Some portion of the social media was yesterday awashed with ominous and inauspicious claims that Opon Imo project was awarded to the Osun Governor's Son at a very unfathomable and ridiculous price .
However,it's worth noting that those peddling the rumour are only being mischievous and mere attention seeker , I am sure deep within them they acknowledge the fact that Opon Imo is masterpiece and a great achievement of Aregbesola's Govt , certainly no amount of explanation will stop them from this falsehood as they have been commissioned to simply put down Aregbesola Govt and desperate as they are , they claim a computer table goes for just N5000 ($30) ! Computer tablet for N5000 ke ? Where on earth does a "Tablet goes for $30" not even refurbished or china made no name.
To also show how inconsistent and self-contradictory they are , they sometime ago around the month of March 2013 to be precised castigated Osun Government in a full page advertorial in Sun Newspaper sponsored with stolen loot on the purchase of 16 GB SD Memory cards at N1500 each directly from the manufacturer of the tablet , they however met their waterloo discovering that the market value of said 16 GB SD Memory cards was N3500. Then a pertinent and sensible question should have been would a state that did a direct purchase of Memory card from the tablet manufacturer have gone ahead to purchase the tablet through the Governor's son as contract or through a third party ?
Any right thinking individual would simply chorus a 'NO' as answer and unfortunately for these mischievous individuals the people of Osun are wise enough to discern their pernicious antics. These PDP apologists should by now know that no amount of mis information and blackmailing can rile our people. PDP tastes badly. And they should just bury their head in shame and save us their halitosis.
The Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola had explained severally that Kabiru who is an ICT Engineer by profession didn't get the contact of Opon Imo but only contributed to the project as a volunteer . Kabiru is known as a development volunteer providing strategic advice and support on Technology , Education and OYES to Osun and One of such solutions is Opon Imo, a revolutionary low cost e-learning tablet. In as much as I am not holding briefs for the Governors son it's important we stand by the truth . Kabiru has been sighted severally working as a volunteer even with the OYES cadet and not going on a spending & party spree like the children of our ' people ' and as such Kabiru should be appreciated for his unflinching contributions to the development of Osun .
The tablet is preloaded with seventeen (17) subjects offered by students in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). The subjects have been designed in forms of lesson notes, textbooks, mostly provided by Publishers and Master Teachers Inputs. A content verifier who are our local teachers were also made to verified lesson notes on each subject . Besides, seven extra-curricular subjects such as Sexuality Education, Civic Education, Yoruba History, Ifa Traditional Religion, Computer Education and Entrepreneurship Education, and Twelve Thousand Yoruba Proverbs were also included. Test platform for students’ self assessment to monitor their own comprehension and mastery of the subject including 10 years past questions and answers provided by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) as well as questions and answers in 17 (Seventeen) ordinary level subjects .They subject are English Language, Mathematics, Agricultural Science, Economics, Principles of Accounts, Literature in English, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Yoruba, Commerce, Further Mathematics, History, Geography, Government, IRK and CRK. Audio tutorials were also embedded in the Opon-imo to further aid students through virtual study plan.
Opon Imo thus creates a virtual learning environment in which each student can immerse herself, preview topics ahead of class, revise after the class and to assess his or her learning.
It literally places in the hands of each student a vast world of knowledge. It then becomes up to each student to take full advantage of this learning opportunity for his or her success.
The government of the State of Osun took the position that Internet access will constitute a distraction to students and so; the tablets were not Internet enabled. However, what makes the story of Opon Imo very attractive and recommendable are not just the details of the content but the cost analysis.
It's pertinent that I state clearly that the State Government has at no time claimed that Opon Imo cost N8.4Billion as being falsely spread by the opposition but rather the state saved a whopping N8.4 Billion from live textbook purchases and instead just a sum N200 Million was spent by the State Govt for the purchase of the 56 ebooks on Opon Imo with 150,000 user licenses from a major educational publishing company from the country.
As it is structured, Opon Imo ensures that each student has an e-textbook not only in all the subjects he is taking, but also on every subject offered at secondary level. This in itself is revolutionary. Thus a Science student, who has interest in literature and does not offer it, can still dip into literature texts at his leisure. In the same way, an arts student can learn about scientific concepts that intrigue him, purely for knowledge’s sake while the other modules the Opon Imo application were largely worked on by WACE& JAMB examiners with the Osun State Teaching Service , In other words the content were all locally sourced. Opon Imo which was made to go through various level of mechanical stress test as this can be verified from UNIOSUN ICT department is a first of its kind ‘’standalone elearning tool’ in Africa and arguably in the world. Opon Imo implementors consciously built Opon Imo with all content domiciled on the device to cater for the data networks challenges in our country especially rural areas. Software application installation including that of Operating System was done in the Software installation factory already built in Osogbo wa !
The state government team also opted for an Open Source OS (Android Operating system) which is free as against using Windows Mobile Operating system which would have cost the state around $25 per user licence but through our usual financial ingenuity we were able to save another $3.75Million ($25 X 150,000) on the Operating System alone . For the emphasis sake the cost of producing Opon Imo has not been revealed because the State is desirous of recouping it’s investments on the Project by commercializing the Product for the benefit of Nigeria and the West Africa region, as such is being careful to shoot itself in the foot . Interestingly, apart from Kabiru Aregbesola , a number of us with expertise in ICT also served as volunteer on the Opon imo project with sleepless nights in ensuring we got the best of Opon Imo and as 'Omo Igboro 'concern I would not have been part of the project without a fee if Kabiru was the contractor ke !
The author of the crookedly and the fallaciously researched piece aimed at maligning the Governor should simply be crowned 'Oni Iro of Iro Land' meaning the King of Liars. His further claim of Osun not paying 5 months Salaries tells it all as even a mere artisan on the street will attest to the fact that prompt payment of worker salaries is part of the core value of the Aregbesola led Government. I simply conclude thus 'Ise nlo L'osun,bina apa ati a'ibikita ni kosi bi tatijo'
Osun A Dara !
The author of the crookedly and the fallaciously researched piece aimed at maligning the Governor should simply be crowned 'Oni Iro of Iro Land' meaning the King of Liars. His further claim of Osun not paying 5 months Salaries tells it all as even a mere artisan on the street will attest to the fact that prompt payment of worker salaries is part of the core value of the Aregbesola led Government. I simply conclude thus 'Ise nlo L'osun,bina apa ati a'ibikita ni kosi bi tatijo'
Osun A Dara !
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