(An address delivered by GSSAAA BOT Chairman, Dr. Obi Nwasokwa, on August 8, 2009 to members of GSSAAA during the 2009 annual  convention in Washington D.C., U.S.A.)

 

Fellow alumni of GSSA:

 

Fear God…. (“Honor the King!” the alumni responded)

 

As we gather here in this city that is drenched in history, in this year of our Lord, 2009, let us first pause to praise and thank the Lord for His boundless mercy and His wondrous works, by acknowledging and savoring this moment. Few generations have the luck we all have. This is a year that is heavy with history as we witness the glorious and arguably biblical spectacle of a son of sub-Saharan Africa occupying the White House and the Presidency of the United States of America. God Almighty in His infinite goodness and His infinite wisdom and His infinite mercy has chosen the stone the builders rejected as the cornerstone. In the words of Psalm 118, let us remind ourselves that:

 

“This is the Lord’s doing: and it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

 

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious: and His mercy endureth for ever.”

 

And to President Barack Obama, whose very name sounds like a crack of lightning that lights up the face of the earth followed by a roll of thunder that shakes up the heavens; to him we say: “Mr. President your epic achievement fills us with boundless joy and pride. We stand taller because of you. Our smiles are broader because of you. The sun shines brighter for us because of you. Any clouds that shadow our lives seem less threatening because of you. And we deem ourselves unusually lucky to be witnesses to this moment in history. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this possible. May God bless and continue to guide and protect you. Please continue to light up the face of the earth. And please continue to shake up the heavens”.

 

Now that we have shown proper reverence for God and shown honor to “the King”, I have to say that it is with a certain trepidation that I stand here before you – before so many senior boys whom I have always held in awe. I will therefore first ask their permission to address this audience.

 

Dr. Sebastian Adibe please; Professor Mba please; Dr. Oboka please; Dr. Obidegwu please; Dr. Ofobike please; Dr. Adigweme please; soon-to-be-Dr. Uzodimma Okafor please; Dr.Benjamin Ogbuagu please; Mr. President, Mr. Chairman, fellow alumni of GSSA; ladies and gentlemen:

 

We are gathered here today to celebrate a bond. Although it is not a bond forged by blood and genes, it is undoubtedly a bond of brotherhood. In a very real sense, we are all children of the same mother – our beloved mother, our nourishing mother, our alma mater.

 

This bond is strong because it draws its strength from kinship. But again it is not a kinship of blood but rather a kinship of values and of outlook and mindset and ideas and ideals and of orientation. It is a bond forged by a common formative experience lived and shared in a place called Government Secondary School Afikpo (GSSA).

 

Neither time nor distance could fray this bond because it has been hardened and tempered by what President Abraham Lincoln called “the mystic chords of memory” for this shared experience and the mystic chords of reverence for a place we all hold dear.

 

The bible said “Love the brotherhood” just before it said “Fear God. Honor the King”. And so we are also enjoined to “Love the brotherhood”. And so it must be. Let us therefore get reacquainted with one another and enjoy one another’s company and the fellowship of the entire brotherhood. Reminisce. Tell old jokes and please have fun.

 

One aspect of this fellowship thing that I often find fascinating is watching junior boys of yesteryears sporting what appears to be gray hair or no hair at all. I say “appears to be” because those surely can’t be gray hair since junior boys are not permitted to have gray hair. You know, there should have been a rule at GSSA that said that you must never flaunt your gray hair before a senior boy in a manner calculated to embarrass him by making him think that he must be old. The one that really floors me is when I watch other men with gray hair or no hair at all, men who did not meet me at GSSA, groveling before the likes of Dr. Acho Emeruwa and Architect Patrick Uyanwune and Manager David Nwachukwu, who were very junior boys at GSSA when my word was law at GSSA. I almost find myself thinking: “What –  is – this – world – coming – to?” Very disorienting!

 

Yes we must celebrate our bonds of brotherhood. But as we do so, it is a bittersweet affair.

 

First and foremost, it is with sadness – great sadness – that we note that many of our school friends,  classmates and school mates who are not here, have been called to the Lord and that we shall never see them again in this life. We miss them sorely. We pray to Almighty God to grant them eternal rest in perfect peace.

