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Tag: reunion

  • The reunion

    The reunion

    Atiku Abubakar calls it a courtesy call. The history between him and his host, the Owu chief, his former boss and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has had everything but courtesy. They smile at each other but wiles contour their faces. They gladhand because they are not glad. They hug but might wish to choke each other. As a former soldier, OBJ may wish that the most, but Atiku is taller and heftier. Obj may prefer to reach for his legs and plot a pinfall. But his octogenarian energies may end the encounter in a dark, hospital comedy. So, the wiles and smiles should do.

    This invokes the phrase from Senegalese writer Ousmane Sembene in his short story, Her three days, about the malignant affability of wives in a polygamous home. They cloak an undertow of a warrior ethos with effusive joy. Sembene describes such affections as “the perfidy of words and the hypocrisy of rivals.”

    So it might have been at Ota when Atiku returned, his second coming.  Recall he did the same in October, 2018, ahead of the 2019 polls. He did not wish Buhari well. He gave him a witch eye. He who had called the Katsina titan the father of the nation after he became the president, typically played judas and abandoned the party. He had lost in the primary. He saw no way forward and went to his vomit. Vomit is a delicacy for the Adamawa chieftain. It is a familiar palate. So, he wanted to lock horns in 2019.

    He was in Ota, with Obasanjo. There was an episcopal touch to that visit, as he had pulpit men, two bishops from different divides of Christendom. Oyedepo and Kukah wanted Buhari out. We know how that turned out. This time, Atiku did not want any holy of holies this time. No amens or hallelujahs. He poohpoohed the pulpit. He came with men of his own class and cassock. Tambuwal, Imoke, Ningi.

     Maybe he thought Kukah and Oyedepo sullied his journey with the holy spirit. Or maybe he felt the holy spirit was angry with the men of God for accompanying the wrong candidate for an amen.

    So, this time he wants no holy distractions. However, both men were haunted by their sins in the same week they were hugging and backslapping. The news came from 2005 from the work of Atiku when he was vice president, and stripped government agencies. One of them was Aladja Steel. The present director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Ayo Gbeleyi, announced that the Aladja Steel worth $700 million at that time was sold off for a mere $30 million.  Has any reporter investigated who bought it? What an advertisement for their time as stewards of our resources.

    We also know that actions like that led OBJ to plot the prosecution of Atiku as vice president. He planned to rip him of his immunity, so he could give him the pinfall over corruption charges. The pinfall he cannot give today, he wanted to give in 2007 but failed. If they can fight with muscles today, they can look for another kind of collaboration: the muscle of elections.

    Was that not why, as this essayist narrated last week, OBJ set up a panel with his favorite sons and daughter then to ban him for six years? Were the favorites not Bayo Ojo, Nasir El-Rufai and our own Oby Ezekwesili, two of whom are noisy today about the rule of law and decency? Did the media not call the panel a kangaroo? Did then Governor Tinubu not save Atiku with the legal fireworks of Wole Olanipekun (SAN)? How did Atiku show gratitude? With turncoat. Even today, the ICPC is asking OBJ’s favorite son, as he then was, to account for N1.3 billion allocated and disbursed for Kaduna Light rail, but no rail is whirring on the streets and arteries of the city.

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    Was this not the background to their public spat then when OBJ uttered a comedic jest, “I dey laugh o”. In his lack of vituperative imagination, did Atiku not reply with “I dey laugh too o?”

    So, you can understand why their laughter cannot be a laughter but a mockery of it, or what playwright Samuel Beckett designated as Risus Purus, a laugh laughing at itself. A mirthless, soulless laughter.

    Even while they were meeting, two party men of the PDP had just gone to blows at Asaba. Maybe Obj wished one of those blows landed on Atiku’s jaws. Or maybe Atiku wished the same of his host. But they are elders, although some may call them oldies instead.

    Obj is not an official member of PDP, but he is still with them in spirit. He is not like Atiku who jumps from ship to ship. OBJ is more ethereal. He jumps in spirit. Thou canst see me jump and live. Atiku is better in this regard. He would not be a hypocrite. OBJ loves the pharisees in the Bible, except that the pharisees never jumped to the side of the Lord. So Obj is PDP in spirit. Things boomerang for the Ota titan. Remember detention centre called Inter Centre? OBJ set it up for his enemies when he was head of state. Abacha, no humorist, sent him there as victim. In his engrossing new book, The Adventures of a Guerrilla Journalist, Femi Ojudu – sees it as a comeuppance. Ojudu was also Abacha’s guest there before he was moved to notorious Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.

