Osun defender april 5, 2016 edition

www.osundefender.org Tuesday, april 5, 2016 That Yoruba language and other indigenous Nigerian languages may not go into extinction formed the kernel of the discussion at this year’s International Mother Tongue Day organised at the Ife City Hall, Ile-Ife, state of Osun,

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VOL. 11. NO.034

Sustaining our linguistic heritage

At the event which was organised by Jabulani Media Link, the Ooni of Ife, His Royal Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Eniitan Ogunwusi and Senator Gbenga Ashafa, the Senator

representing LagosEast Senatorial District, strongly made a case for the promotion of Nigerian languages in order to sustain our cultural heritage. The duo called on the Federal Government

to revisit the country’s education language policy with a view to promoting individual’s Mother Tongue so as to prevent it from going into extinction.We wholeheartedly share the thoughts of these

two prominent Nigerians. For the drawback that has happened to our indigenous languages really calls for worry.

Presently these languages are under the threat of being

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consigned into the dustbin of history and if urgent steps are not taken towards promoting them - especially in schools - then they may go the way of the dinosaur totally.

- Pg 2 Competition In Osun Public School Pupils Win Mathematics

Make Political Positions Less Attractive Tinubu Is A Political Juggernaut - Akere - See Story On Page 2

•Osun Speaker Says It’s An Antidote For Violence

- See Story On Page 2

•Honourable Bola Onigbogi, presenting an Award of Excellence for Courage and Perseverance to Governor Rauf Aregbesola, during the 30th Anniversary and official Commissioning of the Root Club House, Ilesa, at the Roots Club Crescent, Ilesa, State of Osun, recently.

Ekitigate: We Won’t Allow Fayose To Rig Us Out In 2018 - APC

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osun Defender Tuesday, April 5, 2016

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Public School Pupils Win Mathematics Competition In Osun

By ismaeel uthman hree pupils of different public schools in IjesaSouth Federal Constituency of the State of Osun have emerged first, second and third winners of a Mathematics Competition organized by a member of the Federal House of Representatives, Honourable Ajibola Famurewa.

A p u p i l s o f I l e s a Ilesa, Ayodeji Ayodele, Grammar School, Okesa, c a m e f i r s t , A y o m i d e

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Faniyan of St. Margaret, High School II, Oke-Oye, Ilesa, won the second prize, while Joseph Shadrach of United Anglican School, Bolounduro, Ilesa came third at the competition.

The winners were Senior Secondary School (SS2) pupils, who are

preparing for the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

One hundreds pupils of different public and private secondary schools across the four local government council areas that made up Ijesa-South Federal Constituency participated in the competition.

All the 12 pupils that made the final stage were given prizes.

Speaking at the award-presentation to the winners on Sunday, Famurewa said that it was amazing that the first, second and third winners of the competition out of the schools that participated in the competition were all pupils of public schools.

According to Famurewa, the victory of the pupils affirmed that the education policies of Governor Rauf Aregbesola are functioning and has helped in restructuring public education in the state.

Famurewa maintained that the ‘promotion of functional education’ which is part of the Sixpoint Integral Action Plan of the government, is yielding positive results.

The lawmaker, however, lamented the low turnout of pupils at the competition, saying that it was appalling that

pupils did not participate massively as expected in the competition.

He said: “Out of all the secondary schools, both public and private in the four local government council areas constituting Ijesa-South Federal Constituency, only 100 pupils participated in all the stages of the mathematic competition, in spite of the massive awareness “We organized this competition to address the poor performance of students in mathematics in both WAEC and NECO. We want an improvement in their performance in the examinations. But, these students did not turn out as expected.

“I could not imagine if it were to be a programme where motorcycles or other material things were to be distributed, people would troop out in their large number. This is an academic exercise with low turnout of people.

Parents and guardians should encourage their children and wards to participate in this kind of programme.”

Famurewa then called on wealthy people in the society to assist in promoting education in the state and Nigeria at large, saying that education could not be left for the government

alone.

Aside the prizes given to the winners, an award of N500, 000 has been set aside for any pupil that has the best results in the coming WAEC. The award was donated by the Chairman, Osun Local Government Service Commission, Elder Peter Babalola, on behalf of Famurewa.

Also, a sum of N100,000 was given to the first winner of the competition by the former Commissioner for Finance, Dr Wale Bolorunduro, who is an alumnus of Ilesa Grammar School.

C o m m e n d i n g Famurewa for the programme, the Obaala of Ilesa, High Chief Oyekanmi Ogedengbe, who was at the event, stated that the fallen standard of education would have been checked, had well-meaning Nigerians risen to address the challenges.

Chief Ogedengbe stated that Famurewa has contributed meaningfully to the education sector with the mathematics competition, calling on other politicians and wealthy individuals to emulate the gesture.

Tinubu Is A Political Juggernaut - Akere

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By shina abubakar

he immediate-past Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the State of Osun, Oluomo Sunday Akere, has described the All Progressives Congress National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a political icon, whose political doggedness has transformed political landscape in the country.

•Photo of the day: An overloaded truck on a Lagos street.

The APC National

Political Position Should Be Made Less Attractive - Osun Speaker

By kazeem mohammed he Speaker, State of Osun House of Assembly, Honourable Najeem Salaam, has advocated that political positions be made less-attractive, with a view to reducing violence approach during elections.

He spoke during a chat of the benefits in those with newsmen recently offices.

“On Rivers election, in Osogbo, the state capital, on the electoral the sustainability of v i o l e n c e d u r i n g t h e the present governor recently-conducted rerun depends on the number legislative elections in of members he has in the Assembly and the Rivers State.

According to him, opposition too knows because the political that if they have the p o s i t i o n s a r e t o o majority, they will have attractive, politicians their say in the House w e r e e x p l o r i n g a l l and in the governance of possible means to secure that state.

“The opposition wants positions at all cost.

“The government can to have its say and the only curtail brigandage ruling government wants during elections, when to have its ways and political positions are that is the essence of the made less-attractive in electoral crisis in Rivers.

“We can only hope terms of benefits attached that when political offices to it.

“Presently, political are made less-attractive, posts are too attractive there will no longer be and people want to be do-or-die syndrome into there at all cost because political offices,” Salaam said.

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On the economy of the country, the Speaker supported the “go-slow” approach of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration in tackling the economic crisis, saying, it would be inappropriate for him to rush into revitalising the economy that had been battered for years.

He said: “It is clear to us, unless we want to shy away from the truth that what President Buhari inherited from the last government was a decay economy, where nothing moved again.

“We thank God that we have the like of President Buhari at the helms of affairs now, otherwise, the country would have crashed by now.

“Because of the sincerity of purpose and transparent nature of this government, which the world has seen, that is why they are relating with us properly now.

“Now that we have somebody that the countries of the world believe in, somebody with zero-tolerance for corruption, it is giving us more leverage to reorganise our economy.

“So, there is no better way of doing it than going slowly because you cannot just rush into things that have been spoilt for years and get it corrected in few months.

“People have to be more patient to see the result of the go-slow approach of President Buhari to the economy.

I am sure this approach will benefit the country

Change of Name I, formally known and addressed as PRINCE ADEWUMI A D ER I N O L A ADEGBOLA, now wish to be known and addressed as A D E G B O L A ADERINOLA SAMUEL. All documents with former name remain valid. The General Public should please take note.

Leader turned 64 last week and many prominent Nigerians, including President Muhammadu Buhari, poured encomiums on the former governor of Lagos State for his political achievements in the country.

According to Akere, Tinubu has shown that he is a worthy political mentor, whose dedication to the political development of the country is unrivaled, adding that his commitment to the progress of Nigeria is foremost in his heart.

Akere said, having shown his commitment to democratic principles since 2003, when the PDP holocaust swept the entire SouthWest, the dynamic politician has not relented in his effort to enthrone progressive government in the country.

“Many people have said many things about Tinubu, however, one thing is certain; he is committed to the progress, enthronement of democratic principle

and unrelenting on his decision on enhancing the political space for all and sundry.

“Gradually, the former governor ensured that the SouthWest is liberated from the shackles of the PDP atrocities. Since then, he has not looked back in his belief that opposition can dislodge the then mighty PDP from power and by 2015, he had succeeded in getting the PDP out of Aso Rock.

“Besides his commitment to nation building, he is also committed to human development. He believes in empowering people and putting smiles in homes which has been his greatest achievement as an individual,” the former commissioner added.

He therefore, called on other politicians in the country to use the resources at their disposal for enhancing the lives of people around them, as well as towards nation building.

“At this time in our country, we need people like Tinubu, who are selfless in their thinking and are willing to dedicate themselves to the service of the nation,” Akere stressed.

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osun Defender Tuesday, April 5, 2016

OAU VC Race: Staff kick Against Dissolution Of Governing Council t o s h o r t l i s t t h e V C 60 per cent pass mark was clearly that universities against the autonomy are teaching adopted. You can also see should independently contained in ASUU-FG •Back Selection Criteria candidates (5 marks); international that it is only individuals a p p o i n t t h e i r V i c e - agreement.

By kehinde ayantunji exposure (10 marks); who are stingy with truth s the battle for the emergence of the Vice publication (10 marks); that will say any of the Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, f u n d a t t r a c t i o n ( 1 0 criteria is not necessary.

