What pertinent role have the old students played in ensuring the standard of the college they left behind remains so till today?
Role of Old Boys in restoring Igbobi College
I can identify three areas in which the Old Boys of Igbobi College have made great contributions in trying to restore the school to its former glory.
The first has to do with Infrastructure. When ICY was handed back to the Missions through the persistent intervention and engagement of the Old Boys with the Lagos State Government, the school was in an extremely deplorable condition. It had been treated as another facility of government, with little care or concern. Dormitories had been converted into offices and the School’s Chapel was in a terrible state of disrepair. What was more painful was that the Government insisted that students enrolled under the government scheme were not to be charged fees until they passed out, creating an extra burden for the school, with very little left to fix things.
Our buildings, especially because we are a boarding school had become part of our heritage as you would those of Eton College that have stood from one generation to another.
So, the Old Boys got together and funded the production of an Infrastructure Masterplan for the school, which has become the bible of all infrastructure development Projects going on in the school today. The strategy was to refurbish rather than knock down and rebuild to maintain the “feel” of a school that sits on 16 hectares of Land in the middle of Lagos. (Lagos State had taken 16 hectares).
Old boys have spent N800m to date in constructing or repairing drainage, internal roads, buildings, water, electricity, dining room, the chapel, classroom rehabilitation, science laboratories, ICT facilities, and staff quarters – all of which were in bad shape.
The second intervention focused on the quality of education. About four years ago, ICOBA Europe funded the production of an Education Masterplan
to focus on the educational aspects of the school where the target was our teachers. Under the supervision of a notable education consultant, the school started to implement this voluminous Education Quality Masterplan (EQM), which has also become the bible of the school on all educational development issues in the school. This includes teaching style and the development and training of teachers.
This program has resulted in a very notable improvement in the quality of teaching in the school, which is now being reflected in the performance of our students, who had remarkably impressive results in the recent WAEC exams. Consistency in such good performance is what we now want to achieve, and we wait patiently for that to happen.
The third aspect of intervention has been the personal participation of old boys in the lives of the students. Different sets sponsor annual debates, annual essay competitions, sports prizes in athletics and soccer, mentoring, counselling and talk sessions. Every graduating set of students at their valedictory service are made to affirm their loyalty to the Igbobi Creed and thereafter are formally inducted into ICOBA by being given the traditional ICOBA “aso oke” to sew their first ICOBA cap. Old Boys also Reaffirm their loyalty every year during the annual Founder’s Day Thanksgiving service.
Old Boys maintain a physical presence by holding their regular set meetings in the school premises to keep an eye on the boys through interaction and show students what it truly means to be an Igbobian, even after leaving school.
Going forward, the Old Boys have prepared costed plans to:
1. Build a digital innovation center - a Tech hub, that will serve the Fintech and digital community in the Yaba area including the Igbobi boys
2. A sports complex for the school, to which other schools will have access.
3. Renovate and expand our boarding facilities – our dormitories, dining room, the buildings which have been there for over 70 years, as we try to maintain the tradition of Eton and other Timeless schools
4. Upgrade our classrooms, even as they remain in the old traditional exterior structures but need to be transformed internally and equipped accordingly
5. Put in place a maintenance structure and system, which will ensure that these investments are protected and even enhanced continuously.
All these are driving our bid for a N1bn Endowment Fund and the focus of ICOBA in restoring the school to its former glory …and more.