Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (left) and his Edo State counterpart, Com Adams Oshiomole (right) with Benin Businessman, Chris Okaeben and his wife Cynthia, at Chris’ 40th Birthday and 10th Wedding Anniversary, in Benin, on Thursday.

Ondo state government Christmas Carol

Ondo State Chief Judge, Hon Justice Olasehinde Kumuyi  Speaker, Ondo House of Assembly, Rt Hon Samuel Adesina, Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, his wife, Olukemi, Deputy Governor, Alhaji Alli Olanusi and Secretary to the State Government, Dr Rotimi Adelola cutting the cake to mark the Ondo State Service of Carols and Lessons, at the Government House Ground, Akure, during the week

Mare is a Festival of Unity - Barrister Deji Falae

   

  Mare  is a Festival  of Unity for  -  Barrister Deji Falae

Barrister Deji Falae

Barrister Deji Fale is the Honourable commissioner for  culture and Tourism in Ondo state and the Chief organiser of the just concluded Mare Festival . in this interview, he spoke on   Ondo state government  to make Idanre the centre of tourist destination in the Nigeria and  why celebration of Mare festival

What is Mare Festival all about

 Mare festival is a festival that was initiated  by regime of Dr Olusegun Mimiko when he  came on board , Mr governor felt it was important  for us to do a couple of things , first of all to celebrate our natural potentials in the state. We have  a lot of beautiful location across the state, secondly to celebrate the diversity of our culture as you can see we have  musical troops from  different  part of the state   and local government coming to dance and showcase their culture  here at a point we  discovered that there is a need to have a state festival where all this things will come together and be celebrated in one locations  and  of all the beautiful locations we have in Ondo state  you will agree  with me that the hills of Idanre are beautiful in Ondo state and so because of that Mr Governor said that  there is a need to celebrate this location, to celebrate our culture and that is what initiated the Mare festival. There is a bit  of spot in it as well the term Mare came from Marebo, ( Don’t fall down) and the  idea is that we have the mountain climbing competition here and we have  mountain climbers from all over the world who have come to take part in this competition and every year we keen adding  new things to year this year they’ve included grips, they  add grips on  the walls so that it makes it a bit tougher and harder in some area as well, we are getting more and  more in this what we are doing.

 What is the economic important of Mare festival to Ondo people

 You must  realize that in every location where you have the convergence of  a number  of people, what use to happen is that  the local business people in that area will begin to experience an increase in their business in that location , that transporters too will have their business boosted because of the influx of the people and also if you look around  you will see that we have  restaurants and  different drinking joints  and the rest of that, some are displaying their clothing’s their product and all kind of things, what happen is that  all this people that come here  from morning till evening are going to eat   and buy things  and  that means what use to be their turnover in a week mat probably  happen in a day, the immediate  environment is impacted by the quantum of business that the local people  here do,  in fact  we have a competition where the former location where  we use to have Mare  have been pleasing with us to move the  general activities back to  where their own location is because the people in this area seems to be benefitting more, so the immediate impact is that the local people here are benefiting more. Also a lot of people comes here and decide to stay a day or two  so the hotel here are also business too, so there is an  immediate and direct transfer of wealth of visitors to local business in Ondo state.

 To what extent have  you gone in cultural re-orientation in Ondo state

 We all know that our culture is the vehicles of our values,  what  we believe in , the language we speaks and the rest of that , in the ancient  time we had  colonization by force, the white people  came  force their culture on us and took us away but in modern times  we have this cultural  colonization  which means the  popular music, popular clothings  that are  been worn by the artists abroad have  started taking over our own natural mode of dressing , language , our culture  and traditions, so we must make a deliberate   and conscious effort to keep celebrating it and  bringing it to the fore, otherwise you will realize that to a large extent Languages  die off sue to lack of use, so  you  will discover that if you are not careful, you don’t keep celebrating what you have you will loose if we do not keep bring  our culture to the fore, in the next one or two  generations  you will have

some people from  here who may not be able to speak the language, it is something that the government have to deliberate purse as a policy and we’ve been doing that.