“I just hope that those Ile-Ife deepens, some staff of the university marks); years as professor have warned against the dissolution of the Governing (5 marks); supervision a g i t a t i n g t h a t s o m e candidates should not be Council. appointment of Vice- (5 marks) and referees screened out are aware (5 marks). The awarded The staff, who spoke to Chancellor. of the autonomy fought our reporter in confidence He said: “The position score was doubled to for by ASUU. Already, on Friday, explained of both SSANU and NASU obtain the percentage that the OAU Governing is disappointing. They score and a pass mark of there is a bill stating Council’s actions were have only succeeded in constitutional. the misinterpretation the It would be recalled spirit of the OAU statute. that that some workers It will be very wrong in the university had for anyone to wrongly protested against the interpret the statute both actions of the Governing in spirit and letter.

By shina abubakar Council.

“The conditions On their part, the Non- followed during the ollowing the revelations made by the Academic Staff Union last screening are not embattled Secretary of the Peoples’ Democratic (NASU) and Senior Staff too different from the Party (PDP), in Ekiti State, Dr. Tope Aluko, Association of Nigerian criteria set now. The alleging that the 2014 governorship poll in the state Universities (SSANU), only difference is that all was rigged, an All Progressives Congress (APC) OAU branch faulted the the candidates qualified chieftain, Mr. Olusegun Osinkolu, has vowed that Governing Council. then and not all qualified the party would resist any attempt to subvert the According to them, the now.” will of the voters in the next elections. council deserved to be It was learnt that O s i n k o l u s a i d t h e incurably committed to dissolved for ‘deliberate though it interfaced with w h o l e w o r l d w a s the conduct of free, fair and irreparable violation the 11 candidates, the already aware of how election, devoid of any of the statutes and laws Governing Council has PDP deployed military form of manipulation, for the appointment of a short-listed the first six, personnel and other urging the PDP ruling new Vice-chancellor’. who are billed to face security agencies to rig ex- party in the state to forget They alleged that the an interview session Governor Kayode Fayemi having its way through screening conducted by with the council and out of office, insisting rigging in the coming the Governing Council the institution’s Senate that every machinery of election.

“Governorship d i d n o t f o l l o w t h e Joint Committee between government would be provision of the OAU Thursday and Friday positioned to ensure free e l e c t i o n s i n K o g i , Bayelsa and even the statutes in their bid to April 7 and 8. and fair poll in 2018. favour a candidate.

Another member The APC senatorial reruns in Rivers were Findings revealed that o f t h e O A U S e n a t e , aspirant also warned eleven candidates have who confided in our t h o s e r e s i s t i n g t h e indicated interest, with the correspondent, said the conduct of primaries duo of Professor Afolabi process for screening f o r t h e s e l e c t i o n o f Continued from page 15 Akindaunsi, Director of t h e c a n d i d a t e s w a s governorship candidate and revamping of the International Office at transparent. i n A P C t o b u r y t h e agriculture. the Federal University of While speaking to thought, saying the party Only if these were Technology (FUTA), and our correspondent on members would frustrate one Professor Charles phone, he explained that efforts by a clique to done could the state Akinyokun, contesting the Governing Council impose its own preferred be investor friendly the position from another has the autonomy to set candidate; rather than and benefit from university. criteria for the shortlist of what Ekiti wants. investments inflow.

O t h e r c a n d i d a t e s candidates.

Osinkolu made the The Gbongan within the university He added: “The case statements in Ayede Akoda – a r e t h e i n c u m b e n t here is simple. I think Ekiti during the weekend – Deputy Vice-Chancellor we are intellectuals here. while meeting with the O s o g b o R o a d , (Academics), Professor It won’t sound well to coordinators in the five O s o g b o - I k i r u n A y o b a m i T a o f e e k start creating internal local government council I l a O d o K w a r a S a l a m i , f r o m t h e contradictions in the areas that constitute Ekiti Institute of Ecology and statute. The position of North Senatorial District Boundary Road, Environmental Studies, the statute is clear and to reignite his senatorial u r b a n r e n e w a l projects, intra-city F a c u l t y o f S c i e n c e s ; has been duly-followed. aspiration for 2019. the former Dean of the The criteria set are of The APC chieftain roads in all local Faculty of Social Sciences; international standard e x p r e s s e d j o y t h a t government areas Professor (Mrs.) Olabisi and are worthy.

President Muhammadu of the state, massive Aina; former Provost of “ The criteria used Buhari’s government is investments in the College of Health Sciences, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Yisa Kehinde Yusuf.

Others include the former Dean of the Faculty of Education and two-term Chairman of the Committee of Deans, Professor Alao Kayode; former Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Professor Anthony Enisan Akinlo; former Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management, Professor Ayo Ajayi and the faculty’s incumbent Dean, Professor Bioye Tajudeen Aluko, among others.

A senior management staff, while speaking on the condition of anonymity, argued that the positions of NASU a n d S S A N U w o u l d •President Muhammadu Buhari (right) and Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars L. subvert the autonomy of Rasmussen, at the Walter Washington Convention Centre during the Nuclear Security the university in the Summit last Friday.

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Chancellor. If that is the case, are those agitating that no one should be screened out saying that the Governing Council should still compile list of candidates and send to Federal Government again? No, that will be

The Federal Government must respect university autonomy and dragging government into this matter would be the worst illegality,” a top management staff said.

Ekitigate: We Won’t Allow Fayose To

Rig Us Out In 2018 - APC

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declared inconclusive by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), because the commission wanted to straighten all rough edges. This goes a long way to buttress Buhari’s commitment to free, fair and credible polls.

“Ekiti elections in 2018 and the subsequent ones won’t depart from this doctrine. It must be free and fair. While we won’t use federal might to intimidate anybody the way the PDP did in 2014 for Governor Fayose to be victorious. The ruling party in Ekiti shouldn’t

rely on the incumbency power to rig us out.

“What we want is for Ekiti people to decide who governs them and this we shall make realisable for us to have a stable and crisis-free polity.”

Osinkolu also warned the APC against imposition of any candidate for the poll, advising the leaders to gauge the mood of Ekiti people before coming up with their candidate.

“The people are the ultimate decider and we must respect that to avoid another calamitous defeat,” he warned.

Truth About The State Of Osun security, positive youth engagement and others were all directed towards achieving these objectives.

With a state lying prostrate before the coming of Ogbeni Aregbesola, one of the options open to the government was to seek financial helps from all corners of the world; get contractors who could deliver on projects through convenient p a y m e n t arrangements and be ingenious in the application of the scarce funds.

Ajibola Amzat, while struggling to justify his bias, literally condemned almost all projects as failed.

Does the fact that works have slowed down on some sites due to the crushing national economic situation translate to failure? Has national revenue not dropped by about 70 per cent?

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Sustaining our linguistic heritage ...continue frm pg1

Should this happen then a great calamity would have befallen us as a civilised people.

The importance of MT cannot be over-emphasised. For it’s the beauty of any race. In indigenous language embedded the culture and identity of its speaker. It therefore goes without any disputation that should an indigenous language be allowed to perish, then the culture, moral values and identity of its speaker also automatically perish with it. Should this happen then

there can’t be any more tragic occurrence for such a race. For this is the worst calamity that could befall any race. It would therefore have been better for such a race not to have been part of God’s creation at all. This is the reason why we must do our best to sustain our linguistic heritage by encouraging the speaking of our indigenous languages both in schools and at home.

And this position becomes imperative when we consider the fact that research had for long shown that the first language is the optimal language for literacy and learning throughout primary school (UNESCO 2008). Also as

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nfortunately , Nigeria’s senior national football team, the Super Eagles, will be missing in action, when Africa’s most glamorous football fiesta, the African Nations’ Cup holds in Gabon next year, courtesy of the group’s standing, in which Egypt has already clinched the group’s only ticket.

Like the Bible asserts in (Psalm 11:3), “If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” The exit of the Super Eagles cannot be attributed to the loss to the Egyptians on Tuesday in Alexandria, but rather, the foundation for the Super Eagles’ painful and embarrassing ouster from Africa’s greatest football event was laid

by Mr. Amaju Pinnickled Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board calamitous hiring of an undertaker as the Super Eagles Chief Coach.

Mr. Sunday Oliseh’s tenure as Super Eagles coach, while it lasted, if the truth be told, was characterized by rancour and strife with his employers, players, the

become exasperated with his rancorous disposition, threw in the towel and thus put a spanner in the clog of Nigeria’s march for qualification to the 2017 Nation’s Cup, which was already shaky.

And as a stop gap, the football body hurriedly drafted Mr. Samson Siasia to temporarily fill the gap for the remaining qualifiers and salvage the nation’s chances of

qualification and pride, which had already been jeopardized by his predecessor and the result was what played out in Egypt on March 29th, 2016 when we crashed out.

Looking back at the two matches that the Super Eagles played under Coach Samson Siasia, one can confidently say that the performance of the team was encouraging and a radical departure from the lackadaisical play under his immediate predecessor. Thus, we are

very grateful to Coach Samson Siasia and his crew for rekindling our confidence in the Super Eagles and one hopes that his successor will take it up from there.

As we brood over the ouster of the Super Eagles, it is important to remind the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF board and Mr. Sunday Oliseh, that when the story is written of how Nigeria

For the aforementioned reasons therefore some governments of the world like in the Philippines have recently adopted Languagein-education policies that embrace indigenous languages. For us not to lose our identity we strongly believe that Nigeria should follow this path and also emulate other countries of the world like China and Saudi-Arabia that do not joke with their indigenous languages.

