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Governor Dapo Abiodun’s Great Strides in One Year

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5 years ago

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When my friend, Dr. Dapo Abiodun, told me he wanted to stand for office as Governor of Ogun State I have to admit I was very concerned and said as much to him. I didn’t understand why someone who had achieved his level of success in the oil and gas industry would want to move into politics. Anyone who was familiar with the Ogun State political landscape at the time knew that he had a very difficult fight ahead of him. Almost two years later, I have to doff my hat to Governor Dapo Abiodun.

As I had envisaged at the start, the road to the governorship was indeed a difficult and rocky one but in hindsight, I am pleased that he embarked upon it. Some would say that the fact that he was sworn in as governor on his birthday speaks to the fact that he was destined for the role. Unsurprisingly, when I expressed my concerns about his political ambitions to him he stood his ground firm based on his strong conviction on the role he believed he could play in the development of his beloved Ogun State. I now take it as a lesson to us all that where the vision is compelling, the fight is undoubtedly worth it.
A year after being sworn into office, I am very pleased to see that the drive and the determination that took Abiodun into office is slowly bringing transformation to Ogun State. As we all know from bitter experience, getting into office is one thing; executing on promises, however, is quite another matter.

A key pillar to Abiodun’s transformation strategy is Ogun State’s proximity to Lagos State, the economic capital of the country. Due to the gradual urban sprawl, there are areas of Ogun state already wrongly seen as being part of Lagos State. Instead of sulking, the governor is seeking to capitalise on this by working to position Ogun State as a second economic hub. The five-year Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) developed by the governor and his team is a comprehensive effort that is designed to propel the state into a high-income one that is both inclusive and sustainable.

The programme is expected to lift Ogun State’s gross national income and raise per capita income, meeting the World Bank’s threshold for high income states. A key anchor of OGSTEP is to foster greater private sector participation in the State’s economy with a particular focus on improving the business-enabling environment, strengthening agri-food value-chains and upgrading the skills development and capacity building sectors.

I strongly believe that the current COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the fact that “government alone cannot do it.” The only way that Nigeria as a whole, and Ogun State specifically, will make the necessary progress is for government, private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to work collaboratively together to drive things forward. With this in mind, the intention is that OGSTEP will also be used to implement reforms to the public sector in order to facilitate the smooth implementation of the state’s social and economic plans.

OGSTEP is still in its implementation phase (full-blown project implementation is expected to commence in October 2020) but it’s clear that the governor and his team have already started making good progress on the key focus areas – infrastructure, social development, education, youth empowerment & employment, and agriculture.

On the infrastructure front, the Ogun State government has commenced the construction of some major state roads; the roads from Owode to Idiroko, Osi Otta to Ikola, and Ijebu-Ode to Epe, to name a few. Also, given the importance it holds to the state’s economy, it has also undertaken palliative repair works along the Lagos-Sango-Abeokuta dual carriageway. Given his stated strategy of benefiting from the state’s proximity to Lagos, it only makes sense that there is easy access between the two capital cities.

Still on infrastructure, the government has also successfully restored portable water supply by the Water Corporation to Abeokuta and 14 other communities, including Ikenne. This effort has added 7,000 more homes to the state’s water supply system. I think this is particularly timely given the current pandemic. We’ve all heard so much about the importance of hand-washing to reduce the spread of the pandemic but this becomes “grammar” when people have no access to water. The state still has a way to go to achieve 100% water connectivity but this has definitely been a big step in the right direction.
The second key focus area of social development is a hydra-headed beast; one that cannot be tackled in just a year. Again, for me, the key thing is ensuring that the state is on the right trajectory; not just showing intent but actually beginning to take concrete steps to address the myriad of issues.

First and foremost, especially at a time like this, we must look at healthcare. In the recent past, the governor has installed a molecular lab at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) as well as commissioning five well-equipped isolation centres in the state. I hope to God that not all the isolation centres will end up being required but this is definitely one area where it is better to be safe than sorry. I read a quote mid-March as the pandemic started spreading aggressively across the globe that, “Only time will tell whether you over-reacted or under-reacted but better to find you did the former than the latter.” With this in mind, Abiodun also increased the payment to health workers by 200%, and provided a special risk allowance and life insurance for personnel treating COVID-19 patients.

