CHIEF (DR) CHRIS OGUNBANJO CON
LIFE AT IGBOBI COLLEGE
During the years Chris spent at Igbobi College, the school was often referred to as ‘the school in the bush’ because it was quite far from the town. It was located on a kolanut plantation which belonged to the famous Madam Tinubu of Lagos. The distance between the Yaba Bus Stop and the beginning of the bush path leading to it was two miles, and the entire area was just barely developed; what is today known as Ikorodu Road was not there. The school had a main building in which the classrooms and a science laboratory were located. The chapel was by the gate and there was an administrative building, part of which served as residential quarters for the principal and vice-principal. There were also quarters for other members of staff, two football pitches and a pitch for cricket.
At that time also, boarders used to wear an air of superiority over the day students who had to trek a two-mile bush path before getting to school. Fortunately for Chris, he was a boarder and did not have to go through the trouble of transiting from home to school on a daily basis. However, each time he left home in Ile-Ife to return to school, he travelled overnight in a cocoa lorry on arrival to Lagos. Although he was in the boarding house, Chris cultivated a close association with several day-students who were more familiar with the surrounding village set-up. At regular intervals, weekends particularly, he and his schoolmates went out to explore the neighborhood of the College. The playing fields, orchards, lawns and roads were beautifully laid out by the principal, staff and students and these often left sweet memories in him. Ogunbanjo recalls that ‘the day-students always had the opportunity of having their lunch with the boarders’. The school only ended each day after games and other extra-curricular activities had been concluded.
In terms of discipline, Igbobi College was a great force to reckon with. The teachers, prefects and senior students were highly involved and there was great respect for the senior students from the junior ones. The hostel experience was much dominated by Christian life, in spite of the characteristic mischievous practices of male boarders.
They had morning and evening prayers, and their food was always served under hygienic conditions in the dining hall.
The Principal, Reverend J. Allen Angus, was a strict but humble person and managed the affairs of the school in a manner considered largely satisfactory by students, teachers and parents. Working with the school’s motto – Omnes Unum in Domino/ All one in the Lord’ - in mind, he ensured that all boarders participated in Bible classes, which often preceded Sunday service.
Angus was Spartan in the type of training he preached and gave to his students. He did not allow wasteful spending. Thus, a student, for example, would be required to offer his exercise books for inspection to ensure that all the pages were actually exhausted, and justifiably too, before permission was given for the issuance of a fresh one. Also, damages done to any of the school’s properties by students were paid for from the pocket money which such students received. Angus ensured that admission into the school was based strictly on academic merit and good character. For Chris, as for many of the students in the school at the time, he was ‘a great guide and inspiration’
The teachers imparted knowledge and positive educational and moral values upon the young Chris and it was with great fondness that he always remembered them in his adult life.
He was an obedient, diligent and intelligent student throughout his stay at Igbobi College. “I never got into any trouble with the school authorities because I could not bear the pain of being beaten’, he recalled. ‘Therefore, I did all my work as meticulously as possible. Students studied for a minimum of three hours every evening and this always ended at about 9.00 pm. Chris kept the times for meals, prayers as well as lights out. He could not afford the implications or trouble of a different lifestyle. He comported himself very well and always kept to school rules and regulations.
Academically, Chris thought of himself as an average student, although some of his mates always described him as more brilliant and clever than they were. As he would say, “luck was always on my side as whatever l prepared for in an examination was what I usually found in the question papers.”
In truth it was just that Chris always made extensive preparations during the term and long before his examinations. Thus, he never failed any examination. Somewhat ironically also, he often had better results than many of his classmates who, in his own mind, appear to have studied harder than himself.
Chris academic sojourn in Igbobi College ended in December 1941, when he passed the Cambridge School Certificate Examinations with a distinction grade and got an exemption from the London Matriculation Examination. He bade farewell to Igbobi College and thus ended a phase which opened up to him a new vista of dreams, anxieties and expectations.
His subsequent association with the school was definitely on a different platform as an old student. It was not a complete break, as he continued to participate in efforts at maintaining and enhancing the greatness of Igbobi College. That became the ultimate ground of his involvement with the school when, following the unanimous decision of all stakeholders, he assumed the responsibilities of Chairman of Igbobi College Old Students’ Association Trustees in 1991.