The Federal Government College (FGCO), Ogbomoso celebrated its 40th anniversary, which attracted its alumni from 1977 to 2017, at the weekend.
Determined to promote Nigeria’s unity, which persistently generates concerns given historical antecedents such as the amalgamation of 1914 and the Civil War of 1967, Nigeria’s founding fathers conceived the idea of unity schools. In 1965, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa thought of the need to establish Federal Government Colleges for young children drawn from the four regions of the country (North, East, West and South) to study peacefully together without ethnic or religious divide and the schools were referred to as unity schools. This gave birth to FGCO in 1977.
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“This event is significant to the extent that it allows reflecting, very profoundly too about the purpose of Federal Government Colleges, they are not called unity schools for nothing, and for us, 40 years down the lane, we have different relationships that span different ethnic groups and religions and people have also inter-married among us. We can look back and say there is a foundation that brings the country together, more so at a time like this when people are talking about restructuring with different ethnic agenda” Daremi Atanda, chairman, 40th Anniversary Planning Committee for Federal Government College, Ogbomoso Old Students’ Association (FGCOOSA) and Executive Director at SystemSpecs told BusinessDay in an exclusive interview during the anniversary.
The consensus view among FGCO alumni interviewed at the event points to an understanding of Unity Schools as a veritable platform for promoting a Nigerian Dream through education. Daremi contended that Federal Government Colleges help in detribalising individual Nigerians. “FGCs give you an idea of what been a true Nigerian means. They help you build relationships that cut across different strata whether social, economic and religious without any thought of being different from anyone.
That is why our theme for this celebration revolves around friendship and nation-building.” Yetunde Jaiysinmi-Olokun, the Global President FCGOOSA told BusinessDay, “this event means a lot to me because this the first one I will organise during my tenure as president since April 30. But beyond that this is our 40th anniversary, a landmark event.
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Today we have people from the very first set of 1977 and those who just graduated in July 2017. It is critical because this allows us to showcase our achievements in terms of giving back to the school and what we plan to continue doing. This event is especially for people to socialise and network.”
“One of the things that Ogbomoso gave me is that you can be anything that you want to be as long as you focus on it. Everyone has an opportunity in Nigeria, by attending a Federal Government College, I can relate with anybody anywhere without biases coming from ethnicity, religion or otherwise” Jaiysinmi-Olokun emphasised.
Federal Government College Ogbomoso was formally opened on September 20, 1977, with 200 students admitted into Form 1 and the Lower Sixth Form (HSC). Classes began October 28, 1977, observed as Founder’s day at the College.
