Lagos Branch 2017 Luncheon Committee Chairman's Speech

LUNCHEON COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN’S SPEECH AT THE 2017 ANNUAL GET – TOGETHER OF GOVERNMENT COLLEGE IBADAN OLD BOYS ASSOCIATION, LAGOS BRANCH ON 21ST OF MAY, 2017 AT CITY HALL, LAGOS ISLAND, LAGOS.

The Chairman, Special Guests, Old Boys, Young Girls, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to our 2017 Annual Luncheon and Merit Award ceremony. One cannot believe it is one year since we all gathered here for the last luncheon. This event is the climax of the Branch Annual Week which started with visits to our widowed Young Girls, some ancient Old Boys, and finally some charity homes.

2017 is another watershed in education in Oyo State with the Government deciding to hand back some of the schools to the founders and in some cases to well constituted Governing Boards, albeit with certain conditions.

GCI is well placed to take advantage of this. We hope that the luncheon will jog the memories of the Old Boys, as they join us in supporting the cause to bring back the school to its original glory.

For those guests that are new to this event, it serves as a platform for fund raising for the school. Presently, various branches, class sets, individuals and groups raise money for projects within the school, as well as helping in the employment and payment of teachers. Some of the projects are ongoing and centered on improving the physical infrastructure so as to ensure continuous quality education.

We would appreciate your generous donations when it comes up during the course of the event.

We also take this opportunity to appeal to all the Old Boys resident in Lagos that belong to the Lagos Chapter to come for the monthly meetings. The turnout in recent times has been rather poor, but surprisingly, when the annual luncheon takes place, we get numbers upwards of 300 persons. This means that the Old Boys are here, it just needs a little bit of prompting to get them to attend monthly meetings.

Today, most especially, we are here to enjoy ourselves with our respective spouses, guests and former class and school mates. The entertainment we have today includes music from one of our Old Boys, a raffle with exciting prizes, not forgetting the sumptuous lunch. Please sit back and enjoy yourselves.

I thank you all for coming and hope you have a wonderful evening with old friends.

Edward Akerele (2267, Field, 1971)
Chairman, 2017 Luncheon Committee and Vice-Chairman, GCIOBA-Lagos Branch.