Author: oduduwanews

The erstwhile Governor of Oyo State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala has expressed his condolence message to the family of a kid that lost her life in motor accident suspected to be Governor Seyi Makinde’s convoy.

Otunba Alao-Akala, in a statement personally signed and made available to newsmen, commiserated with the good people of Ogbomoso and most especially the family of the young girl whose life was cut short on Thursday.

Recall that Oduduwa News reported yesterday on the accident that claim the life of a kid as was rummoured that it was governor Makinde’s convoy that killed her but Makinde in his response has refuted the claim saying he would unravel the mystery surrounding the death of the kid.

The former Governor described the incident as sad and unfortunate event, saying it is heart breaking seeing the father of the little girl carrying the lifeless body of his once upon a time go lucky, bubbly little girl in tears and anguish.

Akala, however, charged Governor Makinde to ensure that a thorough investigation is carried out on the incident and the findings be made public.

He pointed out that no matter how highly placed the person involved, such individual must be brought to book. He stressed that Governor Makinde must ensure that justice is served accordingly to serve as a deterrent to other reckless drivers.

Akala’s condolenc read in part:

CONDOLENCES

It is with heavy heart that I commiserate with the good people of Ogbomoso and most especially the family of the young, vibrant and energetic young girl that was cut short today.

The sad and unfortunate event is heart rendering seeing the father of the little carrying the lifeless body of his once upon a time go lucky, bubbly little girl in tears and anguish.

I therefore call on Gov. Seyi Makinde to ensure that a thorough investigation is carried out on this incident and the findings made public and that whoever, no matter how highly placed is involved in this dastardly act is brought to book and that Justice is served accordingly to serve as a deterrent to other reckless drivers.

I share in the pains of the poor father and the bitter memory this sad occurrence has left the good people of Ogbomoso with.

I urge you all to please in honour of the faithful departed remain calm and peaceful as you go about your daily activities and in reverence to the people of Ogbomosoland who are worst hit by this sad occurrence Immortalize the memory of the little girl.

The constitutional lawyer, Ebun-Olu Aregboruwa has kicked against claim credited to Attorney General of The Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN.

This The proponents of open grazing support it with the right to freedom of movement granted under section 41 of the Constitution. This section cannot be interpreted to violate other constitutional provisions, especially section 43 that grants the right to private or public property.

You cannot deploy the right to movement of person and cattle to violate the right of another citizen to own property, such as land or farmland, or else you become a trespasser. It is in this regard that I disagree with the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami when he said that the ban on open grazing is unconstitutional. That cannot represent a proper interpretation of the Constitution, with all due respect.

The AGF is a member of the Executive arm of government, under section 5 of the Constitution. The Constitution has not assigned any role to the AGF to make proclamations for the country. To that extent, his comment is ultra vires, being beyond and outside his office as a Minister. The role of interpreting the Constitution is the exclusive preserve of the Courts under the Constitution.

Let the Houses of Assembly of the States that have proscribed open grazing go ahead to make laws to support their declarations. It is only after then that the AGF can approach the court for judicial interpretation.

I urge the Governors to proceed speedily, with the implementation of their lawful and courageous declarations and not be misled, intimidated or distracted by the comments from the federal government.

There is no doubt that we cannot generalize, to say that all “Fulani herdsmen” are guilty of violence and destruction, but we must tackle those criminals who have invaded their ranks, for other purposes other than grazing. Truth is, genuine Fulani herdsmen offer food, dairy, employment and prosperity for the land and this is desirable. The ban on open grazing is therefore necessary to protect the genuine herdsmen and help preserve their vocation from the marauders.

The governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu SAN has responded to a statement credited to Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN where he claimed that the decision of Southwest Governors on ban of open grazing is unconstitutional.

This was contained in a statement signed and released by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu as read in part:

“I have just read the press statement credited to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Shehu Malami SAN on the resolution of the Southern Governors Forum to ban open grazing in their respective States. The AGF is quoted to have said that this reasoned decision, among others, is akin to banning all spare parts dealers in the Northern parts of the country and is unconstitutional.

“It is most unfortunate that the AGF is unable to distill issues as expected of a Senior Advocate. Nothing can be more disconcerting. This outburst should, ordinarily, not elicit response from reasonable people who know the distinction between a legitimate business that is not in anyway injurious and a certain predilection for anarchy. Clinging to an anachronistic model of animal husbandry, which is evidently injurious to harmonious relationship between the herders and the farmers as well as the local populace, is wicked and arrogant.

“Comparing this anachronism, which has led to loss of lives, farmlands and property, and engendered untold hardship on the host communities, with buying and selling of auto parts is not only strange. It, annoyingly, betrays a terrible mindset.