 

I wish now to call for one minute of silence in honor of these dear departed alumni.

Please, may we all stand.

 

(one minute of silence)

 

But even as we celebrate the ties that bind us, we must not – we dare not – forget the origin of those ties. Whatever we may see our roles now to be with regards to GSSA there can be no doubt that GSSA has been good to us. Obviously our privileged education has not shielded us from what Shakespeare called “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”; or “the vile blows and buffets of the world”; and “the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”. But as we try to make our way “through  all the changing scenes of life; in trouble and in joy”, our education and the totality of our experience at GSSA have prepared us very well and have helped give us the strength  to face what has come our way and to weather the storms of life. As we all know, not all experiences at GSSA were pleasant but then life is not a bed of roses. What can be said is that even at a very early age, GSSA prepared you for real life. You often were made to do things you were disinclined to do. You had to bend to rules, regulations and routines. You had to be punctual. You had to obey your seniors including those pesky and overbearing class 2 boys if you happened to be in class one. You learnt that there was a time to play and a time to work. And yes a time to pray. For GSSA took the Fear God part of her motto very seriously. But ladies and gentlemen that is what is called discipline. And if we learnt one thing at Afikpo, it was discipline.

 

The question therefore is not whether GSSA was good to us but whether we should now return the favor. Is it worth our while to give of our storied talents, our time and our toil and yes our wallet to restore the school so it can do for future generations what it did for us?

 

Once again we have seen pictures of GSSA as the school is now. The power and poignancy of these images are undeniable. They jar our consciousness and assault and shock our sensibilities.

 

As we celebrate our brotherhood, therefore, it is again a bittersweet experience because this mother of ours – GSSA – is undeniably very ill. She is dying. Unless we do something to revive her, she will be gone soon. God forbid it! But let us consider what the death of GSSA would mean.

 

It would mean talent extinguished, potential unrealized, genius degraded; and lives stunted and diminished beyond recognition. That is what would have happened to Professor Chinedu Nebo, Professor ABC Nwosu, prolific author Dr. Oliver Akamnonu, Rev Ifeze Obi, Rev Precious Omuku, Dr. Eze David Uche, Professor Ndubuisi Eke, Dr. Obidegwu and to Professor Emmanuel Nwabufo Mba. That is also what would have happened to you and to me and to countless other alumni who are the highly educated, accomplished and distinguished men they are today because they were lucky enough to have attended GSSA – because they happened to come of age at a time when our people seemed to care about education.

 

Which son would not want to do something when his mother is dying? And so it is with us. Like good children, we are very concerned about the poor state of health of our alma mater – the neglect, the decline, the deterioration, the decay and the impending demise. And it is unfortunate that much of this is the result of acts of omission and commission by the people who would benefit the most from her continued existence in good health. For, by a remarkable, if improbable and perverse, feat of alchemy, the people of Ebonyi State are about to turn a huge chunk of sparkling diamond into a piece of charcoal. Same element. A world of difference in value. Our task is to reverse this process. This will not be easy but there is no question that daunting and challenging as the task may be, it can be accomplished.

 

When our mother is sick and dying, we act. And we do not simply act. We act with passion – as if it matters. Because IT MATTERS. Passion is what adds adrenaline to your efforts in a crisis.  Passion is the catalyst that powers your reaction when there are too many naysayers. It is the engine that drives effort when inertia and inaction are in vogue. It is the motive force – the fuel – that propels the agenda forward when the prospects look bleak. It is the defiant inner voice that says “To hell with the odds” when the odds seem insurmountable and appear to spell defeat. We need more alumni with passion. More alumni like Secretary General, Leonard Ozoemena and Dr. Eze David Uche and Dr. Acho Emeruwa and Accountant Victor Okoye and Computer Scientist Nnaemeka Chira and Manager David Nwachukwu and Dr. Inyang Oko. You will never know how much these people do because most of the time most of what they do is done behind the scenes – out of sight. Those who lack passion often fail to achieve even the easy goals. People with passion achieve the seemingly impossible. They measure their effort by results and ratchet up their effort as necessary to achieve the result they seek. That is the story of these key alumni. That is also the story of Professor Ndubuisi Eke. He is quietly – without fanfare or ceremony – restoring the GSSA Library after restoring parts of Ibiam House. Isn’t that praiseworthy and simply wonderful and heartwarming? And mark you he is not going to gain anything from these efforts. Only the satisfaction that comes from knowing that he has done and is doing something worthwhile. May God bless him. GSSA and GSSAAA will always remember him. We also commend the admirable work GSSA-OBA, Nigeria has done all these years.