 Sir if you look around there has  not been much  in term of infrastructural  development of this town,  what is your government doing in developing this town to attract  foreign  tourist

 I may not agree with you that not much has been done on the infrastructural development here, if you drive from Akure to Idanre you will notice that there are certain area where the road has been fixed, last year there was a lot of works done in terms of fixing the road but because the attention that has  come here, we have the neighbourhood market that has been built here, we have  the Mega Primary school going on , all this thing take us to the fore, some of this thing are on doing here next year we have a plan  the plan are already going on to improve on the facilities  by the hill, the golf course in Idanre is nearly completed, it is a standard gold course with 18 holes our plan is that by the end of  February  formerly Mr governor will commission all the facilities we are putting on here to make Idanre a tourists location, so that when you come to Idanre it wont just be about the Hill alone, you can do a lot of other things as well the plan is just to make Idanre a capital tourists of Ondo state.

What are the challenges so far

 Well naturally we live in an environment in Nigeria where it is difficult to predict  to a largeR extent how things will turn up definitely logistic is the major problem to be sure that things will go according to plan you need to keep checking and rechecking to make sure that everything go according to plan, we’ve  invited  some states, so many people, musicians, Nolly wood stars and others  so the first  thing is coordinating the letters making sure that they get to their destinations  so logistic  is always the major  challenge so as we move year after year the mistakes of the past will not  repeats itself

 Is your government looking at a situation whereby Idanre will be visited by tourists  all the time  and not just during the Mare Festival

 There are few things that the government is looking at  first  of all this festival is a creation of Dr Olusegun Mimiko, the people of Idanre themselves have their own community festivals that takes place here and the idea is that   for government to come in and support them we must realize that it cost a lot of money to build costume for them even if  it is Aso Oke  and the rest of them to increase from may  be 10 20 people to up,   increase   the number of dancer, drummers and others  so the the government can come in so that they can make more customes  and others  and get more people involved in their own festival in the local community, secondly hopefully, will they be able through the media to blow it up so that whatever they are winking in the dark, so that the rest of the world can see and hear it. That is the idea we are hoping to support the community on their own festivals

 What is the stare roadmap for culture and tourism development in Ondo state.

 When i came in, we actually do not have a codified tourism master plan we are working on that right now but the idea is that we don’t want to go and create something that is exoteric we already have certain natural endowment and the idea is that we put  everything together so that we have a  five years  or more plan so that our focus will be on nature. Most of the developed world don’t have what we have this is a natural environment  , we have  a small both regatta coming sometime this month, next year we are going to blow it up  again so the idea is to have which will draw them in , some of the climbers that came  last year state for another week they didn’t want to go because this are the natural things they  don’t have in their place  what they use where they come from are the  artificial  climbing walls so the them its a new challenge and that is part of our focus.

Mimiko swears in new jugdes

 Gov Mimiko Swears in New Judges

 Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (right)
congratulating one of the newly appointed Judges of the State High
Court, Mrs Omolara Adejumo after taking oath of office, at the
swearing-in of newly appointed State High Court Judges, in Akure,
yesterday.





Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko (3rd left), Deputy Governor, Alhaji Alli Olanusi (right), Ondo State Chief Judge, Hon Justice Olasehinde Kumuyi (2nd right), with the newly appointed Judges of the Ondo State High Court, Prince Aderemi Adegoroye (left), Peter Ikujuni (2nd left), Rotimi Williams (middle) and Omolara Adejumo (3rd right) at the swearing-in of the Judges, in Akure, yesterday.