“Mr Malami is advised to approach the court to challenge the legality of the Laws of the respective States baning open grazing and decision of the Southern Governor Forum taken in the interest of their people. We shall be most willing to meet him in Court.

“The decision to ban open grazing stays. It will be enforced with vigour”.

The Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa has refuted the report published by an online news media in Oyo State alleging the institution of falsification of results.

This was contained in a statement signed and sent to ODUDUWA NEWS by the Management of the institution as read in part:

“We write in reaction to the above online publication by one Jolaoso, Ayomipo Opeyemi. Ordinarily, we would have opted not to dignify the writ-up with a rejoinder, considering the personality of the writer as evidenced in his inglorious antecedents while in the Part-time service of our Institution. However, to clear the air on the false and propagandist accusations smeared on the name of our Institution whose motto is Excellence with Integrity, we feel compelled to make the following clarifications:
i) Mr. Jolaoso Ayomipo was originally brought in as the Personal Assistant to the former rector, Mr. I. Eyitayo, his uncle.
ii) The former Rector, who brought him to the Institution as a Personal Assistant became tired of his excesses bordering on intransigence, incorrigibility and flagrant disregards for constituted authority, and therefore controversially posted him out to an academic department (Public Administration) as a Coordinator in 2017.
iii) His tenure as coordinator was characterized with moral and financial concerns so much that he was officially directed to refund the sum of Ninety Thousand naira (N90,000.00) to the students’ association account. He declined.
vi. Based on the foregoing, the unfavorable confidential reports received on Josolaso Ayomipo were too grievous to be discountenanced, and as such, his appointment could not be renewed beyond December, 2019. Therefore, he only served the Department between 2017 when he was posted out of Rectory and December 31, 2019.
v. On the allegation of being owed N75,000.00. It should be noted that Jolaoso Ayomipo was not the only one involved as other Part-Time workers in that category are equally being owed.
vi It is impudent, anachronistic and indecorous that Jolaso Ayomipo could publicly own up that students’ scores, which ought to have been turned in for further processing two years ago are still with him. It clearly shows an act of selfishness, wickedness, recklessness and lawlessness. And that is with the intent of stirring up students whose fate would have been hanging in the balance; thereby causing disaffection and destabilization in the system to which peace was just retuning.
vii. In the interest of the affected students, and peace on campus, the Board of Studies, The Institution Highest Academic Body approved other academic means of assessing the students concerned in the said courses.
viii For the past two weeks, the cheque in respect of the claimed N75,000.00 has been lying in the Institution Bursary for him to collect. Despite having been duly communicated over this, he has refused to come to the Institution to pick the cheque. The real intention of Jolaoso Ayomipo Opeyemi to destabilize the system is becoming more and more manifest to the discerning minds. And we are not unaware that he is acting some scripts of certain disgruntled elements within and outside the polytechnic system”.

ODUDUWA NEWS has just gathered that the Government of Oyo State has announced Friday, May 21, 2021, as public holiday.

A statement by Mr. Taiwo Adisa, Chief Press Secretary to Governor ‘Seyi Makinde, confirmed that the governor approved the holiday to enable the state conduct a hitch free local government election holding on Saturday, May 22, 2021.

The statement urged every resident of Oyo State to go about their duties peacefully, while coming out en masse to their respective voting areas and participate in the election.

The statement read: “His Excellency, Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has authorised the declaration of Friday, May 21, 2021, as public holiday.

“The declaration of the holiday is to enable residents of the state participate freely in the council elections billed to hold on Saturday May 22, 2021.

“Every indigene and resident of the state is hereby enjoined to go about his or her business peacefully, while trooping out en masse to their respective voting areas and perform the civic responsibility on Saturday.”

TheOyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde has concluded plan to commission a 663.6 kwp solar plant in Ibadan.

ODUDUWA NEWS gathered that the project which will be commissioned sited at Nigerian Brewery along New Ife-Ibadan Expressway will be commissioned this Thursday.

Top government functionaries are expected to accompany the governor to the venue.

Details later

Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa has expressed serious concerns over the spate of insecurity in Nigeria, describing the situation as alarming.

This is as there are reports of kidnapping for ransom on the streets of Lagos including Ikeja, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Ikorodu, among others.

In a post on his social media handle, Obasa commended Southern Governors for the communiqué issued at the end of their meeting in Asaba, Delta State to address insecurity and other pressing issues in the national polity.

The Governors, in the said communiqué, affirmed that the people of Southern Nigeria remain committed to the unity of Nigeria on the basis of justice, fairness, equity and oneness, and peaceful co-existence between and among its peoples with a focus on the attainment of shared goals for economic development and prosperity.

They expressed very grave concern on the security challenges currently plaguing the nation and strongly called on President Muhammadu Buhari to address Nigerians on the challenges of insecurity and restore the confidence of the people.