Furthermore, it has for long been established that pupils are able to use the skills taught in MT better

Nigeria’s AFCON 2017 Mishap And The Way Forpress and the Nigerian football faithful, because of his attitude in which he felt and believed that he had a larger than life image, which made him to be above reprimand from any quarter for any noted shortcomings in the discharge of his duties.

True to his character, as the nation’s cup qualifier against Egypt drew near, Mr. Oliseh unceremoniously but to the delight of all Nigerians and lovers of peace and progress of our senior national, who had

and more effectively than in a foreign language. And most importantly it has also been established that the Goals of Education for all can only be achieved in a country where the first language is the language of instruction in schools.

far back as 1953 UNESCO had encouraged Mother Tongue instruction in primary education due to the numerous advantages derivable from using Mother Tongue as a language of instruction at elementary level.

Such advantages include but not limited to; Children learn better in their MT, Children are more likely to enroll and succeed in school, parents are more likely to communicate with teachers and participate in their children’s learning, girls and rural children with less exposure to a dominant language do stay in school longer and repeat grades less often.

failed to qualify for the 2017 African Nations’ cup, their names will be written in black for posterity sake.

However, as a way forward, the next assignment before the senior national team now is qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, thus it now becomes imperative for the football authorities to stop crying over split milk and put in place machinery for the immediate employment of a competent and quality foreign technical adviser to oversee the qualification of the Super Eagles for the 2018 World Cup, which is a mustdo-affair, as well as draft a programme for the development of our football at all levels.

The qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be the most appropriate compensation and soothing balm to our bruised ego for missing out of AFCON 2017 by the NFF and here’s hoping they will do the needful.

•Nelson Ekujumi,

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FEATURE

Osun Defender Tuesday, April

Truth About The State Of Osun

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jibola Amzat’s piece in the G uardian on Sunday of March

13, 2016 titled ‘State Of The Living Springs Gasps For Breath’ left no one in doubt of his intention from the beginning when he opened the piece with a categorical allegation that Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun lied in his presentation to the State House of Assembly on the state’s finances on June 2, 2015. ‘The claim by the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, about the total revenue allocation to his state between November 2010 when he was first sworn-in and December 2014 may not be accurate after all, The Guardian has learnt’ he wrote. He also concluded on that same note.

He went ahead to compile the state’s revenues, obtained from dubious sources and came up with a damning conclusion that the governor concealed and did not account for N263.33 billion. These are made up of N3.8 billion revenue allocation funds, N1.32 billion from Internally Generated Revenue, N194.03 billion Revenue Allocation to the local governments, N61.44 billion Excess Crude Account Allocation and N2.75billion funds from Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). The insinuation and innuendo from this are that the governor misappropriated the amount. He then supported this claim with varying wild and totally false allegations of inflated projects costs, outright profligacy and unviable and abandoned white elephant projects.

The three-page special report in essence, is a special falsehood concocted by defeated opposition candidates in the last governorship election in the state, signed

by Amzat and passed as investigative journalism. This is not a trivial statement.

His sources mainly, Elder Segun Akinwusi, the immediate past Head of Service in Osun, was a defeated candidate who did not win his ward. Amzat’s data is a replica of the paper Akinwusi presented at a failed summit himself and other disgruntled elements attended last year. Another source he quoted, Justice Folahanmi Oloyede, a serving judge in the state’s judiciary, has never hidden her determination to pull down the governor. Amzat’s article is a rehash of her failed petition to the State House of Assembly, asking for the impeachment of the governor. Another of his sources, a two-man NGO called Civil Societies Coalition for Emancipation of Osun State, had sent a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), making the same allegations against the governor, using the same figures and data that Amzat published.

Governor Aregbesola on his own volition in the spirit of transparency and accountability laid bare the state of the state’s finances on June 2, 2015, at the State House of Assembly, while inaugurating the 6th Assembly. This was due to the prevailing circumstances arising from the financial challenges in the state at the time. He was there to inaugurate the Assembly, not to account for the state’s finances.

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Inspecting the on-going construction site of Osogbo High School On a second note, even though the information given to the Assembly was materially correct in all aspects (we have checked and rechecked again and have confirmed its accuracy), it is not an audited report of the state’s account, which can only be given by the state’s Ministry of Finance and Office of the Accountant General of the State. Only an audit report can be quoted for reference and subjected to thorough analysis. The governor only attempted a summary of the state’s finances, in light of the financial challenge of the time. Even when auditors detect discrepancies, while going through an account, they first seek to clarify by issuing audit queries. This is done without any assumption until attempts have been made to close the gaps detected. This is because a noticed discrepancy may be due to unintended error.

I will point out below how all Amzat’s facts, argument and allegations are wrong and came from a malicious intent.

1. ‘If this claim were true, the IGR for

By sola fasure

giving an account of his stewardship to the representatives of the people of Osun State, and the latter let it slip’ tate account is different from local governments’ accounts. It is therefore totally wrong for anybody to lump state government allocation with that of the local governments. Local government’s allocation is distinct and separate from state’s allocation, which means that both tiers of government run parallel accounts with different signatories. To be sure, it is on record that the total allocation to the Local Governments within the years in review (2010 – 2014) was N191billion; inclusive of N10.7 billion Excess Crude Allocation to local governments and not N194 billion as alleged by Amzat.

Would it have meant that because the governor did not mention the amount received for local governments, there were no separate budgets for local governments, no salaries were paid in the local governments; no projects were executed in four years and no capital or recurrent expenditure incurred in the local government in the period under consideration? So how N194billion belonging to local governments could have disappeared from the state as alleged by Amzat beats the imagination.

5. ‘though the debt profile of the state, which includes both external and domestic, now stands at N400 billion, most of the projects for which the loans were collected were never executed’ e have had to clarify this false allegation n u m b e r l e s s t i m e s because those peddling it seem to be working on the Goebbelian notion that if you repeat a lie too often, it can assume the status of truth. It is not possible for any state (other than Lagos) to obtain a loan of N400 billion because the approving authorities – Federal Ministry of Finance, Debt Management Office (DMO), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – have various restrictions on borrowing. Indeed, there is a strict CBN regulation that a bank cannot lend beyond its single obligor limit to a borrower. Therefore to get N400 billion loan, you require the 18 banks in Nigeria to give you an average of N25 billion each.

The fact is that only five banks have such single obligor limits and, therefore N400 billion loan to any state is impossible. Also, DMO, a federal agency cannot allow any state to borrow under a structure or term

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•Governor Aregbesola on inspection of an Osogbo Government High School, Osogbo. the state in 2013 and 2014 alone should be hovering around N38.4 billion or thereabout.

Added to 12.3 billion collected between 2011 and 2012, and N600 million generated in November and December 2010, the total IGR for the state should be around N51.3 billion, and not N27.5 billion disclosed by the governor’. he IGR figure the governor gave, N27.5 billion, remains correct. The custodians of the state’s revenues remain the Office of the Accountant General and the state’s Ministry of Finance. No other body or organisation has access to the complete records or has operated on them. It is incomprehensible how any other person, group or agency could have spoken so authoritatively on a state’s IGR, other than the aforementioned.

2. ‘Governor Aregbesola said the use of Information and Communications Technology in all government transactions has increased his state’s IGR to N1.6 billion monthly. Therefore, it is either the governor presented to the public an exaggerated figure of N1.6 billion as monthly internal revenue since 2013, or a substantial part of the revenue was left unaccounted for’ State’s Internally Generated Revenue stream is not fixed. It comes everyday in bits and pieces through taxes, levies, rates, fines and dues. There cannot be any guarantee of regularity and this is why it is called recurrent revenue. When Ogbeni Aregbesola became Governor, the IGR was N300 million monthly average and it was ICT that was used to increase the IGR to N600 million average when the government began e-payment and directed that no individual or agency should henceforth collect cash on behalf of the state but all revenues due to the government should be paid directly into government accounts at the banks.

The fact is that the N1.6 billion collection was a peak figure and not an average and it occurred at a particular month as a “oneoff” IGR, during the period. ICT application was used to collect the back-duty taxes and charges on the telecom right of ways related to past period but collected at this particular month. At the particular time the governor spoke, IGR was N1.6 billion.

This was due mainly to the fact that a lot of accumulated debts were being aggressively pursued and many debtors were paying.

ICT, the governor explained, only pushed IGR from N300 million to N600 million, not N1.6 billion.

How could it have been reasonably conjectured that because the governor

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claimed the state’s IGR peaked at N1.6 billion in a particular month, it then automatically meant that the state was realising this amount consistently every month and then allege that he under-disclosed any difference in the figure he made available after?

3. ‘In addition, according to Federal Ministry of Finance, Osun State received N61.4 billion from Excess Crude Account between 2011 and 2014, as well as grants worth of N2.7 billion from Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) between 2011 and 2013 and an unverified amount from the sure-p scheme’ he Excess Crude Allocation (ECA) due to the state within this period was N17.14 billion and not N61.4 billion. This is already included in the total figure of N176.5 billion revenues that accrued to the state from the federation account. Funds from the ECA are not shared separately. They are included in the distributable pool to be shared with the regular allocation in a particular month.