    Obj endorsed Obi and not Atiku. You could not accuse  him of treachery. He did not bear the party card. We also saw him make a public theatre by tearing up the party card, the card he brandished when he was president, the card as emblem of party supremacy. The party he wrecked, the party that gave him the air of a democrat.

    So, why did Atiku visit Obj when he knew what came out of it was to back his enemy?  He probably thinks ObJ would not back Obi this time, even though the thin-voiced maestro is still crooning alone and has foresworn any alliance. His Obidients would skewer him.

    But then, we know the same party is in crisis today. The loss of the 2023 polls is a tragedy in the PDP house, and they are like a family trying to come to terms with a death in the family. People grieve differently, so do families and so do political parties. In the novel, The Discomfort of Evening, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld shows how a Dutch family contends with the drowning of their loss that even involves constipation, incest, madcow disease and fantasies about a Nazi concentration camp in a basement. Grieving is like madness.

    Today, they don’t have an idea in PDP who is the chairman or secretary, and how and when to hold a convention or speaks for the party, or how to approach a court verdict. They know one thing, though: how to visit a dinosaur general who also does not understand why no one has invited him to dinner at the Aso Rock in a generation.

  • Azudialu-Obiejesi lifts DMGS Class of ’78 with life, insurance schemes at reunion

    Azudialu-Obiejesi lifts DMGS Class of ’78 with life, insurance schemes at reunion

    The DMGS Old Boys Association (DOBA) Class of 1978 commemorated their long-awaited reunion dinner and gala night on December 30 at the esteemed All Saints Cathedral in Onitsha, Anambra State.

    The gathering was an extraordinary testament to lasting friendships and shared experiences.
    Chairman of the occasion and CEO of Nestoil Ltd and the Obijackson Group, Dr Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi.

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    As a fellow Old Boy, his presence underscored the significance of the occasion and added a touch of prestige to the festivities.
    In a heartwarming display of solidarity and generosity, Dr. Azudialu-Obiejesi, through The Obijackson Foundation, announced a groundbreaking annual commitment of N6,060,015.00 towards Life and Health Insurance schemes for his fellow classmates and their spouses.

    This remarkable pledge aims to alleviate financial burdens of associates.

  • FGC Odogbolu class ’88 hosts reunion

    Old boys of the Federal Government College Odogbolu, Ogun State (class 82-88) have concluded arrangements to host its 30th anniversary reunion.

    In a statement issued on behalf of the alumni by its President and Chairman Organising Committee,  Alhaji Akeem Bayeiwu and Isekhua Evborokhai respectively, the duo said the three-day event tagged: ‘Old Friends, New Connections’, which holds from Thursday 8th to Saturday 10th November 2018, will be heralded by a visit to the Alma mater by the old boys both at home and abroad to inspect ongoing projects.

    Part of activities to mark the anniversary is the organisation of different mentorship and career guidance sessions for the pupils, amongst others.

    Besides, the three-day event will culminate in a dinner and banquet at the exclusive Lagos Oriental Hotel on Saturday the 10th November 2018.

     

  • Reunion with mentors at book launch

    It was a celebration of scholarship, leadership and national development when captains of industry, top finance and banking executives and scholars gathered at the Metropolitan Club for a book presentation by former Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Associate Professor Mustapha Biodun Akinkunmi, Evelyn Osagie reports.

    Imagine a life blessed and furnished with great minds as mentors. Then picture a child whose steps are guided by the watchful eyes of loved ones, urging him on at every fall … And you’d have the life of erudite scholar Mustapha Biodun Akinkunmi, Associate Professor of Accounting and Finance at the American University in Nigeria, Yola, Adamawa State.

    Akinkunmi, a financial economist and technology strategist with over 25 years of experience, has held  high-profile positions as consultant, financial advisor, project manager, and business strategist to AT&T, Salomon Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Phibro Energy, First Boston (Credit Suisse First Boston), World Bank, and Central Bank of Nigeria CBN).

