…Urges others to stand up for the restoration of their old school
President, Aviation Round Table (ART), Dr Gabriel Olowo has received award of Excellence for his outstanding contributions toward the development of his Alma mater, Comprehensive High School Ayetoro, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Olowo who received the award over the weekend in Abeokuta during an event to celebrate the 60th year anniversary of the college, has promised to donate handsomely toward the N2billiln naira building project embarked upon by the old students’ association of the school.
Olowo who was a member of the 1967 graduating set of the college also used the occasional to call on other old students of the school, including Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun to stand up for the restoration of the lost glory the college was noted for in the 60s.
The Comprehensive High School Ayetoro Old Students’ Association (The COMPRONIANS) is embarking upon the multi billion naira project to further enhance development at their alma mater.
Dr. Gabriel Olowo
at the 60th anniversary celebration of the school in Abeokuta, Ogun State over the weekend.
Speaking on the award to mark the 60th founder’s day anniversary of the college, the President of the old students association, Capt Peter Adenihun said that Olowo was recognised for the award due to his consistency in contributing to the development of the school.
Adenihun added that as an old student, Olowo has been one of the good ambassadors the college could be proud of, and has excelled in his chosen field as a private investor; stressing that the award would further spur him and others to give more back to their Alma mater.
On the N2 billion fund raising, Adenihun explained that the alma mater wanted to renovate the conference centre, metal workshop, auto mechanic workshop, fine art studio, boys hostel and the 33 staff quarters, while plans are also on to construct new buildings for the college.
In his acceptance speech, Olowo who expressed sadness over the dilapidated infrastructure in the college, noted that Nigeria was good at building structures, without giving thought to their maintenance, however pleaded with other old students to give back to their Alma mater.
According to him, the level of infrastructure decay at the college was alarming and needed the cooperation of all to return to dream of the founding fathers; maintaining that the State Government alone cannot singlehandedly push development at the college.
He said: “It is not enough to build beautiful structures, but we need to turn them into institutions that would be there even after us. Ayetoro Comprehensive High school was a major infrastructure in the year 1963 and if you go in there now, you will write a book greater than that of Lamentations in the Bible.
“Ayetoro Comprehensive High School in the year 1963 was an American- Canadian educational institution, supported by the Nigerian Government. We wanted our children to become who Americans and Canadians are and they built the institution, but we couldn’t maintain it. All the children of the governors and the ministers were in the school then. That was why I spent three years to gain admission into the college”.
Besides, Olowo called on Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun who is also an old student of the college to adopt the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in developing the college, which he said was the cynosure of all eyes in the 1960s.
To revamp the college, Olowo also canvassed for the adoption of “Ayetoro Vision 2050 project”, which is aimed at developing the entire infrastructure at the college and make it one of the best on the continent.
He equally commended the executives of COMPRONIANS for the recognition, saying that this would encourage him and other awardees to do more for the school, which he said gave them the necessary education and exposure.
“That is why we want to sit down with the Ogun State Governor who was also an old student of the school. We know the government cannot do everything alone, but Public Private Partnership is important.
“The Ayetoro we had then is not the same Ayetoro that we have about 10 years ago. It is very saddening that what we enjoyed as students then are no longer there and most of us can no longer bring our children to the same school we were all proud of and struggled to gain admission into.
“We need to sustain the college beyond just firefighting approach. You renovate tomorrow and it is gone within the next five years. We need to consistently maintain the structure and maintain the institution. We want to be the model college in Africa. We should have Ayetoro 2050 Vision,” he said.