Therefore, the ECA of N61.33 billion alleged to be undeclared is dubious, false and totally unfounded. It is, again, another case of dabbling into accounting matter by a dilettante. Also, mentioning it as a separate revenue line is another mischievous attempt to expand the fussy mathematics to get to a conclusion that N263.33 billion is missing.

While Amzat claimed that UBEC funds received by Osun is N2.75 billion, our records for the same period indicate N3.38billion.

However, UBEC fund is even a different kettle of fish. It is a 50-50 joint contribution by the state and the Federal Government. To qualify for it, a state must have already made its own equal contribution available. This is why 22 states or thereabout cannot access their UBEC funds till date. It therefore, cannot be included in the recurrent revenues of the state because it is a capital receipt from the Federal Government that is tied to direct implementation of the FGN UBEC projects. The Governor cannot be blamed for not including this capital receipts in the revenue since he has not included its corresponding expenditure, when he was explaining that the recurrent revenue from federation account does not cover the recurrent expenditures.

4. ‘Further, the record of the Federal Ministry of Finance also revealed that the state government received a total of N194 billion on behalf of the 30 local government councils since governor Aregbesola assumed office in November 2010… But the governor also was silent on these earnings while

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that will require more than one third of its income as repayment. To be able to borrow N400 billion with a tenor of 36 months, you will need to pay back a minimum of N13 billion every month.

How many states can afford that? The DMO has given Osun a clean bill of health, assuring the public that it is safe to do business with us. Other credit rating agencies have also given Osun a clean bill of health.

The borrowing capacity of any state, both national and subnational is a function of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and a range of 20 to 30 percent is acceptable global best practice.

Osun’s GDP, according to Renaissance Capital Study is N1.2 trillion in 2012 and Osun on its own has limited its total debt ceiling to about 10 percent of its GDP. The N400 billion debt allegation is, therefore, outlandish and phantasmagoric. It is thus a lie from the pit of Hell that Osun borrowed N400 billion.

6. ‘Examples of such projects listed include; the road construction from Osogbo to Ila-Odo for which a sum of N17.5 billion was borrowed from the Bank of Infrastructure; a market project at Dagbolu, a suburb of Osogbo, for which N6 billion had been expended’ Osun did not borrow N17.5 billion Continued pageto15finance this road from any on bank

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Functional Education In Osun:

The Pathway For Parents And Guardians The educational sector in the State of Osun has been undergoing a giant transformation since the coming to power of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. In order to accelerate and actualize his desired result; this write-up by OJO ADESHINA examines and itemizes the critical roles that parents in the State of Osun must perform. To complete the giant strides of the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration in the educational sector of the state.

•Governor Rauf Aregbesola addressing Osun School pupils at a function sometime ago.

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State Of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, At The 30th Anniversary And Official Commissioning Of The Root Club House, Ilesa, At the Roots Club Crescent, Ilesa, State Of Osun, Recently.

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State Of Osun Government Provided Free Train Ride From Osogbo To Lagos And Back To Lagos After Easter Celebration Recently.

•A cross section of passengers waiting to board free train provided by the State of Osun Government recently in Osogbo.

•(L-R) State of Osun Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Chairman of the occasion, Hon. Justice Emmanuel Olayinka and President of the Roots Club, Mr. Dipo Komolafe, at the event.

Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Paid A Condolence Visit To Family Of Late Politician And Social Activist, Tunji Braithwaite, In His Residence Last Saturday.

•Another cross section of passengers boarding the free train ride in Osogbo recently.

Fire Outbreak At A Yogurt Factory In Isolo Lagos Last Friday.

•(L-R) Guest Lecturer, Professor Oye Gureje, in a discussion with the Owa Obokun of Ijesa-land, Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, during the programme.

•Vice President Yemi Osinbajo singning a condolence register during his visit to the family of the late Tunji Braitwaite in the deceased’s Lagos residence recently.

President Muhammadu Buhari At The Nuclear Security Summit Session In Washington DC Last Saturday.

•President Muhammadu Buhari (left) in a handshake with US President Barack Obama at the Nuclear Summit Session in Washington DC last Saturday.

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•Scene of a fire outbreak in Isolo, Lagos last Friday.

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The Pathway For Parents And Guard ians T he Pathway For Parents And Guardians

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he above quotation of the Executive Governor of the state of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, apparently sounds apt and logically convincing for many reasons; defendable and attestable by facts and bold records. In deep and honest estimation of the many laudable and lasting exploits achieved (and still achieving) by the Government Unusual of the State of Osun in the educational sector, one fact stands tall. This fact does not beg for attention in all of the inputs of Ogbeni Rauf into education. These inputs many of which will expend pages and time, if an attempt is made to chronicle them, accentuate one obvious fact; visible and even applauded by men and women of the opposition camp. The fact is that, the wholesome and comprehensive tastes of the multidimension educational projects of the Rauf-led administration unarguably look far beyond the immediate or few decades from this present time. The futuristic stance of the projects, among which are the state-of–the-art structures and the Opon Imo, are certainly what the next generations will talk about, for good: Just like this present generation still talk about the Awolowo’s Free Education of the 1950s.

Assumably, it is upon this aforementioned fact that Ogbeni Aregbesola had deduced the assertion above that, the monumental transformations embarked upon in the area of education in the state by his administration are unstoppable. What a bold assertion from a bold mind? Certainly, time and time will validate the avowal above. But, far beyond this is the immediate task for parents and guardians to complement and contribute their quota to governmental strides. As justifiably said by the governor, it is on bold records that the incumbent administration in the State of Osun is passionately on its toes as visible in her many noble and lofty educational policies, which focus at rebranding, solidifying and repositioning education in the State of Osun. Like the common saying, it takes two to tango; therefore, it takes more than the government to build and sustain

a functional educational system. The parents too must actively play their part.

Against this background, the government has made it directly and indirectly known that parents and guardians in the State of Osun have got far reaching steps to take. They have got critical roles to play in birthing and sustaining the stand of Ogbeni Aregbesola, particularly in the field of education. This is certainly the focus and essence of this piece. There is the dire need for parents cum guardians to do all they can to accentuate governmental programmes aimed at improving education at all levels in State of Osun. Parents and guardians need to work very hard to impact morals into their wards. This is certainly what can give birth to the glorious dawn envisioned by the Government Unusual led by Ogbeni Aregbesola. Education without morality simply accounts for, among other things, the recent but recurrent pace of condemnable acts like thuggery, vandalism, and incessant fighting and in-fighting among secondary schools children. This is an ugly manifestation, which cause and foundation request timely attention of all. Further delay is akin to postponing evils days.

One time President of the United States of America, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, once asserted that: “To educate a person in the mind but not in moral is to educate a menace to the society”.

What Mr Theodore clearly opined here is that education is aptly not complete and remains anti-social or of no meaningful impact without moral. In other words, morals are critical and integral parts of education. A child cannot be said to have been educated without a display of sound and attestable moral probity. Therefore, a child whose parents have adequately imbibed good moral doctrines and principles in him or her would be said to be educated and of benefit to the human society. Parents need to wake to this sharp reality. Going to school is not just the only step in educating a child; neither is good academic performance in school all that is needed in giving

a child a comprehensible education or a means of knowing an academically gifted child. Moral with its attendant results of dedication, respect for human labour and governmental resources and others are the bedrock and pillars of worthy education. o matter the level of investments or inputs of any government or governments in the educational section; be it in Nigeria or any other clime; parents must complement by actively playing their part. Governments can build structures, create and formulate programmes and policies aimed at providing qualitative education but without the inputs of the parents: any success recorded will be short-lived. It is a cardinal duty of parents to empower their children with strong character, which must manifest in tolerance, focus, doggedness for purpose and respect for lives of fellow human beings and national or state assets and symbols.

It is on robust records in recent months, the spate of unruly behaviour and remonstrations among secondary schools pupils which had resulted in wanton destructions of property. This barbaric habit is a clear manifestation of animalism and cannibalism. It is needless and absolutely undesirable! To be more specific: the destruction of the property of the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation (OSBC), Oke-Itase, Ile-Ife by some irate school-children, whose reasons stand anti logic should be one that should call all parents in the State of Osun to wake up to a collective task of building and affirming a morally conscious state.

These anti-social habits show that there is a high but unwanted proclivity towards the dearth of morality among us. It is rather ironical to hear of this in a state like ours.

Upon these very acts and many others, parents, especially those in the Land of the Virtuous, need as a matter of urgency to wake and accept head-on the responsibility of training and impacting moral

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•Another cross section of Elementary School pupils.

Continued from page 10 in their children. A parent in the most practical and real sense of it is someone (a grown-up) who has the economic, emotional, psychological, and spiritual stability to train and give direction to his or her offspring. Hence, there is the need for parents all nooks and crannies of the Land of the Virtuous to exhibit and impact in their wards moral, emotional and spiritual stamina that are needed to be worthy and noble ambassadors of the state of their origin, which is doing all within its power to give them a world-class kind of education. This is a task that cannot be evaded but laid at the door-step of all parents in the State of Osun. t is instructive, as well as imperative at this juncture, to sound a note of warning and admonition to those young but morally-weak school children, who have seen hooliganism, thurgery and vandalism as a way of life. Thuggery and vandalism have never be noted anywhere in the globe as virtues or noble ways by which sensible people show their grievances or displeasure. Only riff-raffs do! The youthful time is a period to burry one’s head in books and other more productive endeavours, other than smoking, cultism and vandalism, which have characterised schools today. No man or woman you see today in high or lofty position amount to something in life that had wasted their youthful time or went around fighting and destroying properties. Parents should therefore make the message of doggedness to academic pursuit and core moral values their refrain, now and ever.

