end of this year, 2017?
▪ *That what all these above means to the Oyo state citizen is a minimum of 20,000 gainful jobs, a surge in intra-state commerce, over $250 million turnover, and a bustling economy that breeds wealth for all?*
▪That already, in the past 4 years, #Koseleri policies has attracted $65 million in investments and 34 new companies across the state?
Well, now you know!
#AsiwajuNiWa
#AjumoseInvestment
#AjumoseIndustrialization

[left][/left]https://www.facebook.com/asiwajuniwa/posts/1351144831671967:0

[left][/left]https://www.nairaland.com/3898669/nipc-nbs-ranked-oyo-state#58094993

[left][/left]DAILY POST Sun 02nd Jul, 2017 19:17
Oyo State Government has urged residents in the state to expose suspected criminals in their domain.

It stated that this was necessary so as to complement and sustain government’s efforts at making the state a safe haven for them and visitors.

Executive Secretary, Oyo State Security Trust Fund (OYSTFF), Mr. Femi Oyedipe who made this plea at the weekend, explained that the state government in conjunction with the security agencies in the state was working round the clock to arrest the pockets of armed robbery incidents in some areas.

“The government and security agencies cannot do the task of protecting our community alone.

“We need the support of the people of the state. We cannot be in all the nooks and crannies of Oyo State at the same time and this is why we need the support of our people.

“We want them to collaborate with us to expose criminals in their domains and we guarantee the protection of their identities as we have been doing”.

He then called on the residents to take advantage of the control and emergency numbers regularly released by the police for feedback, noting that the OYSSTF will also release its communication room details being set up to complement the control room of the police to the general public soon.

Oyedipe assured that the identity of informants will be protected, warning that government and security agencies will not treat with kid gloves anyone who wants to mislead them or whoever stands in the way of justice.

He revealed that the repositioned state’s crime-fighting outfit, Operation Burst, will be launched in a matter of days to increase and improve crime-fighting potency and smoke out evil doers from the state.

“The unique collaborative efforts of all the security agencies and stakeholders in the state have given the state unprecedented orderly and peaceful environment in the last 6 years.

“Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s name is synonymous with peace and he has been able to bar brigandage and thuggery from the state.

“However, we still have pockets of crimes which we are working round the clock to curtail. That is why we must involve communities in security and policing efforts.

“We know it looks unachievable to have 100% crime free society but we are doing everything humanly possible to achieve this goal.

“We will not relent in our security measures which have positioned the state as a safe haven for investors and at the same time support the industrial revolution going on in the state”, he stated.

Oyedipe assured that OYSSTF will continue to support security agencies in the state to ensure peace and tranquility through the provision of equipment.

To God belongs the Kingdom of Heaven and the Earth, He creates what He wills, … Verily Allah is all knower and able to do all things

[left][/left]https://oyolawa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/LAUTECH-WHITE-PAPER.pdf

Whether unintended or deliberate, it is now a fact that years of layered maladministration and fiscal mismanagement are the hunk harbingers of the hurtful halt that has besieged the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, for a while now.

It is high time we stated and followed facts of the situation without getting our views and opinions blurred by the sting of emotions. This only applies if we truly desire an end to the lingering impasse.

Without mincing words, it is almost incurably sad that students, parents and workers alike have had to suffer stagnation and drought due to this lingering crisis. But also, judging from recent moves, it is an unmissable fact that the two owner states of the university, Oyo and Osun, especially the latter, have both recognized the importance to forestall such halt again. A reason why they set up a panel that gave a 75-number recommendation from a 6-point mandate viz – (i) To review the current terms of engagement of the University, with a view to consolidating the joint-ownership structure of the institution; (ii) To conduct an audit into the institution’s sources and application of funds; (iii) To review the structure of the institution, with a view to enhancing its efficiency and effectiveness; (iv) To propose a suitable funding structure that will ensure non-dependence of the institution on Government – subventions; (v)To propose suitable strategies for the overall improvement in the institution’s quality of education and service delivery; (vi) Consider any other matter relevant to the upliftment and sustainability of the institution and make suitable recommendations on same.

Then, I was privy to a detailed reading of the White Paper submitted to the Oyo state government on behalf of the two owner states by the Chief Wole Olanipekun-led panel, and I was shocked to the bones at the level of administrative imbalances and fiscal flaws replete within that document.