They observed that the incursion of armed herders, criminals, and bandits into the Southern part of the country has presented a severe security challenge such that citizens are not able to live their normal lives including pursuing various productive activities leading to a threat to food supply and general security.

Consequently, the meeting resolved that open grazing of cattle be banned across Southern Nigeria.

They also agreed that the progress of the nation requires that urgent and bold steps be taken to restructure the Nigerian Federation leading to the evolution of state police, review of revenue allocation formula in favour of the sub-national governments and creation of other institutions which legitimately advance the country’s commitment to and practice of true federalism.

In view of widespread agitations among various peoples for greater inclusiveness in existing governance arrangements, the Governors asked the Federal Government to convoke a national dialogue as a matter of urgency.

They also expressed concern on the continued gridlock on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway and therefore recommended the activation and establishment of ports in other states of the federation to create new jobs and promote socio-economic activities in the country.

Besides, the Southern Governors also expressed concern on the economic implications of another lockdown on the country and therefore suggested greater coordination and cooperation between Federal and State Governments in evolving strategies for dealing with the pandemic.

Reacting, Obasa commended the Governors for acting in the interest of the people.

“On Southern Governors Communique, I strongly commend our governors for their boldness and courage in coming together to make demands for the people of Southwest.

“This shows good representation and leadership.

“The insecurity in the nation is alarming,” Obasa said.

The Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) has lauded the Administration of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola for its commitment to the advancement of the State’s economy.

NIPC also commended the Administration for being resilient and relentless to socioeconomic, business and investment promotion since the inception.

This is even as the government reaffirmed its vision to rescuing and stimulating the economy, and changing the narrative of Osun from a civil service State to an investment, commerce and industry-driven economy.

The head of the NIPC Southwest Zonal Office, Ibadan, Mr. Hassan Lawal, stated these on Wednesday at the Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the Osun Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA) in collaboration with the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) tagged “Year 2021 Investment Recertification Exercise and Stakeholders Engagement Forum”, held at Osun Civil Service Development Centre, Abere, Osogbo.

The Stakeholders’ Forum is aimed at drawing a workable investment roadmap and business strategy to further attract potential investors to invest massively in Osun.

Addressing journalists shortly after the Stakeholders’ Forum, Lawal said Osun government had proved its readiness to turn a new leaf in turning the State to an investment destination.

The NIPC Zonal boss who described the Forum as a necessity to further assess the State’s readiness for business and investment promotion, said the Commission was highly impressed by the level of commitment geared towards sustaining the State’s economy and enhancing its productivity and economic profile.

He lauded the State government for the prompt and timely creation of Osun Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA), which he said had really helped in boosting the capacity of the State to foster a better investment and business partnership with local and foreign investors.

“What we are doing here today has been done in many of the States of the Federation and our attention is focused on Osun State as part of efforts to take the State out of its seeming ‘Civil Service Status’ and make it a business and investor driven economy, and this is the process to get there.

“We have been here since yesterday and we have been able to commence this project which we call NICPS i.e Nigeria Investment Certification Programme for States that was developed with the help of the World Bank.

“Our target is to make State to better project their opportunities. We have gotten to a stage to profile Osun economy. Osun is very wealthy, Osun is a very rich State as we have many mineral resources, arable land, and her people are very resourceful. Osun has all it takes to be a leading investment State in Nigeria that is why we have commenced the assessment; and our target is to strengthen the capacity of the State in this regard.

“So, what we are here today for, is part of those supports that we give to the States, and it is the turn of Osun. Aside from helping the States to create Investment Promotion Agency, we also assist States with part of those tools in getting a compact understanding of those tools that we use to drive investment and one of those tools is this NICPS.

“I want to thank Governor Oyetola. He has done excellently well, particularly for being the major promoter of the State’s investment and business opportunities. I use this opportunity to appreciate him and for having a formidable team in the Osun Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA). Osun has done fantastically well.

“Though we are not done yet because after this programme, we still have trainings for the team of OSIPA on how to have the rudiments of investment promotion and how to attract investors. What I presented is part of those tools that we need to drive investment in the State.

“We developed the concept and the purpose is to help States to document, which will lead to better project their opportunities. Don’t forget that Osun has several investment opportunities such as human-capital resources, natural resources and arable lands. So, the purpose of this is to help them to better project these to potential investors.

“It is on record that the last that was done, the state was on 4th star. So, for it to rise, the State must increase on the funding for investment promotion. There is need for the State as well to increase attention and funding, and I must commend the government for what it has done so far,” he added.

Speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Osun Investment Promotion Agency (OSIPA), Mr. Femi Adeniran, said the State was resolute to turn Osun to an investment and business destination.

Adeniran who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of the agency noted that efforts had reached top gear to take the State from its present status of four stars to five stars of the maximum investment rating.