 

Our effort to restore GSSA is gathering steam. For starters we have built 2 water schemes to serve the water needs of the entire campus. We have encountered some difficulties though. Of course we expect difficulties. If this endeavor were not difficult, it would have been completed years ago and it would perhaps not be worth our while. One important difficulty is apathy on the part of most of our alumni. They simply do not want to get involved. We would like these alumni to think again. We need all hands on deck. Your contribution can be in cash or in kind or both. Please make whatever monetary contribution you can. Every penny you give counts. No amount is too small. If possible please be as generous as you can. Also consider contributing your toil and your talent. Luckily many of our alumni have chosen to make it their business to do all they can to rescue GSSA. These are the people I call “men in the arena”.

 

Some say that we are bound to fail. So what if we fail. But let us be reminded that those who fear failure never achieve anything of note. For failure is often a shaky rung up the ladder to eventual success. A mere temporary setback. Look at any major endeavor that has dazzled humanity. The US space program that eventually put a man on the moon started with spectacular and humiliating public failures. Flight itself was achieved by fits and starts and only after many failed attempts. Any one who has done scientific research knows that failure comes several times before success and makes the moment of eventual success that much more delicious. In all these endeavors, there was one ingredient that was indispensable to success: Persistence. Perseverance. Tenacity. Doggedness.

 

If it be God’s will that we shall fail, even so let it be. But in future it will be said that we tried mightily and did our best to restore the school and failed. But I do not believe it is God’s will that we shall fail. This is the kind of good and selfless effort that God looks upon with favor and kindness. If we try to the best of our ability, gentlemen, I guarantee it. We shall succeed. For we are not a people whose lives have been defined by failure. And please bear in mind that GSSA has something to do with that. By restoring GSSA we would be showing respect to and for ourselves and for GSSA for we will always be a part of GSSA just as GSSA is a part of us. GSSA is part of our heritage.

 

If we end up doing nothing or not doing enough for GSSA, we shall have been found wanting. It would mean that our so-called education is defective. For if we value the education we had, we would wish it for others. We would promote it. Otherwise we shall have shown ourselves to be selfish and unworthy vessels for the privilege bestowed on us.

 

We must therefore avoid the smallness of spirit that sees this problem as another person’s or the state’s problem. If Ebonyi State chooses to fail in its duty to its children – its future – we have chosen not to emulate their bad and irresponsible example. I am sure that most of us can afford to give a substantial amount of money a year towards the rebuilding of GSSA. However some of us appear not to consider it a worthy enough cause to warrant such a selfless investment. Luckily there are many of us – admittedly not a majority – who feel otherwise, who think it is their business to restore GSSA even if they will not benefit directly. Perhaps prolonged exposure to the overseas environment enables and compels one to gain a perspective that is expansive and less constricted. I believe there may be reasons for that.

 

Many of us can recall being stereotyped by professors who did not know our background and never heard of a magnificent citadel of learning called GSSA. These people expected us to fail and often implied or said so. They believed that we owed our presence in major universities to the so called affirmative action which they regard as reverse discrimination or racial preference. But guess who had the last laugh. We did not fit the stereotype. We took our revenge with our performance in the tests and exams leaving the professors, who usually expected us to do poorly, dumbfounded. It was very delicious and I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.

