AfDB to partner Ogun on special agro-industrial processing zone

.Adetona College of Governance to be affiliated with NIPSS, says Abiodun

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has described Ogun State as a powerful ally in its development programmes and project implementation.

Special Adviser to the President of the Bank on Industrialisation, Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, asserted in an interview, at the weekend, after a meeting with Governor Dapo Abiodun at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

He said the visit was to discuss one agenda, Item 18, that focuses on the development of the special agro-industrial processing zone and to clarify the subsidiary loan agreement between the state and the Federal Government.

Also speaking, the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Bolu Owotomo, said the state stands to gain from having many agricultural transformation centres as they would feed the special agro-industrialprocessing zone with raw materials.

He said the ministry was currently distributing inputs to farmers as the farming season approaches to enable them to have bountiful harvest and improve their livelihood.

Owotomo also said that capacity-building was being intensified by training extension officers to enlighten small-holder farmers on how best to use the inputs, urging them to follow climate-smart farming to plant for good harvest.

Meanwhile, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) said it had taken steps to guarantee the safety of trucks conveying Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in the country.

This was in response to the explosion that occurred in Abeokuta last weekend.

Director-General of the Organisation, Dr Ifeanyi Chukwunoso Okeke, disclosed this after a meeting with Abiodun at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

In another development, Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has said the Oba Sikiru Adetona College of Governance will be affiliated with the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, for the training of high-ranking government officials.

Abiodun disclosed this, yesterday, during the 90th birthday and 64th coronation anniversary thanksgiving of the Awujale and Paramount Ruler of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, held at the Cathedral Church of Our Saviour, Ita-Olowajoda-Ijasi, Ijebu-Ode.

He said permanent secretaries from the state would be the first to enrol to enable them to benefit from the college, which is the brainchild of the Awujale.

The governor also said that he sought and got the approval of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to grant the college the full status of the campus of the NIPSS.

Abiodun described Adetona as a living legend and a phenomenon whose reign has been a monumental success and a pride to the entire Ijebuland and the state at large.

According to the governor, the monarch represents the beauty and candour of the ancestral heritage of the Ijebu people, emphasising that his passion for governance and accessible commitment to education led him to institute the Oba Sikiru Adetona Professorial Chair in Governance in the Department of Political Science of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye.

In his sermon titled, “Serve the Lord with Gladness,” Dean Emeritus, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), The Most Revd.(Dr) Ephraim Adebola Ademowo, said God’s purpose for man was to serve Him unconditionally, noting that no man serves God faithfully without rewards.

Ademowo, who lamented that most Nigerians do not see themselves as servants once they assume leadership positions, called for a change of heart to move the nation forward.

He advocated national rebirth beginning from the family, saying this would reposition the country and bring back its lost glory.

The cleric described Oba Adetona as a unifier, a monarchical colossus and “a Solomon of our time,” who used the palace to unite all Ijebu sons and daughters, irrespective of their political or religious lineage.

The Awujale, Ademowo noted, is a mentor, and enabler, whose life is full of monumental achievements in his 64 years on the throne, saying he has touched many lives through endowment programmes.