We'll Make Ondo a Preferred Tourists Destination in Nigeria - Gov Mimiko

 We'll Make Ondo a Preferred Tourists Destination in Nigeria - Gov Mimiko

Gov Mimiko and wife,Barr Falae, Traditional rulers cutting the Cake

As the year 2012 annual Mare Festival kicked off yesterday, Ondo state governor Dr Olusegun Mimiko reaffirmed his commitment to make  the state  the best  tourist destination in the world

 Gov Mimiko who disclosed this in his speech while declaring the festival open  in Idanre  also assured that  his administration will  continue to invest in other general tourist activities  that Ondo state eventually becomes  a preferred tourism destination in Nigeria.

Speaking on Mare Festival, Gov Mimiko maintained that  “Mare is about celebration of our unique geography in Idanre, Mare is a celebration of excellence, bearing courage  and the can do mind set of a typical Ondo person and we will continue to celebrate Mare as a major annual event in Ondo state”

The Ilaje cultural  troupe

 Adding that, for us culture and tourism is one of the very credible avenue to generate engagement for our youth, apart from the fact that on a day like this a lot of resources  will get to idanre but in the year ahead we have no doubt in our mind that Mare will be a veritable avenue to  qualitatively engaging our youth and we will continue to invest in it”.

 Also the state commissioner for culture and Tourism Barrister Deji Falae said Mare festival is an initiatives of Dr Olusegun Mimiko administration as a state festival that will bring the diverse culture of Ondo together.

 The Xplicit Group

Ondo state cultural Troupes

According to him “  Mare is not all  about celebrating Idanre Hills alone there are a lot of things there in  where people from all over the continent  are participating in  and  this is also a festival of unity as  as you can see we have troupe from all  local government in the state and at the  same time invite other state  to participate in the cultural dance and exhibition.

The foreign  mountain Climbers

He said further that the ongoing standard golf course and other activities that will complement the Mare festivals will be commissioned by March 2013 and assured that the festival  will soon takes its rightful place  in the world  in less than five  years time.

Gov. Mimiko to declare Mare Festival Open Today

 Gov,Mimiko to declare Mare Festival Open  Today

Ondo state governor Olusegun Mimiko w the will today declared open year 2012 Mare Festival in Idanre.

The festival, which started in 2009 features Cultural and traditional heritage of
the people with the sports-inclined mountaineering.

The festival, last year drew participants from across Nigeria, South Africa and Europe.
A native boy, Sunday Akinwumi who came first in the mountain climbing competition
won scholarship, prizes and trips abroad sponsored by the state government.
Meanwhile the  Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Deji Falae in an interaction with journalists In Akure recently  disclosed  the plans to make tourism one of the fastest growing sectors in the state..
The Commissioner who said the government would soon embark on development of all tourists’ centres to boost the economy of the state, stated that the festival will take place from 13th to 15th December, even as he listed some activities lined up for the event to include art exhibition, mountain climbing, marathon race, musical concert, cultural display, raffle draw among others.

The commissioner said about 50 local and international mountain climbers are billed to take part in this year edition, saying that $5,000, $4,000 and $3,000 will be awarded to the winner, runner up and second runners up respectively.
He said “The Mare Festival is a symbol of the collective characteristics of Ondo State,as it represents the resilience, sportsmanship, daring, heartedness, adventurousness, hardwork, responsibility, reliability, doggedness, solidity, uncanny ability of the state and people to survive against any odds.
Tourism is one of the fastest growing of the economic sectors and the highest revenue earner from the non oil sector, most especially when the world economy is currently experiencing meltdown.
Idanre hills represent a reference point for Yoruba civilisation which has not been threatened by western culture and urbanization and remain a living heritage typified by festivals. This site constitutes a common heritage that needs to be treasured as a unique testimony of an unending past.
There is no gain saying that the Mare festival is good enough to project the state and reposition it amongst the committee of tourist destinations in the world if properly managed and efficiently run as we have already planned.”
It would be recalled that the grand finale of the last edition climaxed with the mountain climbing race, which is a major attraction of the festival.
The race atop the over 3, 000 feet above the sea level hill, was supervised by a duo of professional mountaineers from Spain and South Africa. At the blast of the whistle, a galaxy of mountaineers both foreign and local, took to the craggy mountain displaying their skills to the delight of the crowd.