To bolster the fight against the pandemic, qualified private hospitals have also been identified and enrolled as incident centres to widen the coverage of COVID-19 support at this time. On the side of the populace, the government has been donating protection masks and distributing palliatives to the people to reduce the risk of contagion and to alleviate the suffering caused by the pandemic.

From a security standpoint, the governor has procured 100 ‘4X4’ patrol vehicles and 200 motorcycles to aid the security officers in their work. The reality is that there can be no serious policing without mobility. We all know someone (even if not our own personal experience) who has called out the emergency services only to be left waiting for an inordinate amount of time as they make their way to the incident location. Thankfully that narrative is slowly changing in Ogun State.
In response to the highly contentious farmer/herdsman issue, the state has inaugurated cattle herders and farmers’ conflict resolution and peacekeeping committee. This rightly moves the conversation away from the usual blame game, to resolving the arising issues on both a holistic and a case by case basis.

Regarding education, Abiodun and his team have also successfully rehabilitated 236 schools over the year – one school per ward, across the state. Given the current social distancing realities, the state has also collaborated with Microsoft to design a remote learning system for its education sector, Ogun Digital Classroom, for primary and secondary schools on OGTV, DSTV and GoTV from Mondays to Fridays. We are all fast reaching the conclusion that aside from the loss of lives, one of the saddest outcomes of the pandemic is the significantly increased number of out-of-school children. Rather than whining about the situation, we need to focus on developing practical and sustainable solutions to the problem.

As a step towards addressing the lingering unemployment issue (which we all know eventually leads to a security issue), the governor approved the absorption of over 1,000 Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) 2018 entrants into the civil service and the payment of nine months’ salary arrears. The state also successfully negotiated a new minimum wage with minimal contention; no mean feat. In addition, the state has undertaken a series of youth empowerment programmes including a graduate unemployment youth scheme and the distribution of palliatives.

Last, but by no means least, is the governor’s work in the agricultural sector. I for one have read with increasing concern, several articles about food security over the last few weeks. With everything going on in Nigeria in particular, and the world as a whole, the country can simply not afford a food security crisis. The human and economic cost is unthinkable. It was, therefore, a huge relief to learn of the various programmes that the state has undertaken in the agriculture sector in the last year. The initiatives include the commissioning of Ogun State Agricultural Technology and Innovation Centre, the facilitation and distribution of funding and inputs to 3,500 cassava farmers, and putting frameworks in place to attract private sector investment to the sector, amongst others.

So a year into his tenure as the executive governor of Ogun State, I am pleased with my dear friend, Governor Abiodun, because not only did he succeed in winning the hearts and minds of his Ogun State brothers and sisters, he is also making good progress in transforming their lives. My prayer for him is that just as he has achieved great success in his first year, may God grant him the wisdom and strength to continue to do right by his people.

BY SEGUN SENBANJO

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Society

Oniru confers chieftaincy titles on Smith, Idowu, Olorunnimbe, Akintoye others

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51 mins ago

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January 20, 2025

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The Oniru of Iru-land, His Royal Majesty Oba Abdul-Wasiu Omogbolahan Lawal CON [Abisogun II] has announced the conferment of honourary chieftaincy titles on eminent and distinguished citizens of Nigeria.

 

The revered monarch unveiled the shortlist of recipients as part of activities to mark the fifth anniversary of his peaceful reign on the revered throne.

 

Among the esteemed honourees are Iya Oba of Iru Kingdom – Chief (Mrs) Basira Titilayo Smith, Aare Majeobaje of Iru Kingdom – Chief Adeyemi Idowu, Aare So’ludero ofIru Kingdom- Chief Muyiwa Gbadegesin, Ph.D and Erelu Asa of Iru Kingdom – Chief (Mrs) Bolane Austen-Peters, Aare Fiwagboye of Iru Kingdom – Chief Lukman Olayiwola Mustapha, Asoju Oba of Iru Kingdom- Chief Idris Ibikunle Olorunnimbe and Ajiroba ofIru-Kingdom- Chief Adegboyega Hakeem Akintoye.