The incumbent administration in the State of Osun has done justifiably more than enough to reposition the education sector in the state.

This noble and worthy gesture needs not to be reciprocated by a high level of mediocrity.

Education does not end or only seen in intelligence, neither is it complete or productive without noble character to back it up. It is far beyond paperperformance. This is why Martin Luther king Jr rightly said: “Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” In other words, proper and functional education summarily is acquiring

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•An O’Meal vendor distributing meals to the Elementary School pupils.

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sound mind, intelligence and noble character.

There is therefore no other valid education except one that gives the leaders of tomorrow (our young minds) these two-edged impartations.

According to scholars in the fields of psychology and sociology; there are many agents or links in the process of socialization but the first and by far the very most important is the family: it is the first school, church, mosque or society that a child comes to see. This fact explains that the process of educating a child starts in the home. It is not enough to send or drop a child in the AUD Elementary School or any of the modern middle schools built by the Aregbesola-led administration around you. What is by far important is that parents need to say, do and impact in the lives of their children before leaving for school and after returning from school what will make living meaningful. This goes a long way in determining what a child learns in the school. Home is therefore the first and the last point of learning. Every child, dark, light, short or tall begins life at home and it is rewarding to add that any form of enlightenment without its basis in the family will not last. This is why it is a clarion call to all parents to wake to their God’s given duty of parenting. Families must teach what is needed to build our state and teach it affectively. Parents must do what they say and say what they will do. Like Albert Schlezer once said that example is not the major thing in teaching but the ONLY thing. If parents can accept and do this, then, our state will soon be the cynosure of other states. There is therefore no time to echo and re-echo this, other than NOW! It is high time parents complemented governmental efforts aimed at curtailing the spread of vices such as smoking, cultism and vandalism among students in the State of Osun who have misplaced their priorities. One of the reasons why parents need to do this effectively is found in the rather negative economic trend in the state and in the country at large. What government is putting in place in the educational sector must not be taken with lefty. Parents must do more than telling their wards that there is shortage of fund and therefore there is no need to destroy.

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he need to toe the path of complementing governmental efforts becomes again far more necessary, not just because there is to end the way secondary school students are committing cruel atrocities but because of the rate vices are spreading and springing up among youths in the state. It is alarming and highly unneeded. In a recent reaction by the Honourable representing Ijesha South Federal constituency of the State of Osun in Abuja, Honourable Ajibola Famurewa to the destruction done on the properties of the Southern Nigerian Institute of Innovative Technology (SNIIT), Ifewara recently; the lawmaker made it known that moral laxity has in recent days and months being on the rampage in state of Osun. According to the lawmaker, it is rather a sad reality in the State of Osun that youths and young minds, who need to stay focused are gradually giving their minds to destruction. In his words: “It (the spate of recurrent destructions) calls for serious concern and we need to work on it to change the orientation of our people and our parents too should do more and impact knowledge and societal values in their children before leaving their homes...” Parents have got more to do in building character in their children. This they need to do by checking the influences under which their children come. Besides, parents need to survey on a routine basis and as a duty, the belongings of their children such as books, clothes, shoes etc.

This effort will lead to accountability and a high sense of responsibility on the path of the children.

Parents must not allow modern day schedules to distract and detach them from discharging their role as parents. One of our adages says: it is a child who we fail to train that will trade the house that we build. This adage is equally applicable for any state who will train its young mind because a society is just families joined together.

Religious institutions in the State of Osun must play their part. Attention must be shifted to messages, which promote nobility, transparency, honesty, fear of God and dignity of labour.

This must be done on a regular basis and as time demands it. It is not enough to do this, our religious institutions must also help to

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The Pathway For Parents And Guardians JAMB’S CBT Examination: Issues At Continued from page 11

shift the misplaced attention hitherto placed on materialism. Materialism is far encroaching into our values and elements of our norms and philosophy as people richly blessed in noble cultural practices. Religion can help in preaching virtue. This is why the call to all religious institutions is loud this time. t must be placed on strong records and attempts must not be made to distort history that the often talked about Free Education of the 1950s by the late sage, Obafemi Awolowo, did yield the much talked about results without a strong moral foundation. The success of the Free Education is solidified and giving a far reaching accolade by an atmosphere of morality, under which it was carried out. In order to create an educational sector, which generations unborn will be glad to build on and talk about for good, parents and guardians must complete the giant investments of the Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in the field of education. The O’meal, modern structures, revamping and over-hauling attempt and gestures are programmes which need collective efforts from parents and guardians to take the State of Osun to a high place among the comity of states in Nigeria and in the world at large.

In a honest sense, the present economic situation in the country should alone call parents to address the issue of morality among their children. The present transformations being witnessed in the educational sector in the State of Osun must be sustained by all and sundry. Government does not start, neither does it end with the governor or members of his cabinet: government is about you and I. It starts from the family! Hence the task of building a great state is a collective effort for all.

This is because the place of education in building a meaningful future is vital. Education is the most viable key to a glorious future. This is the message that parents need to get across to their children in order to have a state that we will all be proud of.

The fact that education is the best legacy a nation, state or parents can give to their children can never be under-estimated or under-valued.

The USA radical freedom fighter, Malcom X, once said that “education is the passport to the

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•Another cross section of pupils in Osun.

future” The reality of Malcolm’s assertion is that education gives meaning to existence and helps to differentiate between decent living and animalistic living. Education builds heroes the same way it builds roads. Our children must be taught that the road to greatness is education. It is the sole right of the poor and the needy to build and attain the kind of heights they hope to reach in life. Education is a great leveller. Without it, there is no glorious future, neither is there peace.

Without missing words, the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has revamped, restructured (and still at work) and laid a functional cum fundamental foundation in promoting education at all levels in the State of Osun. This good and humane gesture therefore needs a robust collaboration of all and sundry in the state with attendant commitments. This is certainly the pathway to go: and immediate end must come to vandalism, thuggery, hooliganism and cultism among those who the government labour day and night to give a promising future. here is the pragmatic need to laud and trumpet the many efforts of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola in his aggressive calculations geared towards giving education, in the State of Osun the much-needed attention that it deserves. It is a known fact that we have seen many administrations in the State of Osun.

History needs not to remind us that we have had governors in the state (military and civilian alike) but the incumbent administration will go well in the annals of history as one which has put all available resources into building an enviable educational sector in the state of Osun. The modern school buildings, the restructured school meal for children and many other programmes are the signature of this rather unusual administration poised at giving qualitative education to children in the State of Osun.

There are more grounds to be covered in the educational sector of our dear state. This is a known fact; but we cannot, neither will facts and figures allow us to cover the progresses hitherto made in the education sector of our dear state by the Aregbesola-led government. If Osun must rise above its present achievements in the areas of

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education sector, all hand must be on deck. Parents must wake to their responsibilities. Teachers too must play their roles. Civil organisations and NGOs in their state must rise far above partisan politics and see the dire need to build an Osun State that all other state would be proud of. Osun has gone far but much still needs more to be done.

It is not yet uhuru! While the administration of Ogbeni Aregbesola has built and is still building state-of-the-art structures in its bid at giving modern and qualitative education to our leaders of tomorrow; all parents, teachers and stakeholder must not rest on their oasis. The state is for all. t is also kind to note that giving the place of education in any state or national life: education like health remains one key area that no one should attempt to play politics with.

Too grievous an offence to commit! It is therefore with this mindset that parents irrespective of party or political affiliations must for the sake our the future of the state put their quota to work.

Constructive criticisms remain the lifelines of democracy. Education gives birth to democracy and democracy can be sustained by practical and non-artisan involvement in the sector. Therefore, parents must try to make needed and useful tips available to the government at different times.

This is a potent and nice way to go.

If Osun should look back as a state, there are far more to celebrate and be hopeful for in its educational sector. Like the common wit; Rome was not build in a day. In the same view, the Aregbesola-led administration in Osun will upon the closure of it tenure leaves Osun with a roadmap in its educational sector. He has started well. The reforms are ongoing, monumental transforming, hence, the good people of Osun must make them unstoppable by uncultured and anti-social behaviour or attempts by some men and women who are against the state but claiming to be her friends.

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• Jamb boss, Dibu Ojerinde, displaying Palm-Sandals containing prepared answers to Jamb questions.

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he recently-concluded 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted under the supervisory lens of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)which has in the last two to three years gone all computerized has left far more untold pains and hardship in the hearts of hundreds of thousands admission seekers because of the muddles and mistakes inherently traceable to JAMB.It is a known fact that every year, more than a million young Nigerians, who are admission seekers, register to write the Unified Matriculation Examination in their lofty dream of gaining higher education.

Yet, never at any point among the Nigerian bodies of stakeholders or lawmakers has any meaningful or result-orientated steps been taken to consider, evaluate and make feasible recommendations to JAMB in a bid to avoid the sad butrecurrent pace of abnormalities, which have caused score of pains to admission seekers. Many of these abnormalities are either unnecessary or avoidable.

