FASHOLA, ORJI & OTHERS TO ATTEND DINNER/AWARD NITE.

The Executive Governors of Lagos, Abia, Imo, Enugu, Ebonyi, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers and Bayelsa States are among the dignitries expected at the Old Boys Dinner/ Award Nite to be held at Sheraton Hotels & Towers on December 8, 2007.

Preparations are in top gear to Honour Old Boys who have reached 50years since Leaving the college. Other special awardees make up the award list.

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The Dinner/Award Nite of GCUOBA, Lagos Comes up on Saturday, 8th December, 2007 at Sheraton hotels & Towers, Ikeja by 5.30 PM.

Golden Jubilee awardees include Igwe Prof. Laz Ekwueme, Engr. Lawrence Amu, Engr. B. O. Anyaoku, Ben Osuno, Col. A. O. Eze (Rtd.), Engr. Dom Ekesi, Prof. Eugene Arene, Engr. P. N. Obidike, Chris oyeka, Engr. Chris Okoye, Barr. Theodore Ezeobi(SAN), Surv. Demian Nzenwa, Joseph Iroh etc.

Special awardees nominated include Dr. D F Obianyor, Dr. E C Ibe, Emeka Ifezulike, Barr. Uche Ihediwa, comm. For Youth Development, Abia State.

- Volutary Donations by members are ongoing.

- Coporate sponsors for the dinner are needed.

- Adverts needed, Rates for Dinner Brochure available.

Contact: Aham Njoku 0802 311 6024

or George Anyadike 0803 321 1959.

Old boys text

In 2007 the Augusta Award was introduced to replace the Old Boy of the Year Award. The new award allows the School to honour up to four Old Boys annually. Those Old Boys so honoured are outstanding achievers who have made a significant contribution to, or demonstrated leadership, in their profession, their community, New Zealand or the world.

The categories are Academia, Arts, Business, Service and Sport.

The names of these most distinguished Old Boys are inscribed on an Honours Board in the Heritage Room of the Library.

Their achievements serve as an enduring inspiration to all who attend Auckland Grammar School.

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COLUMNS Umuahians in Atlanta BENJAMIN NJOKU Sunday, October 22, 2006 The Orbit Obi Nwakanma THE Umuahians themselves called it Hotlanta 2006. The Atlanta chapter of the GCUOBA-USA, hosts of the sixth edition of the annual convention of the Government College, Umuahia Old Boys Association in the United States, promised a full dose of the “southern hospitality” to the old boys as they converged in Atlanta, this Olympic city famous as the “black capital” of the United States – with its vast gathering of some of the most successful, professional, black middle class in the United States.

To put it in familiar lingo, Atlanta rocked. And it was thanks to what Onyema Nkele, an engineer and current president of the GCUOBA-USA always called, “a few good men” – these Umuahians dedicated to pure service, driven by the sense of discipline, the noblese oblige, and the excellence which was at the core of their Umuahian education.

This fact was particularly emphasized for me, just watching from the lobby of the Renaissance -Waverly Hotel at Atlanta’s Galleria, the two figures of Dr. Ike Ukeje, professor of education at the Kennesaw State University, and Dr. Basil Ezenwa, MD, alone like Sisyphus logging up remnant convention materials up the elevator in trolleys, as everybody else danced the night away.

They were worn but not out. But it was a commitment equally shared by the group of Umuahians in Atlanta, whose chapter also includes Dr. Bato Amu, Ed Ukaonu president of Vixio Technology, Dr. Bob Agbogu, Mr. Henry Chiedo, Dr. Okoronkwo Ogan, Ikem Onyilogwu, Dr. Casmir Okoro, Senen Anyanwu, Dr. Ogugua Okoye, and my own classmate, Kingsley Umezurike, who tilled the grounds for a fruitful meeting. So we drove, Dr. Sam Nwaobasi, a trauma surgeon, and of the class of 1956 and I, with our families - his wife, my wife and two kids – in the same car from St. Louis to Atlanta, an eight-hour haul by road. Umuahians drove or flew in from everywhere, with their spouses, our venerated “young girls.”