 

In his book, Dr. AWE Iyoho told the story of the colleague who was really impressed after he bagged his PhD in Petroleum Engineering since according to this colleague “it must have been rough going to school …. on tree tops” in Nigeria. AWE played along and told of driving up trees, parking the car up the tree and driving down later. “Cool; wow, how exciting!” the gullible colleague chimed in. Absurd you say. But that is the kind of absurdity born of ignorance that you find often in discourse with such people. In this case the individual was so blinded by his prejudice that he saw no dissonance between living in trees and bagging a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from a major American University. But that was okay so long as the professor accorded due respect to the man who bagged his Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering. Where it would have hurt is if the colleague held such views and AWE had been lacking in accomplishments thereby seeming to justify such views. The latter is what will happen to future generations of GSSA alumni if their education at GSSA continues to fall well short of what AWE and most of us experienced. Such alumni will fit the stereotype and instead of enjoying the sweet and delicious revenge by thoroughly discrediting such views through their performance, they will reel under the sting of contempt and scorn from such ignorant people. It will then be no use explaining that a failed educational system at home was responsible.

 

I will tell you a story.

Sometime ago, a group of astronomers and astrophysicists were independently reminiscing on the giant strides taken by their discipline in recent years especially since the Hubble telescope was put in space and provided a clearer vision of what is out there in the Universe. They talked excitedly about what they were able to see and explore. They saw spiral galaxies and black holes at the center of galaxies. They saw exploding stars, supernovas and stars that had burnt out their nuclear fuels and become red dwarfs. They saw quasars and neutron stars and pulsars and gamma ray bursts. In July 1994, they saw an incredible sight that was simply out of this world. That event fortuitously coincided with, and therefore seemed programmed to celebrate, the 25^th anniversary of one of man’s greatest achievements – the landing on the moon in July 1969. The sight was the live viewing of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 colliding with the planet Jupiter. In real time. Remarkable! Everyone thought. There was a consensus that the Universe was full of strange, fascinating, captivating and awe-inspiring sights as well as spectacular events.

 

The astronomers and astrophysicists were then asked a simple question. What is the single most fascinating and peculiar object you saw during your exploration of the Universe? Independently they all came up with the same answer: PLANET EARTH.

 

In all their exploration of the vast expanse of the Universe, the strangest object and the one that was unique and most peculiar was Planet Earth. Who would have thought? But it took the exploration of the entirety of the known Universe to come up with the simple truth that Earth, mankind’s home, so taken for granted through the ages, appears to occupy a unique place in the firmament and to have a unique value after all.

 

Exploration changes perspectives. Few will forget how they felt the first time it was possible to see the earth as a heavenly body hanging out there in the vast expanse of space surrounded by darkness and rising as it was viewed and photographed from the.surface of the moon. Our earthly home appeared not only beautiful but awfully fragile and isolated. New perspectives. New understandings. Man had gone to explore the moon but instead found himself discovering the earth in a new way. The most important picture of the entire moon landing and the lunar program was not a picture of the moon but that of the earth.

 

All this reminds me of that short tract that appeared seemingly as an afterthought in the poem “The four quartets” by the Nobel laureate T.S. Eliot. He wrote:

 

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time

 

Please take particular note of the fact that he said that we will “arrive” not “return” “where we started”. What this means is that, if we do “exploration”, “where we started” will turn out to be yet another destination to be explored and appreciated in new ways not possible before the “exploration”.

What exploration does is enable one to see things from afar. It gives the advantage of a perspective, the ability to see the entire picture and appreciate how different pieces or components fit within the frame. Thus one sees the entire forest not merely a tree or two and thereby appreciates where the individual trees fit within the panoply.

 

And so it took the exploration of space to reveal to mankind that our planet is unique and fascinating and fragile and must be treasured and protected.

 

Likewise it was not until most of us explored the world that we acquired a new knowledge and a new understanding of two places we had thought were familiar to us. One is GSSA. The other is our country, Nigeria.

 

With the perspective we gained from exploration, we finally came to appreciate what a great and world class school Government Secondary School Afikpo really was. For how else can you explain the fact that we could go to the best universities in the world and hold our own. Universities like Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Ibadan, USC, Berkely, Swansea, Howard, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie-Mellon, U. Penn, Nsukka, Edinburgh and many many others?

 

We also came to realize that our country together with the entire sub-Saharan or black Africa, to put it bluntly and inelegantly, stinks; that she is in grave danger; and that our leaders regrettably do not realize what peril awaits a people who not so long ago were victimized mercilessly by foreigners during the slave trade and slavery. Go around this city and you see descendants of our people – our kith and kin – who were stolen centuries ago and brought here in servitude.