 

While extending congratulations to the distinguished honourees on behalf of His Majesty and the Oniru-in-Council, High Chief Abayomi Daramola, Balogun of Iru-Land, in a statement revealed that the conferment of titles will be performed on 14th June, 2025 at the palace (Aafin Oba Oniru), Victoria Island, Lagos.

 

The statement read in part, “to mark the fifth-year anniversary of his ascension to the revered throne of his forebears as the 15th Oniru of Iru-land and after a rigorous selection process, His Royal Majesty Oba Abdul-Wasiu Omogbolahan Lawal CON [Abisogun II] – The Oniru of Iru-land upon the recommendation of the Oniru-in-Council, has issued a Royal Decree approving the conferment of respective honouray Chieftaincy titles on the underlisted eminent and distinguished citizens.”

 

 

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Society

‘Not My Property’ – Ex-Petroleum Minister, Diezani Exposes Owner Of Recovered $52.8 Million Loot

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14 hours ago

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January 20, 2025

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Nigeria’s former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has clarified that she is not connected to the $52.5 million that was recently brought back to the country from the United States of America (USA).

Society Reporters recalls that the federal government on Friday, January 10, announced the receipt of $52.88 million in recovered Galactica assets linked to the former Minister of Petroleum.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, announced the recovery during a formal signing ceremony of the asset return agreement in Abuja.

Fagbemi explained that $50 million of the recovered funds would be channelled through the World Bank for the development of rural electrification projects.

The remaining $2.88 million, he added, would be allocated to the International Institute of Justice to enhance the justice system and support anti-corruption initiatives.

However, in a statement issued on Sunday, Diezani, who has been residing in the United Kingdom (UK) since departing from Nigeria, asserted that the funds associated with her in the media as illicit gains actually belonged to Nigeria’s oil entrepreneur, Kola Aluko.

Finally responding to the alleged recovery through her attorney, Mike Ozekhome SAN, Diezani maintained that the term “Diezani Loot” is unfounded, as she had no involvement in the circumstances surrounding the forfeiture of the funds by its rightful owner.

Expressing her stance, the former minister stated that the $52.5 million originated from a vessel that was confiscated by the American authorities from Kola Aluko, which was subsequently sold, with the proceeds returned to the Nigerian federal government.

Her disavowal of ownership over the funds was detailed in an extensive press release issued on Sunday by the Chambers of Mike Ozekhome SAN, titled “There is no such thing as Diezani Loot.”

The statement reads: “My chambers makes this intervention in the public domain as Solicitors to Diezani Alison-Madueke (DAM) ,the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, HMPR.

“As her Solicitors, we are fully versed in and conversant with her present ordeal and the entire facts surrounding her matters both here in Nigeria and abroad. So, we write from the vantage position of one that is aware of the cocktail of lies that have been spurned around her cases in the last ten years.

“Many of the narratives are outrightly false; some others sheer outlandish speculations; and most, simply bizzare stories cooked up by her traducers to extract a Shylock’s pound of flesh from her for reasons she does not know and cannot even fathom.

“This intervention therefore seeks to correct this skewed narrative and set the records straight for purposes of history. Many Nigerians often talk about wanting ‘technocrats’ to be involved in governance. They desire that people with character and integrity should join politics.

“We agree with them. However and regrettably too, now and again and many a time, the same people not only allow, but actually join the bandwagon to mob-lynch those who chose to serve the nation.

“And we often do this insidiously, covertly and overtly, even when there is no concrete or even any iota of proof that such public officers ever abused their offices or stole from public coffers.

“It is therefore surprising and of great concern to us, to see the level of sustained vilification of an innocent Nigerian citizen who has not yet been tried and found guilty of any offence known to law by any court of law whether in Nigeria or abroad. The person at the receiving end is Citizen Diezani Alison-Madueke (DAM).”

Mischievous And Cruel
The statement from Ozekhome’s office described the earlier claims about the asset recovery as misinformation and defaming.

It said: “We note with concern the recent deliberate attempt to link her with what has been described as a civil forfeiture of a yacht Galactica, the sale of which was said to have yielded $52.8m to the US government; which sum has since been repatriated to Nigeria.

This is a clear example of the mischievous and cruel sport of tarnishing the image of the lady through a bouquet of consistent, persistent and unrelenting cocktail of falsehoods and misinformation.