From Nigeria came, Engr. Sam Onyewuenyi, renowned power engineer, former president of the GCUOBA, Lagos and a trustee of the GCUOBA; Engr. C.N. Nwachukwu of NEPA (I guess PHCN) Abuja, and Eze Ejikeme, an attorney in Lagos. Dr. Chuka Nwokolo came in from London. Chike Momah, Dr. Rommie Ogbolu, Randy Nduka, Ali Talib, Jay Oji, Egwuonye, Dr. Fiemu Nwariaku, from Texas, Onyema Nkele, Dr. John Uyanne, Charles Ohabor, Austin Uwakwe, UK Obasi, Ibekwe, from Carlifornia, Denis Onwualu, from Oregon, George Ezikpe from Las Vegas, Dr. Emma Okafor, the investment broker Enyi Kanu, Dr. Okechi Nwabara, Charlie Morka, Dr. Emeka Aniagolu, Dr. Ike Mbanugo, from the Midwest, Dr. Nwaneshiudu, Chinedum Ahaiwe, Dr. Okonji, Attorney GCU Okedi, Dr. Mbanaso of Howard University, Mr Ikeji, from Washington DC; the New Jersey Attorneys, Don Egbuchulam, Sebastian Ibezim, Charles Chikezie, Gordon Ilogu, Dr. Ibezim, Dr. Ike Ezekwe, and the “young Turk,” Dr. Uko of the Umuahian class of 1981-86, came from New Jersey/New York axis; from Louisiana came Dr. Okey Ifediora, indeed, too many Umuahians, and many more sent their regrets, unable to come as they planned, as a result of very sudden but unavoidable developments.

And what drives this commitment? Two things: memory and nostalgia. Many Umuahians have great memory of a once beautiful place from which most Umuahians gained the initial confidence to engage the world, and launch on to the great careers. Many old Umuahians remember the great red roofs of well built houses shimmering in the horizon, as one descended into the valley from the long school drive, to a beautiful compound of well laid gardens, tropical trees, flower hedges, sculpted pines, finely mown lawns, the carpet green of the golf course, the upper and lower fields, the runs track, the botanical garden, the artificial pond that once had a crocodile, and from which many a student in biology got polliwogs for dissection.

Many feel nostalgic for a well-stocked school - from its tuck shop to its laboratories, from its metal or wood workshop to its pantry and library. Many Umuahians understand the privilege of their education, for there was arguably no school in Nigeria, in terms of the sheer layout, that had all the resources available to the students at the Government College Umuahia. By the time my generation came to Umuahia from the middle of the 1970s to the early 1980s, however, things had started to rot quite a little bit, but nothing compared to the picture of desiccation, the desolation which is Umuahia today: collapsed buildings, overgrown houses, empty labs, a thorough muddle.

It is unfair, and it is a tragedy. It re-echoes in fact, that statement credited to the famous historian and former vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Tekena Tamuno, while addressing the convocation of the university in Trenchard hall in 1978: “all things bright and beautiful…Nigeria destroys” or words to that effect. The Government College Umuahia embodies that sense of tragedy; the destruction of heritage, which is at the roots of the Nigerian crisis.

How does a country allow the destruction of its best schools; places that have nurtured statesmen, great jurists, world-famous scientists, some of the greatest writers out of Africa in the 20th century, international civil servants, scholars, and distinguished public servants? Umuahia is, of course, not alone in its crisis. But that’s hardly a consolation. A look at the condition of Nigeria’s top boarding school for boys - Kings College, Lagos and the government colleges at Umuahia, Ibadan and Zaria (Barewa), reflects this tragedy, the result of a crisis of values, and a failure of policy.