    Akinkunmi, a former Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, presented two books last Friday, at a high-profile event graced by bigwigs in the finance/money sector at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The books, published by Morgan & Claypool Publishers, are Central Bank Balance Sheet & Real Business Cycles (in honour of former CBN Deputy Governor Dr Sarah Alade), and Data Mining & Market Intelligence: Implication for Decision Making (in honour of his father, Mr M.K. Gbajabiamila). They were reviewed by Prof Ndubuisi Nwokoma of the Department of Economics, University of Lagos (UNILAG) and Dr Yinka David-West of the Lagos Business School.

    A gathering of mentors

    The event chaired by former CBN Deputy Governor, Policy and Corporate Services, Mr Ernest Obi, came with a twist. In addition to having the trappings of a regular presentation with reviews and views on the book – it was a gathering of mentors. You can call it a reunion of a sort that underscored Akinkunmi’s brilliant mind and his painstaking years of hardwork and achievements.

    “My life has been blessed with amazing beautiful minds as mentors, such as Prof Darryl McLeod, Mr Olawale Edun. And inspiration and ideas are from these gentlemen. I listen to them patiently and they are both beautiful minds. I am blessed to have the opportunity to put all my ideas to work. Working with CBN was really challenging but the ideas I got there brought about this work. Thank you, Dr Alade for the opportunity to put all my ideas to work. I lost my father 50 days today. When I lost my job as the commissioner for Finance, I told my father and he said ‘Don’t you have any other thing to do?’ his words inspired my work,” recounted the author, who at the event with his wife, Moji.

    Reunion of student and teacher

    One of such mentors was his lecturer at Fordam University, New York, McLeod. Not only did the professor of Economics, who flew in from the United States specially for the event, speak highly of the author, he dubbed Lagos “a mega city with mentors”. He noted that “it is a great city with a difference, especially with the way with which they stopped Ebola at the door with great sacrifice”.

    Describing his student as one of his brightest, he enthused that the author’s effort has motivated him to write one himself.

    Hear him: “Mustapha is one of the best of my Ph.D students who chose to use his work for social justice. I am very proud of what he has achieved and been able to accomplish. He is the best at mastering finance and data, keeping his eyes on social justice. He chose to come back to Nigeria, to Lagos, with a mind of using his talents and experience to impact positively on the finance sector.

    “Mustapha is also a social entrepreneur and social innovator.I hope that next year, he will work with me as a colleague in writing a book. I have never written a book before. I have never had the patience of writing one. Being back here with my favourite people – such as Moji, Mustaphas’s wife; his mother andDr Alade – gives me great joy.”

    Data mining underscored

    Commending Mustapha’s efforts at collecting data where data had not been collected before, he highlighted the importance of data mining to economic and finance sectors.  McLeod asserted that: “Data mining is learning how to do things and learning everything: the power of this book represents the power of innovation – social innovation; and data mining is a work he began years ago. Now, we have millions of such innovations.

    “Economics is all about where things change. It is remarkable to see how Mustapha has changed his thinking; adopting new ways of thinking. It is very important we learn statistics: usually the government has a statistics sector but it is good we have the private sector on statistics. And that is how Mustapha is part of that social innovation”.

    On her part, Dr Alade, another ardent supporter of the author, also spoke on the importance of data mining to the Nigerian economy, saying: “I always believed that even though we have a statistic department that gathers data, we also need a private view to enrich our monetary policies, especially when it comes to expectations.

    “If everything came from Central Bank staff then we would have partial information. There are people who know what Central Bank want and they furnish it with the kind of data needed. But we need a private view. And that was the role Mustapha played – one that he did very well.”

    Describing Akinkunmi as one who is “hardworking” and “dedicated”, she recounted the author’s travails and contribution to the Nigerian economy, especially through CBN.

    She said: “Mustapha came into Nigeria with ideas and hopes that he can do some trainings, provide consultations on data, and hold seminars for those, especially in the finance sector. But most Nigerian banks were not interested in his ideas. So, he came to CBN with the proposals and I was just appointed as the deputy governor of CBN then. So, I asked him if he could do survey: market intelligence, gather data on the public view on inflation and expenditure survey, among other surveys.