It is therefore high time to evaluate, ponder and point a critical searching wand into the activities and mandate of JAMB. This is with a view to checkmating the manner in which JAMB has repeatedly murdered the hopes of a million or well over a million young minds, especially, as it concerns the use of computer or computerized examination.It is of high importance at no other time, other than now, to seriously ask questions bordering on the readiness of JAMB to conduct a decent computerized examination. As a nation, it is not enough to complain about students’ failure. What is by far noble is the need to ask why, when and how are students failing and urgently address such loopholes.

It is time we saved admission seekers in Nigeria from the shackles of a body which barely understands its core mandates. This fact is deducesable from the present noticeable technical and institutional failure, which has characterized the way JAMB goes about its mandate as a body. Our country needs not wait until another major tragedy is recorded before a meaningful action is taken. It is valid and assertive therefore to say, at this juncture, though in pass, that the 2016 is far more than a national tragedy. It is sad in Nigeria, that many a time, we address consequences or aftermath and not prevention.This explains why problems in many key areas of the national lives, especial in the educational sector have been repetitive, much until recently. Therefore,the step to look into JAMB and its core mandates becomes far more needful and pressing; giving the diverse spate and rate of detestable irregularities which characterized the conduct ofUTME, and more specifically the 2016 UTME. It is on plain records,though weak and ineffective for now that there had been a much talk about call to frantically look into the essence, meaning and

relevance of JAMB and it yearly examination in some quarters. Beside this lofty call, one big question begs for answer and clarification. The question is: how many universities, polytechnics or colleges of education rely solelyon JAMB to admit or based their admission criteria on JAMB and its UTME.The answer is simple, direct and not far-fetched. It is a resounding ‘No’.Many institutions have their own internally-constituted bodies which organize and screen teeming admission seekers before they are given provisional admission.In many institutions, the processes are so cumbersome and sometimes unnecessary. Though, some persons might argue that it is a just and plausible way to go, but the process exhumes many contradictions. The first is the duplication of duties between JAMB and the different bodies of different higher institutions in Nigeria. This directly places admission seekers on the wrong side, making them victims of a faulty arrangement. They are victims because; they are emotionally, financially and psychologically exploited and extorted. This is a bold manifestation of deprivation of their rights as young citizens on this country. This needs to stop!.

In honest truth, the victim of this shady arrangement are the children of the poor who seek higher education but cannot afford to either travel abroad or reregister for some admission-guaranteed- programmes like pre-degree, A-level among a host of others. This obvious truth explains in simple and concrete terms the reason why these abnormalities have been allowed to yearly escape the different governmental reformations in the educational sector.The second and maybe the last because of the focus of this write-up is the amount of risks involved for admission seekers.

The fact that JAMB’s mandates are being duplicated by some bodies in Nigerian universities, polytechnic and colleges of educations put thousands of admission seekers in a repeated circleof many needless risks and actions. These risks include that of life, health among others. owever grave these said enigmas are: there liesome far more critical scabies in JAMB, which if aggressive steps are not urgently taken now might in no distance time results in violence and unmatchable gaps between the rich and the poor.

Education is in the word of MalcolmX, the ‘passport’ into the future. This fact has effectivelyremained one notable way of opening the offspring of the poor to life opportunities which their birth or circumstances of upbringing might have denied them. This explains why it is imperative, as well as cogent that meaningful steps are taken to address the lacunas in JAMB and its UTME, especially given the untold shade of abnormalities inherent in the body.

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t is rather ironical that JAMB, whose duties have been largely duplicated, owing to ineffectiveness, woke up all of a sudden and decides to go computerized. In honest evaluation, it appears that JAMB has not done its findings clearly well before it embarked on a computer based examination (CBT).

This is because many errors are certainly noticeable and recurrent thus far. For instance, the 2015 and 2016 have far more similarities in the space and pace of irregularities that marred them. This shows that JAMB has vividlynot understood the place of its existence as it connects to nation and capacity building.

Different shades of technical abnormalities like delay in saver-response, fluctuated-time-counting mode and other diverse but unacceptable errors characteristically marred the 2015 and 2016 examination. In many centers, where the Unified Matriculation Examination was conducted, there were technical problems, which delay the availability of questions. This lasted for hours in many centres. Another fundamental error is that of power interruption. Though there were availability of power-plants in most centres, but the logic and response to cases of power interruption were certainly not the same. Candidates in some centres were quite unlucky because power interruption caused them much than desirable. The loss of time occasioned by power interruption was either not envisioned by JAMB or well-prepared for. This was the logical conclusion available, giving the manner in which the power interruption was handled in many centres nationwide It is high time JAMB began putting plans in place to arrest playing with destines of those whose future will apparently determine the future of the nation. Besides technical abnormalities, which manifested in saverdelay, power interruption among other is the problem of poor time management. Poor time management was evident in many phases of the 2016 UTME. For instance, in some centres in Osun, candidates who were billed to start examination at 12noon started minutes past 5 in the evening. This led to a reduction in the original time allotted for the examination. This singular reason could be accounted for as partly responsible for poor performance of the candidates who sat for the 2016 UTME. Besides the reduction in time being a major cause of poor performance, it is needed to say that, it also left a lot of the candidates at the mercy of the all-means-money searching transport workers. This problem of returning home on the path of the candidates was compounded by the fact that the present computer-based UTME made many rural dwellers to come to cities, where JAMB had got computers on rentage for use. Another factor which made it hard for candidates was that, the examination was done at a time of fuel scarcity or hoarding in many Continued on page 14

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•Admission seekers during the JAMB Computer-Based Test.

Continued from page 13 parts of the nation. This certainly left many stranded.

A situation which needs to be addressed. side poor time management and planning; it is bizarre and quiet unexplainable that in the history of JAMB, that the 2016 examination witnessed a situation in which one candidate is awarded two different scores in one examination. This is clearly hitherto unheard off among the different examination bodies in Nigeria. It is therefore a rude shock that some candidates in the recently-conducted UTME scored or were awarded different marks upon different clicking of the computer to check their results online. In cases noticed, it was observed that some candidates received SMS informing them of their UTME score and in a bid to authenticate and print their score, with a view to seeing the breakdown, noticed a quantum increase in their scores. This is a clear manifestation of unpardonable error on the past ofJAMB. This error might look favourable to some lucky few candidates but in the actual sense, it is not. It is a case of injustice and abnormality. The problem as envisioned is technical (and caused by a computer mode un-calculatively introduced by JAMB). How explainable on earth would JAMB descend so low that within the few years of its computerized examination, awarding of marks was left solely to computers. This was the best conclusion that can be arrived at, giving the noticeable errors. This is rather unacceptable, sad and regrettable in this time and age.Beyond this sad and regrettable happening is the observed high level of failure among the over one million candidates who wrote UTME. It is therefore verysad that till now, no one has challenged or questionedJAMB. This silence must be broken. A threat to one is threat to all. JAMBmust be held responsible and made to give reasons.

Though, many would like to attribute the high level of failure recorded in this year’s UTME to poor preparation on the part of the candidates,however, this reason cannot hold water giving the high and rather strange level of failure recorded. In addition, the high level of failure which characterized 2016 JAMB, rather followed a similar pattern for most of the candidates who were unlucky with JAMB and its COMPUTERS. It was learnt on authoritative ground that upon the release of results in many centres, nationwide, hardly had up to five candidates who scored 200 and above.

If there were no errors that JAMB itself has seen but would not want to openly accept and acknowledge; why additional 40 marks which was added to the scores of some candidates?There are certainly timebound questions to lay at the door steps of JAMB. Time and space might not accord detailed and elaborate opportunities to combatively look and give details of how JAMB got it wrong. But it is imperative within the scope of limited but available space to itemize few and likely ways to salvage the future of Nigerian admission seekers. To begin with, it is

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instructive, to call on stakeholders to comprehensively embark on constructive criticisms on the place and relevanceof JAMB and it yearly examination. It is time to demand accountability and explanation from JAMB on how far it has fed. There is therefore no other time other than now. There is the need to hold education summits at all levels of government which will reposition ill-functional bodies like as JAMB. The time to do this is NOW. s a matter of fact, there is just no explanation, and justification for a candidate who wrote the 2015 UTME for instance and passed but could not gain admission because of the limited spaces in the Nigerian high institutions to still write the 2016 UTME. What for, if not a clear case of economic exploitation?What is rather rational is that a candidate who passed UTME once should not write it again, at least, for a space of three years, minimally. This call must be looked into and deliberated upon by stakeholders in the field of education and other related fields. If this plea is looked into, it helps to trim and limits the chances of exploitation which admission seekers are yearly subjected to.

Besides the above step, government must try to work out modalities, which seek to reduce or limit the cumbersome nature of gaining admission into higher institutions of learning. For instance, the cases of duplication of duties and responsibities among JAMB and some bodies in almost all the universities and polytechnic, as well as colleges of education must be criticallylooked into. This will reduce the financial burden placed on admission seekers. This will reduce exploitative tendencies which young ladies and young men are subjected to. This problem if not addressed, can make young Nigerians to become apathy to government and governmental institutions and programmes.