It speaks, perhaps even more intimately to the condition of an elite that emerged out of Nigeria: a subaltern elite which had very little awareness or interest in the programmatic nature of the public education policy designed to create an efficient, national work force from a “talented tenth.” In any case, Umuahians came to Atlanta, determined to find a solution to the crisis in their alma mater; to retrieve it from its current miasma.

In his message to Umuahians, through video conferencing, the novelist Chinua Achebe, himself a famous Umuahian, reminded the old boys that it took the selflessness of an English educator, Robert Fisher, who was neither kin nor sibling, to establish Umuahia and nurture it to become in Achebe’s words, “the best boarding school for boys in West Africa.” He reminded Umuahians that it was pay back time, to our children and their children after them, by ensuring that Umuahia was not only retrieved from its current crisis, but that we use our energies to ensure that more schools like the Government College and its sister schools are established in our life time.

Umuahians deliberated thus, on a number of proposals to this end in Atlanta, buoyed more perhaps by the current picture of the school transmitted through video. An important moment of the Atlanta meeting was the presence of the Nigerian minister for power, Mr. Liyel Imoke, whose father, the late Dr. S.E. Imoke, former minister in the Eastern Regional government, and an old man Umuahian was honoured for a true life of selfless service. But it was then also time, to take our formidable spouses, all those gals from Queens, Holy Child, Elelenwa, and St. Cathy, to the dance floor. Umuahians of course, don’t only know trigonometry, they also know to do some wicked steps. And we danced to the wee hours.

USA Chapter

SIXTH ANNUAL NATIONAL CONVENTION OF GOVERNMENT COLLEGE UMUAHIA OLD BOYS ASSOCIATION (GCUOBA) - USA, INC SPEECH DELIVERED BY SENATOR LIYEL IMOKE, MINISTER OF POWER & STEEL, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA First, I would like to thank GCUOBA for the special honour and rare priviledge of designating me the keynote Speaker of this memorable occasion. More importantly, let me on behalf of the entire Imoke family, thank GCUOBA for choosing to honor my late father, late Elder Dr Samuel Imoke, a pioneer alumnus, by highlighting his accomplishments which to a large extent were inspired by his “Umuahian” pedigree.

The Imoke family remembers with profound appreciation, the moving tributes offered in remembrance of our father as part of the funeral obsequies upon his passing. Our family is proud to be associated with your revered Institution. When I was initially informed of my role in this event, I knew I had to do everything possible to be present. Apart from my personal desire to witness this occasion, I First, I would like to thank GCUOBA for the special honour and rare priviledge of designating me the keynote Speaker of this memorable occasion.

More importantly, let me on behalf of the entire Imoke family, thank GCUOBA for choosing to honor my late father, late Elder Dr Samuel Imoke, a pioneer alumnus, by highlighting his accomplishments which to a large extent were inspired by his “Umuahian” pedigree. The Imoke family remembers with profound appreciation, the moving tributes offered in remembrance of our father as part of the funeral obsequies upon his passing. Our family is proud to be associated with your revered Institution.

When I was initially informed of my role in this event, I knew I had to do everything possible to be present. Apart from my personal desire to witness this occasion, I wondered how I would cope with the trouble of my many “Umuahian” friends, if even by reasonable excuse, I did otherwise. Quite frankly, no persuasion was needed. My personal and family ties to Government College Umuahia are simply too strong to ignore. Do not forget, my immediate older brother Eval was an “Umuahian”. My late eldest brother, Nchewi, had a brief stint at GCU.

I also have many “Umuahian” friends. I note with keen interest and admiration, the emergence of and the steady progress made by GCUOBA- USA, Inc in the last few years. Your association has evolved into a vibrant and dynamic vehicle of change, and of hope for the revival of the values and the human and physical infrastructure, which made Government College Umuahia the envy of many.