    “I told him if he could, then I will give him the chance. So I sent my  staff to go investigate and they said he had all the facilities. It wasn’t easy for him, because the presentation is made every month and the monetary policies is supposed to be once in two month but the CBN staff kept asking him about his methodologies and they kept having presentation every month for him to prove his methodologies. He kept on improving on his methodologies, working for and providing data to CBN for 10 years. It was really not easy for him but he came through. I must say that the book is borne out of the challenges he encountered at CBN – challenges that I’m sure greatly improved him and his work. The result is this book. I feel humbled to have the book dedicated to me.”

    Reunion with colleagues

    A mentor of the author and former Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Edun, who anchored the presentation of the books, also restated McLeod’s thought on the author and his books. “We all know the importance of data to the finance and economic sector. Data keeps us running. It is noteworthy that Mustapha has painstakingly continued to provide the sector with information.

    “He is my successor in the office as the former  Lagos state Commissioner for Finance. I invested in his company, and he is a man of integrity. We are proud of his success,” he said.

    While observing that the event was a reunion with his colleagues, the event’s chair, Obi, who is also the chairman of the Board of AIICO Pension Managers Limited and Fidelity Bank, said the  books are ” such enriching intellectual literatures that economic and finance experts need to read and have in their library”.

    He said: “I would like to acknowledge the brilliant mind behind these two outstanding intellectual literature. He is an outstanding economist, very prominent academic. Mustapha consults regularly with local and internal companies across the public and private sectors and that, of course, include Central Bank of Nigeria where he met some of us.

    “And you can see the mix and multi-layered endeavours in consulting, economics, finance and business background of the author provides him the perfect perspectives on which the two books have been written.”

    The event brought together former CBN deputy governors, banks’ heads, including Tunde Lemo.

  • UNIJOS Alumni to hold reunion, dinner

    The University of Jos Alumni Association (UJAA) will hold its Mega Reunion and Dinner on September 28 at Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

    Expected at the event are Speaker, House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, with 20 National Assembly lawmakers.

    Also to attend are four alumni governors; Simon Lalong (Plateau), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Muhammed Abubakar (Bauchi).

    The dinner is organised to bring Josites together to discuss issues to attract infrastructure to the university.

    Aso a Josite, Vice Chancellor Sebastian Maimako is attending for the first time, having assumed office in June 2016.

    Members who have distinguished themselves will receive awards, while Josites serving in public and private sectors will be recognised.

    Highpoint of the dinner is the unveiling of a 3D presentation of the alumni  multi-purpose centre.

    Other prominent alumni attending the reunion are ex-Secretary to the Government of the Federation Anyim Pius Anyim; ex-Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro, Usani U. Usani, minister of Niger Delta Affairs; Solomon Dalung, Youths & Sports Development minister; and Prof. Claudius Daramola, minister of state, Niger Delta.

    Besides comedian Stanley Chibunna aka Funnybone, other A list acts will thrill the audience.

  • Pioneer EKSU Law alumni holds reunion

    Pioneer Law students of Ekiti State University (EKSU), have held their reunion/dinner in Ado-Ekiti 20 years after they graduated from their alma mater.

    The law alumni who left the university in 1997, recounted the values they acquired as undergraduates which, they said, prepared them for the various challenges in their profession.

    Some of them including the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Ekiti State Ministry of Justice, Mr. Gbemiga Adaramola; former Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, now a Senior Special Assistant on Parliamentary Matter, Taofiq Abdusalam; a former House of Representatives member for Ibadan Southeast/Northeast Federal Constituency, Adedeji Kazeem, and Ekiti State FIDA Chairperson Mrs. Funke Anoma, among others.

    The Dean of the Faculty of Law, Dr. Benson Babaleye, urged other sets to emulate them.

    He expressed satisfaction that many of them are making positive contributions to the legal profession and have been projecting the  their alma mater positively.

  • Ibadan Grammar School reunion

    Ibadan Grammar School, Molete, Ibadan, will hold its 104th old students reunion tomorrow and Friday.
    A statement by the national publicity secretary of the old students association, Prof Adesiji Oluwatobi Adeokun, in Ibadan said: “There is going to be a speech by the national president, Venerable Olumuyiwa Oyewole. The anniversary dinner holds at Premier Hotel, Ibadan, by 6pm on Friday.
    “Members are to dress in blazers, scarfs, ties and school uniform.
    “Holy Communion and thanksgiving service will hold at the school chapel by noon on Friday.”

