For his outstanding contributions towards the development of Comprehensive High School Ayetoro, Abeokuta in Ogun State, Nigeria, Dr. Gabriel Olowo, President, Aviation Round Table (ART) has been honoured with the Award of Excellence by the alma mater.
Olowo who was part of the 1967 graduating set of the college, in his acceptance speech to mark the 60 years anniversary of the school, also promised to contribute to the N2 billion building projects that the Comprehensive High School Ayetoro Old Students’ Association (The COMPRONIANS) is embarking upon to further enhance development at the college.
Speaking on the award, Captain Peter Adenihun, the President of the old students association, said that Olowo was recognised for the award due to his consistency in contributing to the development of the school.
Adenihun said that as an old student, Olowo had 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 on to give more back to the school.
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 expressed sadness over the dilapidated infrastructure at the college and challenged other past students of the school to give back to the society through the college.
According to Olowo, 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 could not singlehandedly push development at the college.
Besides, Olowo called on Prince Dapo Abiodun, the Governor of Ogun State 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 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 also commended the executives of the old school’s association 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.
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 education 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.
“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.”
