By Abdu Rafiu
The concessioning of King’s College which older generations were wont to call Eton College, the twin arm in Nigeria of the famous school in the United Kingdom. Sending children to King’s College was the dream of most parents of the post -independence era. For the class conscious, it marked entry into the elite circle in Nigeria. For the people of South West, Government College, Ibadan, is their own King’s College, believed, perhaps arguably, to rub shoulders with K. C. when it was at the height of its fame. Think of Professor Wole Soyinka; think of Dr. Christopher Kolade, and of Prof. Olu Akinkugbe. They were old students of Government College, Ibadan. The three eminent men were, in fact, classmates. And come and see them exchange banters as classmates are wont to do. The storming petrel, Adegoke Adelabu a.k.a Penkelemesi (Peculiar mess) was a product of G.C.I. And so was Ajibola Ogunshola, erstwhile chairman of The Punch. The retired Brigadier-General Ajibola Togun, developed his ardent interest in the military from Government College, from the military service arm that existed in the school to give students drilling and tactics appropriate for students. These were some of the elite practices and games constituting part of the enviable facilities at the disposal of GCI students, aside instructional fame and conducive environment for learning. For the old students of King’s College, the story of their school has changed, and disturbingly so! They can no longer bear seeing what has become of their college. Let Soyinka, an art icon and lover of Nature, of leafy surroundings, of forest, visit his old school, too.
Of course, there were great and renowned schools run by missions, by communities and private agencies that can be said to rival the government colleges in many parts of the country. The principle that undergirded them was that they must be the best among their peers in knowledge and discipline. The argument then was that the difference between them and the famous public schools was only in name! Among the first rate and famous schools, therefore, were the IONIAN schools; and apart from them, Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo; Christ School, Ado- Ekiti; Christ the King’s College, Onitsha; Igbobi College; St, Gregory College, Obalende, Lagos; Hussey College, Warri; Government College, Ughelli; Muslim College, Ijebu-Ode; St. Charles Grammar School, Osogbo.
CMS Grammar School, the first secondary school in Nigeria, founded in 1859 must count among them. So must Baptist Academy, (BapAcad), Obanikoro, Lagos; St, Finbarr’s College, Akoka; Baptist Boys’ High School, Port Harcourt; Baptist Boys’ High School, Abeokuta; Baptist Boys’ High School, Shaki; Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar; Calabar High School; Methodist Boys’ High School, Lagos; Ahmadiyya Grammar School, Ibadan; Orimolusi College, Ijebu-Igbo; Loyola College, Ibadan; Ansar Deen College, Agege; C&S College, Ilorin; St. Anthony Secondary School, Offa Road, Ilorin; Bishop Smith Secondary School, Agba Dam; CAC Secondary School, Asa Dam Road, Ilorin. Among the famous girls’ schools are Queen’s College, Lagos; Queen’s School, Ede; (Founded in 1952, it was relocated to Ibadan in 1967); Methodist Girls’ High School, Yaba; St. Annes, Ibadan; Yejide Girls High School, Ibadan; Our Lady of Apostles, Ijebu-Ode; Muslim Girl’s High School, Ijebu-Ode, Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, Ijebu-Ode, St Bernards, Oyo; Baptist Girls High School, Osogbo. Of course, it is impossible to leave out Mayflower School, Ikenne. And many more.
The idea of Aionian schools, Aionian Brotherhood, was conceived by Canon M. C. A, Adeyemi after whom Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, was named. He was principal of Ondo Boys’ High School when he conceived the idea and sold it to founding principals of Anglican Church secondary schools. These were:
Abeokuta Grammar School, founded in 1908, with Rev. W.R.B Kuye as Principal;
Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, 1913—Rev. Oludotun Ransome-Kuti as Principal;
Ibadan Grammar School, 1913—Rev. A.B. Akinyele as Principal;
Ondo Boys’ High School—1919—Rev. Canon M.C. Adeyemi, Principal.
Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife—1932;
Ilesha Grammar School, Ilesha—1934;
Remo Secondary School, Sagamu—1934;
Imade College, Owo—1946;
Victory College, Ikare—1947;
Egbado College, Ilaro, 1951;
Manuwa Memorial Grammar School, Iju-Odo;
Gbongan/Ode-Omu Grammar School, Gbongan.
All of the schools listed here have evidently produced eminent men and women who have standards. Take Ilesha Grammar School as an example. Among the distinguished alumna were Justice Salihu Medibo Alfa Belgore who was a former Chief Justice of Nigeria; Lateef Jakande, one-time President of International Press Institute; for years, President of Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria and to cap it all, former action Governor of Lagos State. Outstanding Jurist, Justice Kayode Esho of the Supreme Court was a product of the school, so was Justice Yinka Ayoola known for thoughtful, cerebral pronouncements at the Supreme Court. His last roll-call was as a member of the National Judicial Council. Justice Emmanuel Araka was similarly a product of the school. Prof. Wale Omole, former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and currently chairman of the Editorial Board of The Guardian is a product of Ilesha Grammar School as Professor Adewole, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. Pastor (Dr.) Enoch A. Adeboye is a product of the school. Some of the other distinguished old students of the college are Professor Ephraem Ayoola; Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo; Justice Oye Agbaje-Williams; Engineer Emmanuel Awoyinfa; Ambassador Akinola Ashimolowo; Chief Babandele Aiku; and Festus Ajayi to name just a few.
Can anyone, therefore, be surprised if a gathering of such calibre raises concerns about the situation in their old school. It is only natural. It is when we reflect on this assembly of this calibre of men that we can understand the alarm and consequent push by the Old Boys of King’s College to be involved in restoring the old glory of their college.
Consider Offa Grammar School founded in 1943: Described as a mill for great minds, it produced the Emir of Ilorin, His Eminence Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari who mounted the throne after retiring as President of the Court of Appeal in Lagos. The school also produced Professor Mosobolaje Oyawoye, the first professor of Geology in Africa; General Alani Akinrinade, the renowned war general; the Late J. S. Olawoyin, leader of Opposition in the Northern Regional House of Assembly in the First Republic and a shining star in Awolowo’s struggle to bring people in today’s Kogi State and Kwara to join their kith and kins in the Western Region, a crusade which led eventually to the creation of Kwara State. General David Jemibewon is also an old student of the school. Because of the influence of the grammar school, and the exertions of the members of Offa Township Union particularly those living in Lagos who established the school, the town has the singular reputation of having no fewer than 100 professors, 10 of whom have been vice-chancellors in different universities across the land. Abeokuta Baptist Boys’ High School produced former President Olusegun Obasanjo; Moshood Abiola (MKO), and Prince Bola Ajibola, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General and former President of the Nigeria Bar Association.
(My sources for all in the foregoing? I cannot lay hands on them for now).
I have, however, gone this length to show that with the eminence of the products various schools have turned out, there is no way expectations from their schools would not be high in terms of quality of instruction and products, physical appearance of the school buildings and the aesthetics of the school environment in general.
The state of most public schools is appalling. No one can say the King’s College of today, judged from whichever parameter, is the same King’s College of old, the school that was a model. In a majority of the schools, facilities are inadequate, in many places students sit on the floor because their furniture—chairs and desks have broken. Some students are taught under trees in the rural areas. The school buildings are dilapidated. There is over-crowding where class buildings are still managing to stand. Is Government College Ibadan, for example, as Bullock left it. How many schools can boast of leafy surroundings? Where are the green lawns of old that bowed the spirit? The tastefulness of the environment that makes a school what it should be–a school, conducive to learning — the trees, under which, with pencil thrust through hair, you settle down to read in quiet!
There is the nostalgia about life in the boarding house seeing with your inner eye the house prefect, the head prefect and house master come into your room on weekly inspection that takes place on Saturdays which must meet you standing by your bed already made, everything in the room tidied up. From Thursday to Saturday, there are meetings of different societies—literary society from among whom participants are drawn to represent the school in inter-collegiate debates; dramatic society that gets busy as the year draws to a close and meetings of Christ Royal Ambassadors when Easter breeze begins to blow across the school compound.
