GOVERNMENT COLLEGE LAGOS AT 50  

 Government College Lagos (GCL) is celebrating 50 years of its existence. For those connected with the school, it’s a time to clink glasses in joyous celebration.

But behind the façade of smiles for photo ops was an unsavoury prelude to the celebration. Only a few weeks to this milestone, the Board of Trustees (BOT) of GCL Old Boys Association (GCLOBA) and the Executive were muscle-flexing thereby threatening the event. It reminded me that the Association is indeed a microcosm of Nigeria. In the end, the love of school triumphed over personal ego and ambition. I also hope for Nigeria, that the love of country triumphs over personal ego and ambition.

The week-long celebration was packed with activities. One of them is the Founders Day Lecture. The Chairman of the Day, Senator Tokunbo Abiru, a member of the 1980 Class set struck a chord in his speech. He said, “The separation between public and private schools has widened, with the children of elites attending private institutions far removed from the experiences of the average Nigerian child. The decline in public education has further deepened this divide, leaving many without access to the quality education that was once a given.” 

Today, it is as if there is contempt for public education. Those who attended public schools feel ashamed to make their children do the same. Some put their children in private schools even if to keep up with the Joneses. Abiru continued: “So, the question we must ask ourselves is: how can we restore the pride of Government College, Lagos, and schools like it? How do we rebuild an education system that brings students from different backgrounds together and prepares them for the future?” To this end, he built for the school a state-of-the-art STEM Lab full with robotics the type you can only see in Silicon Valley in the US. The place is free for graduates and students and equips teachers with modern teaching methodologies. This adds to the school’s modern language laboratory used by students of languages in institutions of higher learning.

The College too has taken a big facelift. From the decrepit buildings that were there since its inception to ultramodern structures and facilities that make Old Boys brim with pride. The Old Boys of the school played a part in the renovation of the structures but not without acknowledging the role of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Princess Adejoke-Orelope Adefulire. The Global President of Government College Lagos Old Boys Association, Rear Admiral Leye Jaiyeola (Rtd), commended the school’s benefactors in this regard.

Renowned professor of intellectual property, Professor Bankole Shodipo, SAN, who is also an alumnus of GCL delivered the keynote lecture entitled, “Living a life of legacy.” 

Government College Lagos (GCL), was established on 23rd September 1974 by the military government of Brigadier General Mobolaji Johnson. At that time the late Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya was the Commissioner of Education in the State.

The College was among the first five Government Colleges in Lagos State as established in 1974 and they were founded to compete with the unity schools of the federal government known as Federal Government Colleges. They were famously nicknamed the IBILE from the first letters of the local governments. The five schools were Government College Lagos, representing Lagos Island; Government College Ojo which represented Badagry division; Government College Ikorodu, representing Ikorodu division; Government College Agege for the Lagos Mainland division and Government College Ketu, for the Epe division.

As its 1989 set, I recall with nostalgia after leaving the Elizabeth Fowler Memorial Primary School in Surulere, I was informed I had been offered a place in Government College Lagos. The first sign that there was something unique about the school was its only boys thing. Another was its white uniform; a colour that represents purity. Because of GCL, till date, no matter what colour I am wearing, I would never sit on any surface without first ensuring they are clean. When unsure, I had a handkerchief to place on it. I cringe at the sight of people sitting on any surface without even checking.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of GCL is its motto: Knowledge is light. The opposite of knowledge is ignorance or if you like, darkness. Paraphrasing James Wilson the founder of the Economist, knowledge (light) presses forward against an unworthy, timid ignorance (darkness) that obstructs humanity’s progress. As a medical doctor today, GCL stands as my foundation. It was there I first experienced the “light” that equipped me for independent study. 

But I also had a notable sad memory while in Form Three. My classmate, seatmate and namesake, Uzoma Okodike and I played football with others at the school playing field one Friday, a place we called Angola. During the game, he promised to give me a token amount of money the following Monday for keeping an eye on his schoolbag during his set on the pitch. Came Monday morning I waited for him to show up — and he never did! The news started filtering in that he was accidentally shot dead on that tragic Saturday by armed robbers

while he was walking on the street near his house in Surulere. It was indeed a sad day for me. A few of us were chosen to be at his burial and I was naturally among them. We were first driven to the mortuary at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, (LUTH), Idi Araba. Written boldly on the wall of a building was “Morbid Anatomy/Mortuary”. I walked inside with trepidation and was greeted with an awful smell and blood on some parts of the floor of the large room. There were coffins and bodies on the floor, and some bodies on slabs. I noted body bags too. I didn’t need to be told what were inside. Just ahead was his coffin. He lay in the open coffin with his front teeth visible. Three stubborn flies fought among themselves which would perch comfortably on his two incisors. I am not sure those flies made their way out. That image remains with me till today. At his interment at Atan Cemetery, Yaba, the pastor preached for about 10 minutes. The words that have never left my head were his “We all have three days to live: Today, tomorrow and yesterday”.

As I said, what I am today, GCL remains the foundation. So, when I got in to read medicine, in my first anatomy dissection class, colleagues were surprised that I was not scared of cadavers. I already had a baptism of fire at LUTH! 

The school has impacted on many lives with many of its products making their mark in Nigeria and abroad. The 50th anniversary celebration ended with a befitting gala night with old students revelling in nostalgia. Congratulations to the GCLOBA. Up School! Up GCL!

Dr Cosmas Odoemena, Consultant Family Physician, and Fellow of the West African College of Physicians, Lagos