How can you run a public institution this huge for almost six (6) years without an audit, be it internal or external? How can the subventions, IGR, grants, TETFund, etc, be unaccounted for by audit or other means for five (5) successive academic sessions? How can you run a non-computerized Bursary and Audit departments and not expect to be prone to graft and a risk of managerial misappropriation? The Panel also observed the existence of ten (10) Chief Accountants in the Bursary department and regarded the number as “too big” as some of them would either be redundant or underutilized. One would ask, “why does LAUTECH need 10 chief accountants while some Federal, State and Private Universities use far too less?”. Well, the panel asked that it be reduced to four. Furthermore, how does one explain the need for 97 bank accounts for a singular institution? Red flags almost everywhere!

Many other unnecessary bleeding points and maladministrative abscess were indicated in that 75-pointer White Paper, and all were accompanied with many well thought-out recommendations to reverse the damnifying drain, and set the institution back on a stable course.

For example, in this document, the Panel recommends a minimum of 10% of the University’s IGR for funding its business units/operations so that in future the quantum of income of the University would be higher than its present income. It also advised the expansion of LAUTECH enterprises to accomodate further diversification. Furthermore, it advised that the laws establishing the University should be amended to allow for construction of student hostels on either Public-Private Partnership (PPP) or Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. Another recommendation was that the University should make internal transportation arrangement for the students through PPP arrangement to alleviate the plight of the students. All these and more, the document said will reduce over dependence on funding from either the owner-states or student fees. It did also stress that the financial commitment of the owner states should not be caught in doubt despite the recommendation of fiscal independence for the institution.

In brief, contrary to what a Dr. Adejumo, an ASUU executive and LAUTECH Lecturer said on Channel’s TV Sunrise Daily programme, the root cause for this painful pause of productivity in LAUTECH is chronic internal mismanagement, as espoused by a majority of the recommendations in that panel report, and NOT “chronic underfunding” per se.

Yes, everyone with sane thoughts agree that the two owner states provide subventions to the university, and while they have lapsed in payment of these subventions for a while, that lapse is neither the singular nor major reason for the halt. At this level going forward, what the owner states seek is transparency in administrative management and even, a degree of fiscal independence for the school by recommending diverse revenue generation means, most of which are addressed in the quite detailed White Paper.

As a parent with a daughter stuck in her third year (300 level) for almost 2 sessions and without the means to bail her out of grief by enrolling her into a private university, you could imagine my pain all these while and why I hauled expletives at the two state governments at every chance I got. But of late, after seeing details of administrant rot espoused in this White Paper, I’ve had to recycle my pain and redirect my anger and prayers at the right diagnosis.

In fact, I opine that the state governments make this White Paper public, publish it someway. It’ll do a whole lot to help converge thoughts and congregate efforts of all parties involved at solving this issue from its foundation.

Without a surge of emotion, any responsible parent like me will agree to tow any course of solution being primed to finally forestall a recurrence of this sad phase. It should be agreeable by all sides that the system within the school be healed of managerial cancers before more funding is procured and poured into the school, else, this kind of situation will surely reoccur; it’s no rocket science!

As I said above, at this level, we can’t seriouslty want a change in the fortunes of this once best state-owned university in the country, by dissipating energy on insulting remarks, needless propaganda and endless protests. We need to rather converge on facts together, students, parents, workers, ASUU, SSANU and NASU alike, and tow a path to progress from there.

Anyone would imagine how the faces of students and parents lit with hope to have heard the Commissioner of Education in Oyo state say that LAUTECH could be reopened some four (4) weeks from now, especially if all parties involved cooperate with the process of thorough external audit commissioned by the state to ensure absolute clarity, transparency and stability, moving forward.

The role of the school authority to make this happen is to allow the external audit to be done in time and successfully at that. Parents too must be clearly seen joining hands with the students to rechannel common energies to appeal to school associations to cooperate with external auditors to complete audit and thus fast track the reopening of the school and resumption of academic activities.

It’s no farce, that to forestall fiscal flaws and further failures in the running of LAUTECH, we all must follow the facts without the flak of emotions to find a final and lasting solution to the current siege, and ensure this university is seen as great again.



