What Government College Ibadan Means to Me

UP GCI!,UP SCHOOL!!!. My classmates and I attended this famous institution for boys from January 1964 to December 1970; some left after class V in 1968 [WAEC), while others like me, spent another two years for the then Higher School Certificate [HSC]. I was a teenager coming in and I was more than twenty years old when I left.

An institution that had such academic, social and athletic influence on one's life is impossible to forget. GCI is like an ALL STAR football team to those of us fortunate enough to attend this famous secondary school 'on the rock'. This is why one finds so many distinguished Nigerians too numerous to mention as alumni. It is no use naming them...most of the older generations of students are no longer living, including, sadly, some in my set and even some of the younger generations.
But GCI remains what it was to all of us...a shining rock on the hill. A perennial ALL STAR cast whose luster never diminishes. An incubator for the development and flowering of the potential of Nigeria's youth.

My set, 1964/70, was as distinguished as they come. GCI is a perpetual parade of stars. The seed of drive and accomplishment was planted early. When a student exits GCI a star has been unleashed into the world, only waiting to blossom. Some showed this star power quite early, being an 'all- rounder', a student formidable in ALL subjects.

I was NOT one of those I, famously, was a dunce in Mathematics, I and a few others like Dr Femi Aribisala, formerly of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. Is it not amazing that Femi and I ended up with a PhD in political science!

While a total blockhead in Mathematics, I excelled in English, French and English Literature where even the all- rounders couldn’t hold a candle to me! I recall Yemisi Harrison, now Dr Yemisi Harrison, singing 'happy birthday to me, because we had English and English literature exams on the same day, and he left me severely alone the following day the Mathematics exam day, a cheerless day of gloom. Try as much I did I couldn't handle all that 'angle Y is equal to angle Z. in Geometry. I could NOT see these angles...and what I could not see...I could NOT understand. It was that simple. I had 'no head for figures... I approached both Algebra and Geometry with trepidation and anxiety; I was perplexed and intimidated by these two subjects. I recall distinctly in Class 1, doing the corrections from the previous week's class work in the middle of the new week, in Mr Alafe-Aluko's Mathematics class. Kehinde Adegbesan is my witness, because he used to tutor me after class.

In our set, some were prodigiously brilliant, [the all- rounders) whether Art, History, Biology, English, Mathematics...no matter, they were in the top ten in a class of seventy-five. But their prodigy ended in the classroom...HARDLY EVER on the sports field. There, they were mere spectators...I am talking of the likes of Ize-iyamu, Banji Adeniran, Femi Soewu, late Omorodion Alonge. Thank God we had other people apart from these bookworms! Otherwise, nobody would have ever heard of GCI in sports in our set. Adeniran was in Grier House like me, I never saw him study that hard, he just had something that made him know ALL subjects. But he was lousy in sports, never participated and was, in fact, indifferent. Even as secondary school students, some of my classmates excelled in sports even on the national stage....Abidoye and Smith played hockey for the then Western State...and Mosuro played cricket for Nigerial

Some were mainly interested in the science craze of our time, "Biology-Chemistry-Physics' 'Math-Physics-Chemistry And "Math-Math-Physics.' Physics? I don't know why anyone would like this subject, I always felt like yawning in the class. I did my best not to show up for this subject, taught by Banwo Smith, when we were in class three. And I dropped it like a hot brick when the time came to drop subjects and reduce them to no more than eight or nine for WAEC.

I stated earlier that GCI is like an all-star cast. A GCI product would shine, exceedingly brightly, wherever he might be or choose to be. I shall cite three examples, all members of the Biology-Chemistry-Physics cohort of our time. When students chose this combination, their professed destination is a career in the medical field as physicians. As stated earlier, I was not one of these people. I had no illusions about studying medicine or any science subject for that matter. I had no head for figures, that much was clear to me even in primary school. I found Physics mysterious and abstract. Biology, apart from an adolescent mischievous interest in reproduction, I found too detailed...all those right and left ventricles... abeg! Aaah..Chemistry! Chemistry, I liked, Chemistry fascinated me....CuSO4....copper sulphate etc. Apparently, even though I liked the subject, Chemistry did not like me, because, I was never able to break out of the lower end in a class of seventy five students when it came to Chemistry.

Now, back to the three examples of the star power of a GCI product. Virtually all the students in our set fit the bill, Odunaiya, Oladele, Jolaoso, late Dr Oluyemi, Falope, Okoh to name just a few. The fact that I chose these three randomly is no diminution to the individual brilliance and accomplishments of any of my esteemed classmates/friends They merely serve as illustrative and representative of what a GCI product is. The three are Adetula, Soewu and Mosuro. The three were members of the Biology-Physics-Chemistry cohort, destined for medical school. None of them became a medical doctor. But what did they become?

Soewu, after WASCE, gained admission as a direct entry medical student to the University of Ibadan. He was one of those all-rounders, identified above. One would think because he is tall, he would be good in some sporting activity, he was not, lumbering about awkwardly in sports. But in any subject, he was a phenomenon. Even in French, he had a distinction in WASCE. In class four, he competed favourably with those of us whose nesting abode was in the humanities.

One day at UI, Femi woke up and decided he did not want to be a medical doctor.

And what did he do? He headed to the Nigerian Defence Academy, in Kaduna, to become an Air force cadet. He was sent to England, etc. He rose to become an Air Vice-Marshall and number three officer in the Nigerian Air force hierarchy before he retired meritoriously and pulled out. That is a GCI boy for you....once a star, ALWAYS a star.

Adetula had a distinguished banking career in the United States. Here in Owo, Ondo State, his Chancery Hotel is the talk of the town. A sprawling deluxe 5-star hotel, complete with all modern facilities and amenities. The hotel complex is a delight to behold and the accommodation/service is both commodious and inviting.

Mosuro had both his graduate and post-graduate education in Public Health at the University of Minnesota, USA. One would think he would sit atop of a public health management institution in Nigeria. What did he do instead? He set up Mosuro The Book Sellers/Publishers, arguably the best-stocked educational resource establishment in Nigeria, with an impressive presence in major cities. I recall a colleague visiting his Ibadan headquarters; he went on and on about his impressions of the formidable academic holdings therein, telling his audience he did not know such an establishment exists in Nigeria. I listened to this young academic without interruption and with no trace of the fact that I know Mosuro. Finally, I told him: 'that boy was one my boys at Government College Ibadan Which boy sir?', he asked incredulously. 'Didn't just say you met the MD of the establishment you were just describing?' And he was one of your boys....that man with all that grey hair? Why did you not say something sir, when I told you last week that someone recommended The Booksellers to me for academic resources? I just spent more than N50,000 there... If I knew you know these people...you could have helped me 'Helped you do what?' Well, maybe because I am a shareholder in the establishment...' I ended mischievously. Mosuro was not just my classmate at GCI; we both attended the University of Minnesota and were infact roommates. Upon his return to Nigeria, I thought he was going to be a public health technocrat. Nothing prepared me for the sheer breadth and spread of The BookSellers Ltd. Perhaps, I had forgotten the depth of the GCI genius in all of us, the products of this fine institution.
Up School! Up GCI!!! May the stars never dim.

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SOLARIN I.
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