The Chairman/Managing Director, DFA Ventures, London, Chief Femi Alafe- Aluko, has called on the Oyo State Government to urgently give more support and attention to the Government College, Ibadan, to save the standard of education in the institution from total collapse.
Alafe-Aluko, an old boy of the institution, also lamented that the GCI culture that made the college to stand out among its peers, had been on the verge of being eroded as a result of fallen standards in the society.
He made the call while delivering a speech as the guest speaker at the GCI combined valedictory speech and prize giving programme for the 2015/2016 session held at the school’s Assembly Hall.
While commending the GCI Old Boys Association, the Alumni association of the institution, for the various intervention at reviving the culture that sets the college out among other schools across the country, the member of the 1976-78 Higher School Certificate set of the institution urged the government to look into the possibility of partnering those who could effectively manage the school, especially the Old Boys He said, “The GCI of old laid so much emphasis on the culture of character, thoroughness, loyalty, punctuality, sound reasoning, academic excellence, leadership, neatness and cleanliness, among others.
“These were what the school stood for in those days. I was a student here between ‘76 and 78 and later a teacher between ‘83-85. I nearly cried when I got here after all these years and saw the decline in this culture.
“I know the decline in the character of the students is a function of what the society had gone through. The decay showed how deep our education had degenerated”.
The guest speaker, who lamented how a school which had produced so many notable Nigerians doing well in various field could have fallen to such an appalling state, however, reasoned that things wouldn’t have been that bad if government had committed its management in the hands of competent private partners.