Ven. Sunday Adeniran-Awe wrote from All Saint’s Anglican Church, Ijemo-agbadu, Oke-Itoku,
Abeokuta-East Archdeaconry, Ogun state.

Ibadan will soon fly

adele2202:
▪ The Ibadan Circular road is a major and modern bypass road developed in accordance to the Ibadan master plan.

▪ The road is unprecedented in span, 110km, and monumental in intra and inter city impact, it eases connectivity within Ibadan and across the southwest states.

▪ It was conceived for construction 15 years ago, but has suffered abandonment in as many years too.

▪ The administration of Governor Abiola Ajimobi has prioritized the construction of the (four) 4 wings of the road viz Northeast, Northwest, Southwest and Southeast.

▪ The NorthEast wing, totalling 32.2km and spanning Badeku village to Ajanla village on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, will be completed withing 18 months

▪ The road is another people-oriented project birthed from Oyo state government's masterful Public-Private-Partnership initiatives.

▪ The construction of the Ibadan Circular Road comes at no direct cost to Oyo State Government; the project partner (ENL Consortium) shall raise fund to finance it on the basis of `build, operate and transfer’ module.

▪ The construction is estimated to cost about 70 billion naira.

▪ The project partner, ENL Consortium, has already leveraged on their international reputation to raise 232 million dollars from the Nexim bank to immediately kickstart and complete the construction within stipulated time.

▪ The Ibadan Circular Road will give great mileage to Oyo State government's drive towards unprecedented socioeconomic development of our the state and its people.

The move by Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, to review the 1957 Olubadan Chieftaincy Declaration received a boost on Wednesday, as the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji and members of the Olubadan-in-Council endorsed the move.

The governor had, on May 19, inaugurated a seven-man judicial commission of inquiry, headed by a retired High Court judge, Justice Akintunde Boade, to review the existing chieftaincy declaration and other related chieftaincies in Ibadanland.
The royal father, while speaking at the end of a meeting held with the governor at the Governor’s Office, said he and all his chiefs were in full support of the exercise, saying it would bring development to the ancient city.

Olubadan said, "Our visit (to the governor) today, as you can see, is to put paid to the rumours and misgivings about the review of the Olubadan Chieftaincy declaration.
``We have come to show our sincere support to the governor and to let him know that we are on the same page with him as the review is for the progress of Ibadan and its people.’’
Also speaking, the Otun Olubadan, High Chief Lekan Balogun, who was one of the two High Chiefs that had dragged the governor to court over the issue, attributed his action to what he called communication gap.
According to him, the exercise was aimed at modernizing the methods of ascension to the Olubadan throne.

Balogun said, ``Change is the only constant thing in life. There is nothing that is above change. All the furore which had resulted from government’s move was due to communication gap but that has been resolved now.
"Life is dialectical; things must be changing and we must all be growing with it. The government is quite right to have set up machinery to look into the law and see how it can be made better.
"We believe it is a welcome development, especially with the kind of governor we have who is keenly interested in the growth and development of Ibadanland,"
The high chief said that the benefits inherent in the review were many, noting that the Olubadan would henceforth enjoy the company of beaded crown chiefs whenever he had any outing.
This, he said, would raise the status of Ibadan as one of the most important cities in Yoruba land.
He added: "The benefits to be derived from the review are enormous. Even if we don't want to pre-empt the future, we will wait till things are resolved fundamentally. But, we know that Olubadan will no longer be moving alone any longer.
"Of course, there will be high chiefs with the nomenclature of Obas, the Olubadan won't be on his own anymore. When royal majesties (in other cities) go out, they are always in company with beaded crown Obas.``
Another member of the Olubadan-in-Council, High Chief Owolabi Olakulehin, said virtually all the neighbouring Yoruba states had adopted the system being contemplated for Ibadan through the review.
Other members of the Olubadan-in-Council at the meeting were the Otun-Balogun, High Chief Olufemi Olaifa; Ashipa Olubadan, High Chief Eddy Oyewole; Osi Balogun, High Chief Tajudeen Ajibola; and Ekaarun Olubadan, High Chief Amidu Ajibade,.
Others included, Ashipa Balogun Olubadan, High Chief Lateef Gbadamosi; Ekaarun Balogun, High Chief Kola Adegbola; and Ekerin Olubadan, High Chief Abiodun Kola-Daisi.