“The purveyors of this line of misinformation term it “name-and-shame”. To sell the storyline, the architects ensured they attached Diezani’s name to a recovered yacht which is not in any way linked to her.

“They now falsely termed it “Diezani loot”. Nothing of the sort ever happened. She was never involved in the purchase, use and sale of the said yacht.

“The yacht Galactica, from information readily available in the public domain and in open sources, was purchased by Mr Kola Aluko who had used the vessel until he agreed to its forfeiture to the United States of America.

“The yacht Galactica was neither owned nor ever used by our client. DAM has in fact never set her eyes on the yacht. Kola Aluko is an experienced businessman who had been in business well before DAM came into office as HMPR.

“The only tenuous basis for deliberately linking DAM to the said yacht is the false narrative that the Strategic Alliance Agreements (SAAs) which were entered into between Kola Aluko & Jide Omokore’s Atlantic Energy companies and NNPC, were allegedly corruptly awarded to the said companies by DAM. DAM was not the GMD of the NNPC as so did not and could not have awarded the said contracts.

“We plead, as her lawyers, with all and sundry that she be accorded fair hearing and that the process of these UK court proceedings be allowed to take their natural course to avoid prejudice to her in the ongoing subjudice UK proceedings against her.

”Those purveyors and peddlers who habitually spin these outrightly false, unfounded, defamatory, unintelligent and indefensible narratives to denigrate and humiliate her should please find better use of their time and leave DAM alone.

“Let the law take its natural course without interference. We humbly pray.”

 

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Society

Bisi Onasanya, ex FirstBank MD flees Nigeria to Ghana as EFCC closes in……

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2 days ago

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January 18, 2025

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Bisi Onasanya, the embattled former Managing Director of FirstBank has followed in the steps of Oba Otudeko, the former chairman of FBN Holdings and fled the country.
Onasanya who is expected to appear at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday January 20 to answer to the charges brought against him by anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, may likely be absent in court as he is currently holed up in Ghana in hiding.

He was spotted at Movenpick Hotel in Accra where he checked in at exactly 8 am on Friday morning.

Society Reporters had earlier reported that Onasanya will be arraigned before Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke for looting over N12.3 billion.

He will be arraigned alongside Otudeko, also the chairman of Honeywell Group who is equally on the run, as well as two others, a former board member of Honeywell Group, Soji Akintayo and a firm, Anchorage Leisure Limited connected to Otudeko.

The quartet committed fraud in tranches of N5.2 billion, N6.2 billion, N6.150 billion, N1.5 billion and N500 million, N6.2 billion and N2.09 billion between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos.

The 13-count charge, filed by EFCC counsel Bilikisu Buhari on January 16, 2025, further claimed that the defendants made and uttered forged documents to deceive the bank.

Specifically, count 1 accused the defendants of conspiring “to obtain the sum of N12.3 billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V-TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED and Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”

In Count 2, it was alleged that the defendants, on or about the 26th day of November 2013 in Lagos, “obtained the sum of N5.2 Billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for by V TECH DYNAMIC LINKS LIMITED which representation you know to be false.”

The 3rd count claimed that the defendants, between 2013 and 2014 in Lagos, obtained N6.2 Billion from FirstBank Limited on the pretence that the said sum represented credit facilities applied for and disbursed to Stallion Nigeria Limited, which representation you know to be false.”

In the 4th count, they were accused of conspiring to spend the N6,15 billion, out of the monies.

According to the Commission, the offences contravened Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and are punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

Counts 5 and 6 read: “That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about 11th day of December 2013 in Lagos, procured Honeywell Flour Mills Plc to retain the sum of N1,5 Billion, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(c), 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

“That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO, AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about the 17th day of December 2013 in Lagos, converted to the use of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc the sum of N500 million only which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2 (b)) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

“That you, CHIEF OBA OTUDEKO, STEPHEN OLABISI ONASANYA, SOJI AKINTAYO, AND ANCHORAGE LEISURE LIMITED on or about the 17th day of December 2013 in Lagos, converted to the use of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc the sum of N500 million only which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of your unlawful activities to wit: Obtaining by False Pretense and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 15(2 (b)) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act.”

The Street Journal

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