– Old students Association dispels rumour
– Rolls out drums to celebrate 40th anniversary
Old students of Federal Government College Okigwe under the auspices of Federal Government College Okigwe Old Students Association (FEGOCOOKSA) have dispelled the rumours making the rounds that some students of the institution, engage in secret cult activities, or other anti-social behaviours.
The Association which is presently neck deep into several activities lined up for the celebration of its 40th year anniversary, has stated that instead, the students are highly motivated by their interventionary roles and have maintained its excellent academic performance as the 5th best secondary school in Nigeria. For the old students, this rare feat calls for celebration.
Answering a question from journalist last Tuesday October 25, 2017 at Concorde Hotels, Owerri, the Chairman of the Central Planning Committee of the 40th anniversary ceremony of FEGOCOOKSA, who doubles as the Chairman of the Schools based Management Committee, Chief Peter Anyanwu, stated that for the over 40 years existence of the institution, there has not been any single incidence of cultism or students unrest. He explained that cases of bullying and brutality by senior students on the junior ones have long been addressed and abolished while his management has been proactive in responding to echoes of disaffection or grumbling among the students and teachers by making sure the school has the best qualified teachers among all unity schools in Nigeria.
Addressing the media earlier, the Vice President of the Association, Dr. Harold Wilson Onumo, 1989 set, described the Federal Government College Okigwe as a second generation unity school established in 1977 by the General Olusegun Obasanjo military administration with one D.M Ukpe as pioneer principal and former Miss Debora Garba as the first student, that arrived at the school premises which started at Orlu Teachers Training College.
According to Onumo, “as the school was coming of age, the Old Students Association (FEGOCOOKSA) naturally came into being in the year 2002”. This he argued, has become imminent and inevitable so as to assist the school, “meet the need of the ever increasing students population because it has become unwise to wait on the Federal Government and the school authorities to do all that are required, to provide for the school children.
FEGOCOOKSA in the words of Dr. Harold Wilson Onumo, while “working through the National Secretariat then in Lagos led by Arch Amara Nwokeji has since donated a 200KVA generator to the school and extensively executed a comprehensive water reticulation project”. In 2012, they commissioned an ICT complex in the school, during its 35th anniversary, which attracted the former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar who was investiture as the Grand Patron of the Association.
The present leadership of the Association under Engr. Okey Chukwudi and Dr. Onumo he added has so far completed a new six room sick bay complete with modern equipment, rebuilt the burnt students hostel and the dining hall with modern dining facilities. Others he enumerated include solar powered street light and production of a master plan for the overall development of the college and setting up of an endowment fund that will hence forth provide an institutional framework for the overall infrastructural development of the school.
In his own contribution, the National President of FEGOCOOKSA, Engr. Okey Chukwudi paid glowing tributes to all the old students both boys and girls, for being part of what he termed “a harvest of achievements”. He mentioned in particular Mr. Okey Ezeh of the 1986 set, Tony Uzoma, Deborah Usman, (1982 set) Barr. Chima Nwana, Hon Kachi Nwoga, Mr. Chijioke Chukwu, and the grand patron, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, from who he draws synergy to lift the school to higher glory. Besides the main event taking place on Saturday October 28, 2017, a thanksgiving service has been planned for Sunday 29th, as grand finale.
