BY ANDREW IKEHI
Members of Igbanke Grammar School Development Association (IGSDA); the alumni Association from the college, says it has, within the past three years, committed about N25 million for the renovation of dilapidated buildings and other infrastructure in the school.
President of the Association, Mr. Jacob Erhabor disclosed this at the weekend in Igbanke, Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State during the third reunion of the old Boys and Girls of the Grammar School held at the school’s compound.
Erhabor who spoke alongside the association’s project coordinator and an executive of the group, Engr. Arthur Osaretin Osiagwu said that between 2021 and this year, the association has renovated two separate blocks of classrooms; the admin bloc and a Chemistry Laboratory in the tone of N24.9Million.
The duo, in their separate remarks at the event which saw a cream of the old Boys and Girls from within and outside the country in attendance, bemoaned what they described as the infrastructural decay and near absence of government presence at the school.
They noted that the need to give back to the society and, particularly, the school that birthed the positions they are enjoying today, was part of what informed their developmental strides at the school which they promised, would be sustained.
Looking apparently unhappy with the current state of the School which they described as one of the best in the then Bendel State, the duo who were also joined by other members of the alumni, called on the Edo State Government to step up its educational policies just as they further described the school as a shadow of its former self.
Giving a breakdown of the alumni intervention so far at the School, Engr. Osiagwu said that in 2021,the association spent N15 Million in rehabilitating the administrative block, while in 2023, it spent about N9.9Million in renovating the Chemistry Laboratory and other classrooms in the school.
On his part, the Chairman of the occasion, Squadron Leader Sunday Ngegu (Rtd), lauded the efforts of the association just as he stressed the need for governments at all level to begin to match words with action in relation to educational development.
High point of the event was the presentation of award of academic excellence to six Students of the school who distinguished themselves during the two previously held West African Examinations.
The awards, Our correspondent reports, was at the instance of the Association’s President, Mr. Jacob Erhabor.