 

What this new perspective also engenders is a new self awareness. By this, I do not mean arrogance but a realization of where we fit within this picture. It was pure dumb luck that made it possible for most of us to receive a great education. But this privilege comes with obligations. For in Luke 12:48, the bible admonishes us that “To whom much is given, much is expected.”

 

From our unique new perspective, we should come to realize that we – you and I and incidentally Barack Obama Sr – are truly an anomaly. We were lucky to grow up in a narrow window of time in our country when for a few brief years, circumstances were just right for us. The metaphorical stars were all in proper alignment. The British had just established these great secondary schools, ours being the last one they established before independence. Our leaders at the time were the pioneers who had won independence for their country. They were mindful that the entire world was watching to see what would happen. They were interested in education. It was still a time when corruption carried a stigma even in our country. Politicians who stole money, did not steal millions of dollars. Most politicians did some work and seemed interested or made a show of being interested in building a future for their people.

 

From our new perspective, we see things differently. We realize how lucky we were to get a great education and more. We have seen how this education has enabled us to do well. We see education as the great indispendable engine of progress. We know that the role of a good education as an agent of change often exceeds what can be expected, imagined or foreseen. It is not lost on us, for instance, that the chain of events that culminated in the election of Barack Obama as the first African American President of the United States started with the education of a Kenyan goat herd in a “leadership academy” like GSSA. We know that a lot of our country’s problems can be addressed with education. We are therefore chagrined and alarmed by the fact that the current crop of Nigerian leaders appears not to care about education. And we fear for our country and the fate that awaits her.

 

While other countries are powering full throttle ahead, advancing and progressing, our country and most of sub-Saharan Africa are like a car in reverse: they are retreating and retrogressing. As President Obama pointed out in Accra on July 11, this year, “countries like Kenya had a per capita economy larger than South Korea’s” in the year of his birth,1961. Look where both countries are now. Few people realize that in 1853, Japan was almost as technologically backward as the part of Africa now called Nigeria. Look what happened since. This state of affairs is largely due to an inversion of values on the part of the people at the helm of affairs in our region and in our country. Many if not most of these people now constitute a criminal cabal. These so called leaders are unenlightened little people bent on destroying the country. They rig elections routinely in order to gain access to government coffers which they loot with impunity. Corruption no longer carries a stigma and, as someone pointed out recently, has just about risen to the status of national policy. Tens of billions of dollars that should have upgraded the lives of the populace disappear and are unaccounted for. Meanwhile school buildings and hospitals are crumbling. Electrical power stays off more than on. The few roads that exist are full of potholes. The infrastructure built by the British including the railroads and bridges are rusting away. And yet our country has never been richer.

 

Every generation has its challenges. The challenges for our immediate forebears were related to freeing our people from colonial rule and foreign domination. The challenge for us today is different but no less difficult or important. Today it is our own people who are destroying our country and preventing her from making progress. The challenge may be greater since the enemy within is often more difficult to defeat than the enemy without.

 

I must confess that when I heard that President Obama was going to Ghana recently, I wrote him a letter urging him to deliver a sharp and stinging rebuke to sub-Saharan African leaders and the elite of these countries. I do not know whether he received that letter and I am inclined to believe that he never saw it. Nonetheless, I must say that when he spoke about this matter in Ghana, I had the uncomfortable feeling that he was responding to my letter and speaking to me directly. Here are some excerpts from his speech:

“You have the power to hold your leaders accountable, and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities, and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, and end conflicts, and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can — because in this moment, history is on the move. But these things can only be done if all of you take responsibility for your future. And it won’t be easy. It will take time and effort. There will be suffering and setbacks. But I can promise you this: America will be with you every step of the way — as a partner, as a friend. Opportunity won’t come from any other place, though. It must come from the decisions that all of you make, the things that you do, the hope that you hold in your heart. ….Freedom is your inheritance. Now, it is your responsibility to build upon freedom’s foundation. And if you do, we will look back years from now to places like Accra and say this was the time when the promise was realized; this was the moment when prosperity was forged, when pain was overcome, and a new era of progress began. This can be the time when we witness the triumph of justice once more. Yes we can. “

The question then is: Do we just try to restore GSSA and ignore the broader problem of corruption and misrule which is the root cause of the decay of GSSA?. Or should we find ways to address those larger problems since we realize that those problems are really the disease and the current state of GSSA is just a symptom?

