From fashionable studying services and refurbished laboratories to sports activities infrastructure and improved lodging, the Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association is popping its shared heritage into investments for future generations. At its annual reunion in Ibadan, the affiliation lately inaugurated a number of legacy tasks, reaffirming its dedication to the event of its alma mater. Victoria Ojiako writes
For generations of scholars who handed by way of Government College, Ibadan, the establishment represents greater than a spot of studying. It is a shared heritage formed by self-discipline, custom and friendships which have endured past the classroom. For its previous boys, preserving that heritage more and more means investing in the services and alternatives accessible to those that comply with them.
This dedication took centre stage on Saturday because the Government College Ibadan Old Boys’ Association (GCIOBA) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM), reunion luncheon and commissioning of legacy tasks on the college, bringing collectively alumni throughout generations to have a good time their connection to the establishment and exhibit their contributions to its improvement.
The tasks inaugurated by the Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, mirrored the affiliation’s strategy to sustaining the college’s legacy by way of investments in training, sports activities, lodging, know-how and different important services.
Among the tasks have been a 270-capacity Computer-Based Test (CBT) Centre for technical training executed by the 1976 Set; the GCI Green Renaissance Project, which incorporates enhancements to the Agricultural Department and laboratory; a hockey pitch and pavilion donated by the Babalakin household; and a tennis and observe court docket supplied by the 1986 Set.
Other services included the Jude Bademosi Cricket Oval, Imoyosi House, an expanded Lakeland Area Hall, a brand new dormitory and the Vice Principal’s Lodge, a undertaking of the 1966 Set facilitated by the Imoyo household by way of Tunde Imoyo.
The college additionally benefited from a refurbished National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) lodge, a campus-wide Wi-Fi community, a command and management centre, refurbished chemistry and physics laboratories, and a five-a-side soccer pitch.
Together, the tasks highlighted the vary of wants alumni have sought to deal with, from bettering educating and studying services to increasing sporting alternatives and strengthening the college’s infrastructure.
Giving Back Beyond Reunion
For GCIOBA President, Dr. Wale Babalakin, the annual gathering represents greater than a chance for previous schoolmates to reconnect. It can also be a reminder of their collective duty to the establishment that helped form their lives.
Speaking on the reunion luncheon, Babalakin mentioned the gathering reaffirmed the bond amongst members and their shared obligation to provide again to their alma mater.
He additionally highlighted the partnership between the affiliation and the Oyo State Government, which has enabled the previous boys to enhance infrastructure, help studying and protect the college’s traditions for future generations.
Babalakin was re-elected president on the AGM, the place the affiliation reviewed its actions and achievements over the previous 12 months, together with interventions geared toward bettering the college’s services.
His involvement in the tasks was additionally mirrored in the hockey pitch, the enlargement of Lakeland Area Hall and the development of a brand new dormitory undertaken in honour of the 1971 Set.
The vary of interventions demonstrates how alumni contributions can prolong past particular person donations to deal with a number of elements of a faculty’s improvement. While know-how and laboratory services help educational work, sports activities infrastructure and lodging contribute to the broader expertise of scholars dwelling and studying on campus.
The inauguration additionally supplied a chance to recognise the contributions of various generations of previous boys, with the 1966, 1976 and 1986 units receiving particular recognition through the luncheon in celebration of their milestone anniversaries.
Preserving a Tradition of Independent Thinking
The reunion actions adopted GCIOBA’s 2026 Annual Reunion Public Lecture, held earlier in the week in Lagos, the place playwright and Professor of Theatre Arts, Femi Osofisan, challenged Nigerians to look at the character of these entrusted with public energy.
Posing the query, “What kind of people are we?”, Osofisan argued that the nation’s difficulties couldn’t be understood solely by way of its political methods, but in addition by way of the individuals who function them.
He advocated collective motion to confront injustice, emphasising the significance of working alongside affected communities quite than trying to result in change on their behalf.
His intervention positioned questions of non-public duty and civic engagement on the centre of the dialogue, themes that resonated with the affiliation’s emphasis on collective duty to its alma mater.
Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka, who attended the lecture as Guest of Honour, urged the previous boys to protect Government College Ibadan’s custom of unbiased considering and pushing boundaries.
The lecture additionally supplied a chance to recognise previous boys whose contributions have formed Nigeria’s cultural and mental life. Those recognised for his or her contributions to the humanities included Timothy Aluko, Ben Enwonwu, Cyprian Ekwensi, Christopher Kolade, Dapo Adelugba, Rowland Abiodun, Bode Sowande and Bisade Ologunde, popularly referred to as Lagbaja.
Their recognition underscored one other dimension of the college’s legacy: the achievements of its former college students in fields extending past formal training {and professional} careers.
A Legacy Measured in Opportunities
The tasks inaugurated at Government College Ibadan signify a sensible expression of the affiliation’s dedication to sustaining that legacy. By investing in computer-based testing, laboratories, sports activities services, lodging and campus know-how, the previous boys are contributing to the atmosphere in which present and future college students will pursue their training.
The CBT Centre, in explicit, provides to the college’s technical training services, whereas the refurbished science laboratories present improved infrastructure for sensible studying. The campus-wide Wi-Fi community and command and management centre additional broaden the vary of services accessible to the establishment.
Sports investments, together with the cricket oval, hockey pitch and pavilion, tennis court docket and five-a-side soccer pitch, additionally kind a part of the event programme, alongside lodging tasks akin to Imoyosi House, the brand new dormitory and the refurbished NYSC lodge.
The tasks mirror contributions from completely different graduating units and households, illustrating how alumni engagement can carry collectively sources and initiatives throughout generations.
The partnership with the Oyo State Government, as highlighted by Babalakin, stays an essential a part of this effort, linking the affiliation’s contributions with the broader duty for the college’s improvement.
For the previous boys, the reunion was subsequently each a celebration of shared experiences and a chance to resume their dedication to the establishment. The AGM supplied a platform to evaluate the affiliation’s work and elect its management, whereas the luncheon introduced members collectively to have a good time their widespread heritage and acknowledge the contributions of successive generations.
The public lecture, in the meantime, prolonged the reunion’s focus past the college, elevating questions on management, duty, injustice and the significance of unbiased thought.
Taken collectively, the actions positioned the preservation of Government College Ibadan’s heritage alongside the necessity to maintain the establishment outfitted for the calls for of up to date training.
The enduring take a look at of the affiliation’s efforts would be the alternatives these investments create for college kids who will go by way of the college in the years forward.
Through its legacy tasks and partnership with the state authorities, GCIOBA is searching for to make sure that the establishment’s traditions are sustained not solely in the recollections of its previous boys, but in addition in the services and studying atmosphere accessible to future generations.