The commissioner for information, Mr Kayode Akinmade also  told journalists that the event  is being packaged to boos tourism in Ondo state , according to him, " we are branding Ondo state  and  tourism development  is on top of our agenda, the state has a lot of tourism potentials and  his execllency is committed to developed all to a world standard  tourists  site that will attract  people  from all walks of life to the state thereby  increasing the chances of encouraging foreign investors and boos commercial activities in the state." 

UNICEF LAUDS MIMIKO ON SAVE MOTHERHOOD PROGRAMME

UNICEF LAUDS MIMIKO ON SAFE MOTHERHOOD PROGRAMME

United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF has described the safe motherhood programme of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko led administration in  Ondo state  phenomena  and benchmark in Nigeria

Gov. Mimiko and the first baby 

The representatives  of the  country  Director of the organization  Mrs Caroline Akosile  disclosed this in an address presented  at the inauguration of the mother and child hospital complex  in Ondo town at the weekend

side view of the Hospital Complex

According to the organization Governor Mimiko’s intervention through the save motherhood in Ondo state has been very successful and it has reduce maternal and child death rate, “we see and we can feel it that pregnant women and children under five are enjoying free and qualitative health care in public health facility.

 She added that the effort in line with the realization of Millennium development goals “We see it as a very phenomenal and highly laudable, we have notice that it is a centre with state of the art medical equipment such as magnetic resonance images, MRI, CT Scan Mammogram, Auto Analyser among others will assist in achieving the millennium development goals MDGS 4 AND 5”.

 She stressed further that “Ondo state is almost the only state that is achieving the MDGs, in that instance, all partners we wish to acknowledge the commitment of his Excellency on child survival and routine immunization programme in the state”.

Dr Olusegun Mimiko,  in his   speech expressed hope that the facility would not only match the enviable record of its predecessor but it would surpass it.

Add caption

He added that his administration’s expectation was that 20,000 out of 30,000 deliveries in the state would be achieved through the expected four mother and child hospitals by the Year 2015.

According to him, the remaining 10,000 would be spread between the peripheral Abiye centres and the private sector.

However, he noted that the pioneer Mother and Child Hospital Akure, was the only tertiary health facility in Nigeria that offered free healthcare, including blood transfusion and caes arean section.

He added that the centre has treated over 60,000 patients, comprising 32,000 children and 28,000 pregnant women. He added that 15,000 safe deliveries including 2,300 caesarean section had been carried out at the centre. He maintained that the centre with 100 beds similar to the one in Akure would provide uniform service.Dr Mimiko explained that the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Death, which was signed into law was strategically designed to track all pregnancies.

He said “ our statistics show that between 2010 and 2012 despite having an increase in workload of more than 60 percent, the mother and child hospital Akure reduced its maternal mortality ratio simultaneously by 40 percent . What is perhaps most impressive is that contrary to what is generally believed, the average cost of care per patient reduced by almost 50 percent during the same period”.

“The edifice that is before us this glorious day is a continuation of our 5-year strategic plan to replicate and sustain the provision of quality healthcare services for our children across the State. The mother and child hospital Ondo is a referral tertiary facility modeled after the one in Akure in terms of functionality to run an integrated maternal and child care facility”. He urged the people to patronize qualified health personnel instead of the quarks.

In his welcome address, the health commissioner, Dr Dayo Adeyanju said the appreciable track record of the Akure facility led to the establishment of the new one. He noted that maternal and child care in the state had attained enviable height in the country.

The birth of a baby  was recorded that day while about 250 pregnant  registered for anti natal  on that day.

Dignitaries at the occasion includes, traditional  rulers, representatives of UNICEF, world Bank, WHO, FORD foundation, NPHCDA,  artisans  among others