While Old Students Associations do not dabble into the schools’ extra-curricular activities, they worry about the state of their schools and facilities. Because decay and degeneration are embarrassing features in schools generally, Old Students Associations are active everywhere. Predictably, the calibre of officers chosen from among themselves to run the association is very high, indeed. Chief Femi Okunnu, for example, even after being Minister of Works in Gowon’s Administration was president of King’s College Old Boys Association for several years. Even now he is chairman, Board of Trustees. Old Boys Association are right to regard the institutions as what made them what they are today! Secondary school is a turning point in the lives of youths. It is a period the blood composition in a child begins to change from one temperament to the other. It is a period of transition from sanguine temperament, that is the carefree life to melancholic, the life of dreaming and longing. The experiences are unforgettable.
The schools provided the foundation on which the Old Boys built to become what they are today. When they take more than passing interest in the affairs of their old schools it is not just giving back, there is a sense of belonging and bonding of a sort. They may have outgrown their blazer, a great many keep their caps and ties. The blazer itself is kept as a memento and for the children to see.
Because the old students of King’s College can no longer bear the unflattering situation of their school, they have sought to work collaboratively with the Federal Government, the owners of their school to transform it, restore it to its old glory so it can become their pride and joy once more. Think of it, it is the school that produced Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, his friend, Tunji Braithwaite, activist lawyer and politician. It is the school that produced the Emir of Kano, His Eminence Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. The Old Boys asked for concession of 35 years to run the school. This provoked a stiff opposition from the parents and Unity Schools also owned by the Federal Government fearing that if King’s College Old Boys Association succeeds, it would be a template that would be used for their schools, too. To make a success of the concession, the Old Boys Association is embarking on fund raising of N100billion Naira. And leaders in the Association have set the tone. Its President, Alhaji Kassim Ibrahim-Imam, led with a donation of N1billion. Chief Phillip Asiodu, erstwhile chairman, Board of Trustees, parted with N100million for the Fund while Lateef Femi Okunnu donated N100million. Mrs. Remi Tinubu donated N10 million, although she is not an old student of the school; she is a product of Our Lady of Apostles, Ijebu-Ode.
The idea of concessioning is thinking out of the box. It deserves commendation. It has become necessary to take the running of the school out of bureaucracy and rescue their school. Non-release of funds by the government as and at when due has affected the school budget and has hitherto hindered the smooth and timely execution of the school programme and projects which has led to degeneration of school facilities and unanticipated ripple effects. What then is concessioning? Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines it as “something conceded or allowed”; “the right granted, granted under licence to extract minerals, etc in an area; and the more applicable meaning: “the right to conduct a business from within a larger concern…” This means the Old Boys Association has been granted permission by the government to run King’s College for 35 years.
King’s College is a public institution. Conversation around its concessioning even to the Old Boys Association should have been made more open. The Old Boys mean well and it is not borne out of any personal interest. If they do not get satisfactory results from what the government bureaucracy offers, they have the means to consider an alternative, after all. However, a concessioning of 35 years for something so novel is too long and it is bound to send cold shivers down the spine of the opposing stakeholders. It should not be more than 10 years in the first instance, renewable for another 10 years. The third renewal can then be for 15 years. And who knows, given our attitude to government service, concessioning may then well be the long-sought way out to restore confidence and trust to government service. There should be greater details on the terms of the concessioning. In that way, the ownership fears over King’s College would be allayed. What Olivet Baptist High School, Olivet Heights Old Students Association does is to ensure that one from among the old students is appointed the principal of the school. This has been going on for years. A simple, yet great step, indeed, in the hope that they will find Lafinhan , the legendary principal, in every succeeding head tutor. Lafinhan was Olivet and Olivet was Lafinhan!’ The Old Boys are thinking selflessly in the right direction.
The Guardian
