Quality education, bedrock of civilisation -Babalakin

National President, Government College, Ibadan, Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA), Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN), says quality education is the bedrock of societal development and must never be compromised.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday at a Press Conference on GCI’s 90th Anniversary Celebration, Babalakin described a half-educated person as a danger to himself/herself and the society.

He urged all Nigerians to see the rebuilding of the educational system as a personal and collective challenge. He said quality education would come at a cost, noting that countries that had recorded landmark achievements invested in the education sector.

Babalakin said the college had produced outstanding students in all facets of Nigerian life, adding that no fewer than 15,000 students had graduated from the college since its inception in 1929.

“It has been very difficult to decide the area of activity in Nigeria that we are going to celebrate because GCI boys have simply distinguished themselves in all areas. We have no less than 1000 old boys that are deserving of the award.

“We have chosen two areas of endeavour to celebrate on this occasion. We shall be celebrating other areas as we go along. We shall be celebrating Government College Old Boys in the area of Creative Arts.

“For this year, we are going to be recognising six literary icons, among whom are Prof. Timothy Aluko, Cyprian Ekwensi, Prof Femi Osofisan; Prof Bode Sowande; Dr Christopher KoladeProf. Wole Soyinka.

We will also be honouring a few of our outstanding academics from a large pool of very distinguished academics. Those to be honoured on this occasion are those who have received the Nigerian National Order of Merit award, namely Sunday Aribisala, Akinola Afuda, Ifedayo Oladapo, Oladipo Akinkugbe, Oluwole Soyinka and Femi Osofisan.