  • Adebule hails Omatseye, others at Concord Press reunion

    Adebule hails Omatseye, others at Concord Press reunion

    •Dele Giwa’s killer must be tried, says brother

    Lagos State Deputy Governor Mrs. Idiat Adebule has congratulated the Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation, Sam Omatseye, for his contributions to journalism.

    Mrs. Adebule spoke at the weekend during the second edition of the reunion and reception dinner for former workers of Concord Press organised by the Great Concord Press Family (CFN).

    The CFN honoured Omatseye as well as former editors, reporters and workers of African Concord, Business Concord, Weekend Concord and Midweek Concord, all owned by the late Bashorun M. K. O. Abiola.

    Other recipients include Special Adviser to the President on Political Matters, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, and Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mr. Bayo Onanuga.

    Also awarded were a former Special Assistant (Research) to the Delta State Governor, Mr Frank Igwebueze, publisher of Ovation magazine, Bashorun Dele Momodu, Chairman of Brilla FM, Dr. Larry Izamoje, Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Communities and Communication Kehinde Bamigbetan, and Dr. Damola Olajumoke.

    A special posthumous award was conferred on the late Dele Giwa, founder of Newswatch magazine, who was murdered with a parcel bomb on October 19, 1986.

    Adebule, who was represented by a director in the Deputy Governor’s Office, Prince Kareem Dosunmu, congratulated the organisers for celebrating members who distinguished themselves in their calling.

    She added: “The time is now appropriate for those of you who are successful to give back to society and, perhaps, consider initiating a Trust/Welfare Fund to take care of these indigent members.”

    Omatseye urged the organisers to broaden the scope of subsequent reunions.

    He said: “I feel honoured. I left the paper in 1997, so, for me to be given this award 19 years later, it’s quite an honour. It’s also an opportunity to meet with people one has not met for many years; there’s this sense of gregarious joy.”

    Mr Tunde Giwa, who received the award in memory of his elder brother, Dele Giwa, thanked the organisers for the honour.

    He told The Nation that the Giwa family suffered following the death of its breadwinner, and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to reopen the 30-year-old case.

    Giwa said: “The killer, till now, we know him, but he’s untouchable. We’re crying for a reopening of the case because his killer is out there, walking freely. You can’t touch him, but I believe that the present government has integrity.

    “President Buhari does not fear anyone and if the government can do what is happening now to judges, I believe it can touch anybody. And that is the only thing that can gladden my heart, when I see the suspected killer in the dock. We’re still hopeful.”

  • Miracle reunion

    Miracle reunion

    As we celebrate the return of 21 Chibok girls, we must keep working for the release of the others

    Even if God reenacts the miracle at the Red Sea where the Israelites looked back and saw Pharaoh and his army and their chariots, for the last time, those who would not believe in miracles will not believe. Or if God reenacts waking up Lazarus from the dead; those who will not believe will still not believe. Rather than agree that these are miracles, they will find some scientific or other explanations for the events. The same way it is going to be difficult to convince the people who do not believe that the return, on October 13, of 21 of the Chibok girls abducted from Chibok Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, in the night of April 14, 2014 was a miracle. But those who believe that miracles still happen, in spite of our sins and all, know that this was something that is beyond human comprehension. Even as I insisted that my own little contribution to the campaign for the return of the girls (Chibok girls: still on my mind) which features at the bottom right corner of this column since the girls were abducted be retained whenever space seemed to be a constraint, I almost gave up hope that those girls would ever return to reunite with their parents.

    But the parents of the Chibok girls who have returned know better. One can only imagine how expectant both the girls and their parents would have been when told they were going to reunite again. It must have seemed like a dream. But the dream turned to reality on October 13. They experienced it and if you ask them, even those who never believed in miracles among them will tell you they now do. The tears of joy; a mother backing her grown-up daughter like a baby; fathers hugging their daughters, etc. tell the story of the miraculous reunion. These are reactions that are uncommon and which depict the mood of the moment.

    Lest we forget, about 276 girls were initially seized by the terrorists that fateful night, but scores escaped in the hours after the kidnapping. Another 19 year-old was found with her four-month-old baby early this year. The girls’ abduction drew global attention to the terror war in Nigeria, with US’ First Lady Michelle Obama joining the #BringBackOurGirls online movement.

