A Brief History of the Old Students Association (‘83/88 set) of Agboju Secondary School By Emeka Esogbue
A Brief History of the Old Students Association (‘83/88
set) of Agboju Secondary School
By Emeka Esogbue
The formation of the Old Students Association of Agboju
Secondary School, Agboju (‘83/88 set) was highly painstaking, conscientious and
necessary yet tasking. The Association was founded on June 11, 1991 with the
ideas leading to her establishment mainly originating through the efforts and
exertions of Barr Lloyd Okereafor, Elder Emeka Esogbue, Mr Olasumbo Adelabu,
Mr. Chukwuka Ogbuji, Mr. Baanwuna Ogboe and Mr Wasiu Sule and muted in the home
of Elder Emeka Esogbue. Other pioneering members of the Association were Dr.
Shehu Akintola, Mr. Abakasanga Odunigide, Mr. Joseph Agboniyukome, Mr. Qudus
Mustapha and Mr Ejoor Esimajente, among others. All of these founding fathers
had to adopt instigation strategies that were intended to convince other
members to join the Association.
As typical of Associations in their formative years,
early activities of the Old Students Association was fraught with challenges ranging
from lack of space to lack of human and financial resources among several
others. This situation saw Barr Lloyd Okereafor, Elder Esogbue, Mr. Ogbuji and
Mr Olasumbo Adelabu, at some point in the history of the Association going from
house to house of considered eligible members distributing circulars for
meetings and minute of previous meetings in the pursuit to convince them to
join the Association.
In its formative years, meeting arrangements started off
in the home of Barr Lloyd Okereafor in Festac Town, Lagos who was also the
pioneering interim Chairman of the Association with Elder Esogbue and Mr.
Adelabu as pioneering interim General Secretary and treasurer respectively.
Worthy of mention is that Mr. Wasiu Sule later voted in as the General Secretary
of the Association was utterly committed to the cause. Constraint in venue
availability for regular meetings would compel the Association to seek an
alternative arrangement. It was a circumstance that resulted in the relocation
of meeting venue to a particular restaurant in 3rd Avenue, Festac
Town, Lagos.
The Association would face a stiffer challenge which
further compelled her to commence meetings inside Agboju Secondary School
premises after arrangement was duly made by the Association with the Principal
of the school. With this persistent challenge that occasioned lack of meeting
venue resolved, meetings decidedly started to hold at the residence of Mr.
Joseph Agboniyukome, one member whose personal roles were also instrumental to
the materialization of the Association.
The human resource challenge faced by the Association was
borne out of the unavailability of members, many of who had begun to gain
admission into various higher institutions in the country. Even then, some of
them had started to relocate outside Festac Town or Lagos as the case may be,
making congregation for meetings difficult. Closely related to this seeming
insurmountable problem was the lack of finance by the Association to discharge
several of its tasks at the time owing to the studentship of its members.
Gracefully, the dearth in human resource challenge neared
its end with the relocation of the meetings to the residence of Mr. Joseph
Agboniyukome since from thence the membership of the Association became boosted
with lines of activities, and objectives becoming better defined just as
meeting pursuits were also unvarying and systematic. Interest had become very
high with the membership of Barr Ngozi Osemenam, Mr. Godfrey Efereubo, Mr.
Joshua Agarry, Mr. Chukwudi Nwagwe and Mr. Godfrey Ejiogu. Again, it was a
circumstance that invited laudable and constructive ideas later carried out by
the association.
Early major aims and objectives of the Association as
contained in her constitution were centered on:
1. Bringing
the members of the Old Students Association together
2. Fostering
unity among them
3. Contributing
to the development of the mother school through various selfless activities.
4. Advancing
the welfare of the Association’s members
By 2003, activities of the Association had become better
defined with the Association formulating major objectives for implementation,
one of which was the career talk program which held in the school and aimed at
guiding and counseling students on encouraging them to make informed decisions
bothering on their lifetime careers. With the advent of the social media, first
with Facebook and more recently, the Whatsaap forum, the Association has shown
improvements in her membership interest and strength, attaining a large
membership of about 63 that includes persons in the Diaspora.
Some of the achievements of the Association are:
1. 1996-
Donation of the Artwork (School Badge) sculptured by Mr. Abakasanga Odunigide
2. 2003-
Facilitation of career talk and lectures by Dr. Shehu Akintola
3. 2014-
Book donation to the school facilitated by Mr. Olumuyiwa Adeniji
4. 2018-
Donation and commissioning of school furniture to the school
5. 2018-
Career talk
In 2015, the Association held its first reunion at the
residence of Agboniyukome, facilitated by Mr. Godfrey Ejiogu and later followed
it with another well-attended reunion which held on December 2017 at Barbados
in Festac Town, Lagos. The 30th Anniversary of the Association would
follow in June 29 and 30, 2018 with members committing themselves to
progressing and implanting the ideals of the Association. Today, the 27-year
Association has become stronger.
® First published in August, 2018 by same Author in
commemoration of the 30th Anniversary of Agboju Secondary Association,
Agboju, Old Students Association (‘83/88 Set)
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