He said the focus of the agency was to strengthen the ‘ease of doing business’ in the State, and pursue vigorously and rigorously things capable of attracting local and foreign investors to invest massively in the State.

Adeniran said: “Basically, there is this process that is called the Investment Certification for States, and this Investment Certification has criteria which Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission will use in assessing our readiness for investment and investors, and they are graded from one star to five stars.

“The last exercise that was conducted was done in 2016 and Osun was rated four stars certification and what that means was that we have not got there. But with what we have put in, we have taken a lesson from the last exercise, we have worked on them, we have developed on them and we have presented them back to NIPC and I am optimistic that we will get maximum point of five stars.

“We have taken the learning from that of the last one and we have jerked up the efforts to show that we are fully ready to work towards the five stars. And once we have the five stars, it is like having an emblem to show to investors that we have been rated by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission.

“The advantage of this is to further show that our State is an investment destination. So, basically, the review of the last rating is what we have done today. That is why we have the zonal team of the NIPC in our State.

“We have done all of the updates, we have done the property standard, marketing standard and information standard. All we need to update, we have updated them. We have already done the Website, and once we finish, we can easily upload whatever we want and the investors can easily access it for whatever partnership, and once they click it, they can easily access anything and see what we are capable of offering them.

“We have met with the NIPC managenent and they have checked our documents and we have equally engaged heads of MDAs, parastatals, critical stakeholders who support investment and business management in the State. We have the federal agencies such as NAFDAC, SMEADAN, etc to drive the State economy.

“After the whole exercise, we would be invited after their thorough assessment on index performance. And from what we have seen and shown to us, we are about 80 to 90 percent there. We are confident that nothing will prevent our five stars.

“After we have attained this feat, we shall be presented to the World Bank that will do the global assessment to further prove our five stars for verification to higher ladder.

“As it is, we have not been impressively ranked the best on the ease of doing business, but our target is to be at the top by the grace of God. Though, so many factors contributed to our low ranking before. One of them was that there was no OSIPA in place, but with our emergence, our target is to rank among the first 10 in Nigeria and one of the steps we have taken is to have our ‘One Stop Shop’.

“We have already constructed that and it is ready for commissioning. This is a place where critical agencies that will manage end-to-end of new business opening. With this in place, one can go from one desk to another and within possible shortest time, one business is opened.

“Our partnership with NIPC so far so good is being seamless. We have a good number of engaging opportunities for meeting and understanding of what actually the requirements for us to stand tall on our own about our responsibilities at State level.

“One of the programmes that we had since August last year when OSIPA was inaugurated is this programme. We have had several meetings and we have a very good relationship with the leadership of the Commission.

“As for us in OSIPA, we are totally focused, totally committed to encouraging investors and also ensuring the growth of businesses in the State.”

The Stakeholders’ Forum has in attendance the Executive Chairman, Osun Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Adegbite Ademikanra; Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Investment, Mr. Yinka Omiyale; some of the Heads of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies; Government Parastatals, among other stakeholders.

The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) has reiterated the commitment of the State Government to prosecute any form of assault on government officials to the full extent of the law.

He said this, in view of recent cases of attack on LASTMA and Taskforce officials in the State, where he stated Ten persons have so far been arraigned before the Courts for assaulting LASTMA officials on lawful duty

He also mentioned that the Mobile Courts in the state within a year, arrested, arraigned and convicted 62,477 traffic offenders.

Onigbanjo made this revelation on Wednesday while giving an account of his stewardship from April 2020 to April 2021 at the 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing of the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.

He noted that during the period under review, 62,477 persons had faced the law over various traffic offences such as the use of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane, street trading, driving against traffic, willful obstruction as well as violation of the COVID-19 Regulations.

“The Mobile Courts sits on Saturdays at different locations across the state and deals largely with violators of COVID-19 Regulations,” he said.

According to Onigbanjo, the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had also issued 954 Legal Advice during the time frame.

“The DPP is currently prosecuting 1,860 cases at the High Courts and Magistrate Courts including 10 offenders who have been so far charged over attacks on officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA).

“The Community Service Unit of the DPP during the review period (April 2020 – April 2021), also supervised 557 community service sentences.

“The community service sentences were for street trading, loitering, fighting and environmental offences,” he said.

The Attorney-General noted that the Directorate of Civil Litigation had obtained 18 rulings and 34 judgments in favour of the Lagos State Government.

He said that the Directorate had helped the state government reduce contingent liabilities with suits worth N95 billion being dismissed by the courts.

Citing an example of such cases, Onigbanjo said the Federal High Court on February 3, 2021 in Olukoya Ogungbeje v Lagos State Government and 7 Others, affirmed the position of the state government restricting the the use of motorcycles and tricycles as a means of transportation on specific routes within the six Local Government Areas and 9 Local Development Areas in the state.