While the above points must be considered, JAMB

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•Prof Anthony Onwuka (Imo) Minister of State, Education.

must also accpet that there are needs to agree with the fact that there is either the need to retrench its decision of an all-phases computer-based examination or still uses both the manual and computer methods till a time in the future that it can suffiently handle the later without much problems. hether or not to do CBT examination is not the point. Far from it! The point here is that JAMB should not do what its preparations cannot handle, thereby wasting the precious time and resource of young Nigerians. It is therefore a ripe time that the present and well noticed wind of change blowing in major national lives being seen to have impacts on some nearly-dead bodies like JAMB. 2016 UTME has come and gone, but it will go down in history as rather one of the worst examinations, conducted in Nigeria. What is however needful is giving meaningful considerations and attention now and in days to come to consider a timely intervention of the present but wrongly introduced method. In future time, starting from next year, there is the need to usewell tested computer centres andnotjust theindiscriminate rentage of computer centre that characterized this year’s UTME. In the mean time, it is pertinent to speak to the thousands admission seekers, who as a matter of fact seriously and dutifully prepared for the 2016 UTME but were unlucky and therefore were victims of the aforementioned hiccups. The best that can be said now to you is to wake up and move on, on the path of your dream. It is not enough in life to dream. What is far important is the tenacity and perseverance to back it up. The road to success is a road well-painted with diverse shades of discouraging moments and happenings. Therefore, that you failed today places you on a better vantage to see and understand what success is.

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•Jamb Boss, Proffessor Dibu Ojerinde.

construction. If we got N17.5 billion, the road no doubt would have been completed. We were paying contractors with promissory notes and other revenues at our disposal. However, in Osogbo under the Aregbesola administration, 21 quality Osogbo township roads with concrete drainage stretching for 26.31 kilometres forming inner ring road were constructed and commissioned. Ditto in Ilesa, where 17 township roads totalling 29.7 kilometres were reconstructed and commissioned. In Ede, 13 township roads have been rehabilitated through direct labour.

In the different Federal Constituencies in the state, 79 kilometres of intra-city roads were constructed and rehabilitated. In addition to the intra-city roads, 20 other roads traversing the cities, and covering a total of 294.27 kilometres, were completed.

This administration has also constructed six selected roads, covering more than 74.1 kilometres, in the six geo-political zones of Osun. We inherited eight road rehabilitation projects of 144.29 kilometres from the previous administration which we have completed.

We encouraged the 30 local government areas including the Area Office, to initiate and complete (in record time) the construction of 238 kilometres of road with the savings from Excess Crude Accounts (ECA) to Local Governments. This has been accomplished to the admiration of all. In conjunction with the World Bank, Osun is working on 200km of rural roads to access farming communities for easy evacuation of commodities and produce, under the Rural Access Mobility Programme (RAMP) of the World Bank.

It is unfortunate that Amzat closed his eyes to these roads that have beautified our communities and eased transportation in Osun.

No money has been spent on Dagbolu beyond the cost of clearing the bush and extending the rail sidings to Dagbolu station by the railway corporation. The total amount spent is definitely not more than N150 million. Once again, this is another case of jettisoning truth, logic and common sense to claim that N6 billion had been spent on a proposed mid-regional market for which we are yet to compensate the land owners for the economic trees on the land.

7. ‘At the proposed airport, there are only a couple of uncompleted buildings surrounded by bush. The structures provide habitation only for reptiles and rodents’ The consultant handling the airport took journalists on a facility tour of the airport in January 2016. There he showed them the level of work and told them that the runway, which is 60 per cent of the work, is almost ready. The earthwork is complete to 2.4 kilometres level, which is only waiting for crushed stone base and asphaltic overlay. That runway, at 3.5 kilometres, is the longest in West Africa. To reach that level, 12.3 metres of excavation and refilling with laterite was carried out. As it is, it can land any plane in an emergency.

Other features already put in place at the airport include water pipes on both sides of the runway, to be deployed quickly in case there is fire outbreak, which is the first of its kind in any airport in Nigeria. Also, the four storey control tower has been constructed up to the third storey. This was well reported in the media and the pictures illustrating these facts were published with the stories. The MKO Abiola Airport, which is proposed for an aircraft maintenance and cargo hub, is a joint effort with the Federal Government. The contractor handling the project is the contracting arm of the Nigerian Airforce, Aeronautical Engineering and Technical Services Limited (AETSL). About N3 billion has been expended on the project and the state is waiting for the equity contribution of the Federal Government for it to be completed. The Minister of Aviation, Honourable Rotimi Amaechi, promised to expedite action on this during his visit to the site on February 4, 2016. Amzat’s malevolent report on the airport is another unmistakable evidence of his intention to misinform, deceive and portray the government in a bad light.

8. ‘Road construction and rehabilitation projects within the state such as the 29 km Gbongan Sekona Akoda road, 48.60 km Gbongan-Odeyinka-Orileowu Araromi Owu road and 16.35km Ikirun junction-Ila Odo-Kwara State road remain deserted at the time of The Guardian’s visit in August last year. The popular Osogbo-Iwo road is also undone as at the time of the visit. For these projects, the government of Osun State sought $692.3 million from Finance Group from Cyprus according to a “Letter of Request for Loan” dated June 7, 2013, which The Guardian obtained’ Amzat claimed he obtained a copy of the request we made to Finance Group, a Cyprus financial firm, for a loan of $692.3 million to develop some roads without

telling the readers whether or not we got the loan, since the relevance of mentioning the loan would have been if we got it and never used it for the purpose for which it was obtained. For a piece called investigative report, Amzat is compelled morally to comment on the evidence sighted or obtained that confirmed the foreign loan was processed and disbursed to the state.

The truth is that the firm approached us prior to our capital market issuance programme and told the state government that it could help her syndicate all the finances required to fund her budget deficits over the medium term period, claiming it had gone far with Ekiti and Ondo States. es, it is our work to always consider favourable alternative terms and structures to optimise our financing portfolio since it was not a crime to so do. We issued a non-committal letter of interest that is not worth more than the paper it was issued on and that was the last we heard from the firm. We later moved on with other alternatives to finance the budget deficits. It would have been interesting if Amzat had provided evidence that the government obtained the loan and/or diverted the loan. How could a non-committal letter of interest to commence discussion automatically amount to obtaining the loan? No doubt, he made this claim in order to deceive the public into thinking that the government took the loan for the road projects, when in fact, no such thing happened. This is done deliberately to set the people against the Government.

On the dualisation of Osogbo (Old Garage) – Ikirun – Ila Odo – Kwara state boundary, the writer got it all wrong when he wrote that N17.5 billion was borrowed for the Osogbo – Ila-odo road and N6 billion on Dagbolu market. The total proposed contract sum for the project running to 47 kilometres was N17.8billion.

It is contractor financed. In a desperate move to give fillip to his predetermined objective of portraying the Aregbesola government in bad light, the writer turned his eyes away from the level of work done on the said road forgetting that aside from the physical road construction, the contractor has in stock, huge number of construction equipment and materials at its project camp. He was blindfolded by his mischievous mission to the extent that he could not see the renewal and transformation of the urban corridors along this road.

9. ‘DMO record did not capture other loans granted to the state by several commercial banks, such as N562 billion collected on 25 May 2012 from First Bank to fund “O” Uniform programme’ That Osun obtained N562 billion loan from First Bank to fund the Osun school uniform programme is a most unreasonable claim. How much could each uniform have cost for about 450,000 pupils of Osun in public schools? The truth is that the scheme led to a joint venture company (Omoluabi Garment Factory) established in Osun to employ about 3,000 workers at full capacity. The private investor, Sam and Sarah, brought its investment and the government injected shareholders loan (quasi equity) at an interest to the venture, backed by performance guarantee of a financial institution. his government contribution as its own shareholders loan of about N900 million to the venture was to be redeemed by delivering 750,000 uniforms out of which 450,000 were distributed freely to Osun pupils. The rest were sold in the subsequent years and the state recouped some of its money. But the job was given to the company on the condition that it establishes a factory in Osun. In doing so, the land on which the factory was built, provided by government and the interest on the principal shareholders loan were converted to about 25 per cent equity in the company. With the Omoluabi Garment Company Ltd now valued at over N3 billion, that investment is worth N750 million. In reality, considering this partnership and the value obtained, it is as if the state did not spend any cash on this project and it got uniforms worth N900 millionand asset worth N750 million in the final analysis.

10. ‘N98 billion loan collected on 25 July 2012 from Sterling Bank for the purchase of 36 Nissan Sunny (GLI Engine) vehicles and others’ Again, he alleges that Osun obtained a loan of N98 billion from Sterling Bank to purchase 36 Nissan Sunny (GLI Engine) vehicles. By implication, each of these vehicles must have been purchased at N2.72 billion! How more outrageous can this get! The real truth is that the State Government of Osun facilitated acquisition of standard vehicles for cab operation in Abuja for Osun indigenes based in that city, through the Sterling Bank, without committing a Kobo. The entire transaction was between the bank and the group of cab operators.

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11. ‘N35 billion collected from Wema Bank for 2012 annual pilgrimage’ The claim that the government borrowed N35 billion from Wema Bank to sponsor an undisclosed number of pilgrims to Hajj in 2012 alone is completely unfounded. A total of 1,065 pilgrims, who registered with the Hajj Board, performed the 2012 Hajj. One hundred and fifty six (156) of them were sponsored by the government at a total cost of N180 million, while the rest sponsored themselves. This was done without any loan whatsoever from any source.