    The Boko Haram insurgency has claimed more than 20,000 lives and displaced 2.6 million people from their homes since 2009 when Boko Haram took up arms against the Nigerian government. So, for the girls to have survived the ordeals in the hands of their captors means that they are destined for something in life. It is like someone who has gone to the lion’s den and returned. They are lucky indeed.

    And to think that this was what some people toyed with; this was what people who should have stopped the terrorists a long time before much havoc was done shared the money meant for purchase of arms and an army general even had the temerity to tell us that all they owed the soldiers was a rifle each and that they could have summarily tried and executed those of them who deserted the war front ostensibly for lack or arms all within five minutes! God will certainly have a lot of cases to attend to on the Day of Judgment.  To borrow the phrase of our former First Lady, Patience Jonathan, “there is God o!

    We cannot but congratulate the Buhari government for this breakthrough. But this is just the beginning; the government should not relent in its efforts to bring back home the remaining 198 girls still in captivity.  As we celebrate, we cannot but remember the role of the #BringBackOurGirls  (BBOG) campaigners led by Oby Ezekwesili, for keeping  hope alive and serving as a constant reminder of the fact that these girls must be brought back home, sometimes to the point of being labelled as a bundle of irritants who see nothing good in the government. Kudos must also go to the external mediators, particularly the Swiss government for their inestimable role in facilitating contacts between representatives of the Nigerian government and intermediaries of Boko Haram on the release of the girls. Of course we cannot forget the role of the International Red Cross too in the event.

    But the government must realise that another phase of its duty to the girls is just about to begin. In a region known to be educationally disadvantaged, abducting girls from school must have done a lot of damage to the psyche of the students and their parents, and this could lead to fears about sending their female children to school again. This is bad for the region and the entire country because a situation where some sections are doing well educationally and others lag behind can only mean retrogression for the country.  Already, we see that manifest in several ways, whether in admission to tertiary institutions where entry points are deliberately lowered for some sections to enable them meet up with others from other regions, or in Federal Government’s ministries and parastatals where relatively young graduates from certain areas rise faster in service not because they are better than their colleagues but because of where they come from. Indeed, this is why I sometimes wonder when the government talks about uniting Nigerians through a national programme like the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). How do you explain it to two graduates who served and joined the civil service the same day when one begins to experience a meteoric rise because of his state or region of origin whereas the other who probably knows the job better crawls on the ladder of promotion? This, however, is not the issue for today.

    Back to the Chibok girls.

    It is gratifying that the Federal Government has decided to ‘adopt’ the girls, as it were and take responsibility for their education and welfare to whatever level they want to go. President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday when he hosted them and their parents to lunch at Aso Rock: “These 21 girls will be given adequate and compre­hensive medical, nutritional and psychological care and support. The Federal Government will re­habilitate them, and ensure that their reintegration back into the society is done as quickly as pos­sible”, the president said.

    He added: “Aside from rescuing them, we are assuming the responsibility for their personal, educational and professional goals and ambitions in life. Obviously, it is not late for the girls to go back to school and continue the pursuit of their studies”. This is good talk; indeed, it could not have been better put. What is expected is for the government to walk the talk because, as the president rightly noted, “these dear daughters of ours have seen the worst that the world has to offer. It is now time for them to experience the best that the world can do for them. The government and all Nige­rians must encourage them to achieve their desired ambitions.”

    So help us God.

  • Alumni reunion for school’s 35th anniversary

    Oshodi Comprehensive High School (OCHS) Alumni Association will on Saturday, hold its first national reunion as part of events to celebrate the school’s 35th anniversary.

    Old boys and girls of the institution in Nigeria and the Diaspora have expressed interest to attend the event, which holds inside the White House Hall in Oshodi.

    The event would serve as a platform for members to refurbish major infrastructure and raise fund for the maintenance of projects, OCHS Alumni, President, Ganiyu Hamzat, said.

    Hamzat said 10  members of staff would be honoured for their services to the school and their contributions to the community. Past students of the school would also receive recognition for their achievements in and outside Nigeria, he added.

    He said Lagos State Education District VI Permanent Secretary/Tutor-General,  Alhaja Amidat A. Anifowose, would be the special guest of honour, while Dean, Faculty of Political Science, Edo State University Prof Stephen Omodia, would be the Keynote Speaker.

    According to him, the event with the theme: Many paths, one spirit would be an opportunity for the alumni to give back their God-given resources to their alma-mater.