There is no doubt in my mind that the objective of this association is to restore the school’s past glory - commitment to scholarship, academic excellence, hard work and discipline within the student body and faculty, and other values unique to GCU which enhanced human capacity development. Like many other great Institutions of the then Eastern Nigeria, GCU has suffered massive decay in physical and aesthetic infrastructure which I am aware, the association is beginning to address by fashioning out ways and means of implementing measures and programs for rehabilitation, reconstruction and value re-orientation.

Please be assured today that I not only identify with your cause, but will do whatever is within my personal and official capacity to ensure its advancement. I salute your aggressive agenda of employing the resources of a strong, vibrant and committed alumni body to partner with Government in educational development. Because of the visibility and reach of your association, it may become a model for many others to follow. Keep in mind, that the Federal Government Education reforms, The NEPAD initiative, as well as the MDG all encourage public-private partnerships in education development.

For private sector initiatives to thrive, the Government must be a facilitator and a provider of an enabling environment. All stakeholders should therefore join in a collaborative effort to gain the encouragement and support of the host Government (Abia State ) and the Federal Government. I will assist in this endeavour. In establishing and sustaining a tradition of hosting annual conventions here in the US , you have indeed strengthened opportunities of collaboration, networking, strategic planning, resource mobilization, resource deployment, reunions, and renewal of friendships- all of which are necessary for the realization of your objectives.

Nothing will please all of us and honour the spirit and memory of Elder Dr. S.E. Imoke, a pioneer alumnus, whose passion for the upliftment and development of GCU ran so deep, more than the restoration of GCU to a citadel of learning and human capacity development. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, the Imoke family greatly appreciates this honor and restates its support for the noble cause of rehabilitating and restoring the ideals, values, human and material resources of your great institution. wondered how I would cope with the trouble of my many “Umuahian” friends, if even by reasonable excuse, I did otherwise. Quite frankly, no persuasion was needed.

My personal and family ties to Government College Umuahia are simply too strong to ignore. Do not forget, my immediate older brother Eval was an “Umuahian”. My late eldest brother, Nchewi, had a brief stint at GCU. I also have many “Umuahian” friends. I note with keen interest and admiration, the emergence of and the steady progress made by GCUOBA- USA, Inc in the last few years. Your association has evolved into a vibrant and dynamic vehicle of change, and of hope for the revival of the values and the human and physical infrastructure, which made Government College Umuahia the envy of many.

There is no doubt in my mind that the objective of this association is to restore the school’s past glory - commitment to scholarship, academic excellence, hard work and discipline within the student body and faculty, and other values unique to GCU which enhanced human capacity development. Like many other great Institutions of the then Eastern Nigeria, GCU has suffered massive decay in physical and aesthetic infrastructure which I am aware, the association is beginning to address by fashioning out ways and means of implementing measures and programs for rehabilitation, reconstruction and value re-orientation.

Please be assured today that I not only identify with your cause, but will do whatever is within my personal and official capacity to ensure its advancement. I salute your aggressive agenda of employing the resources of a strong, vibrant and committed alumni body to partner with Government in educational development. Because of the visibility and reach of your association, it may become a model for many others to follow. Keep in mind, that the Federal Government Education reforms, The NEPAD initiative, as well as the MDG all encourage public-private partnerships in education development. For private sector initiatives to thrive, the Government must be a facilitator and a provider of an enabling environment.

All stakeholders should therefore join in a collaborative effort to gain the encouragement and support of the host Government (Abia State) and the Federal Government. I will assist in this endeavour. In establishing and sustaining a tradition of hosting annual conventions here in the US , you have indeed strengthened opportunities of collaboration, networking, strategic planning, resource mobilization, resource deployment, reunions, and renewal of friendships- all of which are necessary for the realization of your objectives.

Nothing will please all of us and honour the spirit and memory of Elder Dr. S.E. Imoke, a pioneer alumnus, whose passion for the upliftment and development of GCU ran so deep, more than the restoration of GCU to a citadel of learning and human capacity development. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, the Imoke family greatly appreciates this honor and restates its support for the noble cause of rehabilitating and restoring the ideals, values, human and material resources of your great institution.