12. ‘Osun State has recently obtained another N34.9 billion through the recent bailout by CBN. With this intervention, workers’ salaries have been paid. The workers insisted only half of their salaries have been paid so far’ This is a lie. Of the N34.9 billion obtained, only N25.87 billion belongs to the state government. The rest belongs to the local governments. The CBN actually requested for outstanding wages up to May 2015, which all states submitted and got partial funding. That is, not all submission were funded by CBN and this presupposes May 2015 as the terminal period of payment under the bail out scheme.

However, in Osun, workers and pensioners were paid in full for this period and government even extended it to June 2015. Labour and Government understand that the economic headwinds occasioned by the dwindling revenues from federation account will continue after the bailout and therefore agreed to work together and bring to the table, transparently, revenues from federation accounts and internally generated revenue to be apportioned to the salaries and critical expenditures of government by a labour/government committee. Since July 2015, Levels 1-7 officers and pensioners that do not earn above N20,000, who are clearly in the majority, have been receiving full salaries and pensions. Only level 8 and above officers and pensioners earning above N20,000, have been on modulated salaries and pensions, depending on the quantum of money available from federation accounts and internally generated revenues. Labour and the government also agreed to work together to increase the internally generated revenues to improve the apportionment to salaries. The workers deserve praises for this understanding and forbearing. Their sacrifices and labour of love will not go in vain.

13. ‘Everything considered, the conflicting statement of account presented by Governor Aregbesola in June questions the transparency of the state government, in a way louder than the strident voice of the governor’s “political detractors.”’

This is judgemental, a categorical affirmation of the jaundiced opinion of the writer that the allegations are true and that the state government is guilty. But we are consistent. What we said in June is still true today. It is Amzat that has published lies and falsehood which defy fairness, common-sense and rational thinking.

The essence of the Governor’s speech was to present the state recurrent revenues for four years and the recurrent expenditures (personnel and overhead) and to elevate the issues of governance that have now dominated the public space; which is the dwindling revenues as a result of fall in price of crude oil and the cost of governance.

14. ‘And that the lawmakers are oblivious of this blunder raises doubt about credibility of the House’ This is clearly an incitement of the lawmakers against the governor, a puerile attempt at destabilisation and fomenting political crisis between the legislature and executive arms in the state.

No Single Project Has Failed Under Aregbesola THE Rauf Aregbesola administration came to Osun focused on changing the fortunes of the state. After two decades of her creation, the state was referred to in a most derogatory manneras a civil service state, a way to illustrate the fact that its economy only survives on payment of salaries to workers with no expectations from the peasant farmers, artisans, traders, professionals, academics, merchants and MSMEs of a thriving commercial, cultural, tourism and industrial activities.

This is what the administration sought to determinedly change.

Of course, it was obvious this could only be achieved with a direct “assault” on the parlous state of infrastructure, security, youth engagements, reformed education Continued on page 3

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Tuesday, april 5, 2016

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istory has a way of repeating itself for avoidance of doubt, so that those who refuse to learn from the facts of first occurrence, either for the purpose of deliberate distortion of facts or inadvertent overlook that memory-loss exerts, may be placed on the radar of infallible recollection that a fresh episode avails. Nature itself brings this to bear, so that those who derive unbridled pleasure in flagrant fact distortions may have their antics checkmated in an event that historical relics are not enough to stifle the pranks of deliberate mischief. We may not blame these agents of distortion because they are strategically positioned by certain demons that are commissioned to ensure that the world is not totally purified for all comers’ glorious eternity with the Creator; Who will sit as the ultimate Judge at the end of ages. Some people have their sub-conscious ids muddled for the same reasons, that their routes of escape from eternal damnation may be permanently blocked to give our Maker a leverage to slam inevitable condemnation on Lucifer and his cohorts that flagrantly join him on heart to do evil.

It is very certain that majority of the electorate that voted in Muhammadu Buhari to take over from Otuoke-born doctorate degree holder that ruled as Nigerian Head of State for almost six years are no buffoons. They knew how the ruling class took Nigerians for granted and how they became recklessly daring to wit, as if they were destined to rule for life irrespective of whichever way they chose to rule. That was the era of impunity that all crassly dehumanized Nigerians endured. We saw few vantage politicians lavishly spoilt with our commonwealth, as if those minority Nigerians in the then ruling-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were exclusively destined to prey on the proverbial national cake that ordinarily would have been a source of respite to the entire population of the largest country in Africa. Destiny beckoned early in the Year 2015; and Nigerians used the golden opportunity those elections provided to sack a ruling party that once boasted that it would rule persistently for sixty years.

I need to reiterate for the umpteenth time that the slogan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) that eventually turned out to be a magical coinage originated from the State of Osun in an anniversary workshop. In the topic entitled: “Change Agents In An Evolving Democratic Process” during the workshop held at the Leisure Spring Hotel, Osogbo to mark the second year in office of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, many erudite scholars reminisced on the ugly trends that have permanently banished us into a state of anomie, and the possible ways of freeing our land from the seeming intractable quagmire were elaborately discussed. That was when serious efforts began to unseat the behemoth called Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that occupied the centre stage in the political structure of our nation then. The taking over of the reign of governance by APC is therefore the reason people like us, as co-conveners of that meeting, are heaving a sigh of relief that our labour is not in vain after all. The efforts metamorphosed into a movement that took the bull by the horns to ensure that what appeared

By ade olugbotemi that the Nigerian economy was in bad state, to the extent that the Federal Government was meeting statutory obligations for months with borrowing padding. The then officiating minister of economy, super-Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala only revealed that to the world when she realized that elections had been won and lost, and there was no hiding place anymore for tale bearers. We might not bother then because food was getting onto our tables as, and when due and debts kept piling up but we didn’t know, neither did we feel it as persons.

The economy in its confined subterfuge was badly dented. he change that was intended was never meant to groom walking carcasses on the streets. It was intended to sanitize us inside out, so that a sustainable future can be guaranteed.

It was intended to grow our economy to a level that criminal tendencies will become an aberration. It was intended to instil creativity into the consciousness of able-bodied individuals to get value for efforts. It was intended to create self-reliance mentality that will make everybody positive contributor to our national life. It was conceptualized after a stable power supply, and unfettered fuel flow that is to be aided by unruptured oil and gas pipelines that have been bedevilled by vandals’ aggravated uncivil activities over the years. It was to instil positive mindsets that will help Nigerians to become productive folks, unlike the prevalent propensity to cut corners, swindle and make undue gains to the detriment of others. The running of government is intended to be done in the best transparent manner possible, so that ordinary Nigerians will be conversant with government business and have a sense of belonging in all that transpire in the corridor of power. These are what the conceptualized change is meant to fulfil. The government of APC’s Muhammadu Buhari is pursuing these goals and that in a transparent manner so far.

We may not have fully realized all these now; but I believe we are beginning to see some differences in the ways of doing things. We quickly must remind ourselves of the misnomers that have been packaged for us as a Constitution. Up till now, most of our divisions and agencies are still being headed by PDP members that never bought into any change mentality. They are still sitting as statutorily guaranteed by the concoction delivered to us as Constitution by the military. Majority of our legislators never envisaged a scintilla of termination to the tenure of incumbent government; which may necessitate an abrupt end to occupation of office by any public servant. That is why there may remain lull in the activities of some government agencies because political heads of PDP extraction are still holding firm to their steering of operations. This category of people will remain saboteurs in government circles, knowing full well that they are black sheep in government, whose days in office are numbered. They are still enmeshed in spoilers’ mentality their conquered party (PDP) was grossly famous for. The ruins of their misrule need time to be tidied up; noting that it is not just sixteen years we are talking about but also the conflagration that has engulfed our national life under the military; whose surrogates, PDP as a party and its members, represent.

The Change Nigerian Majority Voted For T

•President Muhammadu Buhari. impossible then materialized in the kicking out of self-styled invincible PDP through the 2015 general elections through massive sensitization. t is very imperative we keep reminding ourselves of these facts, so that those who intend to concoct non-existent heroism for themselves through the inevitable hardship that Nigerians are going through now may of necessity be cut to size and be prevented from further distortion of facts to confuse Nigerians. The change we clamoured for might start as a slogan, or better still, a mantra; it has ceased from being so since May 29, 2015, when the symbol of the movement that I earlier mentioned was sworn-in as the President and the Commanderin-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It has since become a process that must be keyed into by all well-meaning Nigerians and

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be imbibed as a way of life. We must let it be permanently stuck into our concordant consciousness that having a better understanding of, and agreeing with the necessity of identification that the process needs to succeed, is germane to our much sought after respite that has eluded us over the years.

I can see nearly everybody getting frustrated by the ongoing fuel scarcity and non-payment of salaries or irregular payment of it. We cannot blame anybody for thinking and feeling so because over the years, we have gotten used to what I can refer to as padding gimmick that temporarily brought reliefs, as if it is a normal way of life. It is true that if PDP is still in power today, we may not experience what we are experiencing now because processes would have been perfected in padding that would always paint bloomy state of things. Nobody knew

OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guaranty Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. All correspondence to the Managing Editor, Kola Olabisi, Telephone: 08033927286 (kolaolabisi@yahoo.com); Editor, KAYODE AGBAJE, Telephone: 0803-388-0205, E-mail:

osundefender@yahoo.com, kayodeagbaje@yahoo.com. ISSN: 0794-8050.Website: www.osundefender.org.