 

For instance would it be worthwhile for us to try to educate Nigerian leaders both current and future about the dangers of ignoring education and the debilitating effect of corruption and do this through a forceful advocacy of education that would include advertisements in newspapers and television? Should we insist that budgetary matters be transparent and that Nigerian governments at whatever level account for all monies spent and submit to audit by truly independent auditors? Should we try to form an umbrella organization of concerned Nigerians, such as (as Dr. Obidegwu suggested) “a partnership of legacy schools” that would include alumni of other great Nigerian secondary schools to begin to move forward with this kind of national program?

 

When I discussed this matter with Dr. Emeruwa several months ago, he simply said to me that “That is our burden and our challenge”.

 

Gentlemen are we willing to bear this burden? Are we willing to face this challenge? You have to answer that question. But if we are to meet our obligations to future generations, we cannot simply ignore these matters. We have to find a way to face these challenges and bear these burdens. The scale of our ambitions ought to match the scale of the problem we have identified.

 

But whatever we choose to do about the larger debilitating disease that afflicts our nation, we must address its symptom at GSSA. GSSA was good to us. Our Board of Trustees believes that now is the time to return the favor. And we have begun to do so in concrete ways.

 

As I hinted before, we have just recently completed the GSSAAA Water Project at GSSA. We gave the project priority after the former principal, Mr. Onyemachi Oti, told us that GSSA had a dire need for a reliable source of water supply. This project involved the installation of 2 independent sources of water supply: one for the masters, the other for the student dormitories. Each comprises a six inch diameter borehole, a 10,000 liter reservoir and 2 batteries of taps for students and one battery of taps for the masters.

 

This just completed Water Project did not happen just because we wished it. Good intentions are never enough. It happened because we wished it, planned it, donated money for it and had people on the ground who translated our good intentions into physical reality.

 

We have to thank the 19 alumni who answered the call for contributions of money. As we fight the decline, the decay and the threatening demise of our alma mater, these people constitute the tip of our spear. They are the shock troops at the vanguard of action.

 

We are no less indebted to those who made the trips and engaged in the foot walks that led to the success of the project – men like Dr. Oliver Akamnonu, Dr. Inyang Oko, Perm Sec Chukwu Ibe Enwo, Mr. David Nwachukwu and Mr. Oliver Onuoha. We hope that in future more alumni will join in whatever capacity to support our projects at GSSA. Already Arc Ruby Okafor and Arc Agha Okereke and his group are hard at work drawing up a blueprint to guide the restoration of the entire campus. We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude as we wait for their final report.

 

By the grace of God, the pace of our program for the restoration of GSSA will quicken. For starters as soon as logistical details are worked out, we plan to fund the establishment of an on-campus health facility to treat minor ailments and give first aid to injured students while triaging sicker ones to a doctor’s care elsewhere.

 

The GSSAAA Board of Trustees (BOT) recommends that the following projects be given attention:

1. Resuscitation of games: Games have always been a prominent part of the GSSA tradition and culture. We all know that it is an important part of education in general. The BOT recommends that we begin to resuscitate organized sporting activities starting with soccer. We should therefore provide funding as soon as possible to equip soccer teams and start practices culminating in competitions through a schedule of intramural matches. For this purpose it is strongly recommended that we resuscitate the House spirit. Every student should be assigned to one of the Houses to which he will owe a measure of allegiance especially during sporting events. The House affiliation will also serve as the focal point of other activities as time goes on. Of course our intent is that all the Houses should be restored so that the school can return to being a boarding school the way it was in the past since this is essential to the success of her mission.
2. Restoration of the classrooms: As pictures on our website reveal, the classrooms are in disrepair. Some windows are broken or missing. The ceilings are water-damaged as a result leaky roofs and are threatening to fall. There is graffiti on the walls – not the kind of environment in which children ought to be learning and studying. This is certainly very different from what we knew in our student days. It is our plan to restore the classrooms so that the children can study in decent surroundings. The current principal of GSSA, Pastor De-Gaulle Azu could not be here with us today because he could not get a visa. Time was too short. We commend him for the determined and spirited effort he made to come to this Convention. We miss him and hope that he will be with us next year. Just 2 days ago he sent us an e-mail expressing his concern about the state of deterioration of one of the iconic buildings at GSSA, the main classroom block as well as the school Examination Hall. Both buildings are decaying and will soon be unusable. The BOT already gave high priority to restoring the classrooms even before the principal’s e-mail arrived.
3. Repair of leaky roofs in all buildings still standing: If the architects agree and so recommend, we plan to repair leaks in roofs of buildings, that are still standing and salvageable, all over the campus including the dormitories and thereby hopefully begin to stem the tide of decay which often appears to start with leaks in roofs.
4. First phase of the restoration of dormitories: If our funding support permits, we will begin actual restoration of the dormitories to their original state but with improvements and modernization of infrastructure as the architects deem fit. Ibiam, Okpara, School and Akabogu houses will engage our attention in that order if the funds are available.
5. Formation of a Committee of Architects: This Committee will draw up a professional blueprint for the restoration of GSSA. This should include cost estimates.
6. Formation of a Finance Committee: This will help the Financial Secretary in all financial matters. Dr. Chuma Obidegwu and Mr. Roxton Chukwu have agreed to join Accountant Victor Okoye as members of this committee.
7. Formation of a Projects Management Team: The membership here will overlap that of the Committee of Architects and we would like it to include Professor Ndu Eke if possible as well as Mr. David Nwachukwu who has agreed to recruit members with the expertise tailored to particular projects.

 

Fundraising: The BOT proposes that our fundraising target from intramural sources over the next year be $250,000. This is the level of funding support that will begin to make a dent on the problem we face. This target is certainly achievable considering the high level of success achieved by GSSA alumni. Let us all be reminded that this success is to a large degree attributable to the kind of learning environment provided by GSSA in the past. Indeed the fact that the GSSA of yesteryears produced successful alumni is a compelling reason to restore GSSA so that she can continue to produce highly successful alumni whose caliber and level of success will match or exceed that of current alumni. It is a pity – really sad and sickening – that even now the powers that be in Ebonyi state still seem to have no clue as to the worth of GSSA and therefore do not see any particular need to restore her. As I said before, they were handed a piece of diamond and they are well on the way to turning it into a piece of charcoal. Please let no one tell me that the same thing is going on in other states. That must never be the reason to countenance the current deplorable state of our alma mater.

 

But we know the worth of GSSA. We are therefore committed to reversing the diabolical and perverse feat of alchemy that has debased and degraded her worth.

 

Categorization of Donors: The BOT proposes that there be the following categories of donors based on the cumulative total of their donations over the years:

1. Friends of GSSA: donors of up to $1,000
2. Supporters of GSSA: donors of $1,000 – just under $3,500
3. The Silver Club: donors of $3,500 – just under $6,500
4. The Gold Club: donors of $6,500 – just under $10,000
5. The Platinum Club: donors of $10,000 – just under $20,000
6. The Purple Medal: will be awarded to any donor whose cumulative donations are up to $20,000.

 

Men of GSSA: We are now the wise old men of GSSA. We surely look the part. The question is: Shall we act the part? The boys of GSSA are looking up to us. Shall we live up to their expectations? Let us all be mindful that as Alexander Pope said:

“Honor and shame from no condition rise

Act well your part; there all the honor lies”

 

In this restorative endeavor, I feel sure that GSSA can count on a lot of her alumni. In her present plight, we must be passionate advocates for GSSA and GSSA must remain our obsession. In fact we should be fanatics for GSSA. For fanaticism in support of GSSA is no vice.

 

To our families who can’t help but wonder why we are so “crazy” about GSSA, we say that we are exercised and excited about GSSA, and we celebrate GSSA, among other reasons, because GSSA was an example of something our people did right even if for just one brief shining moment. We happen to have had the luck to be there during that moment. We celebrate great men like Dr. G.C. Akabogu (of blessed memory) whose daughter, Tessy, we are delighted to have in our midst today as one of the wives of GSSA; as well as Rev. Father N.C. Tagbo. These great men were exemplary leaders of GSSA. We are all beneficiaries of their devotion to their duties as principal.

 

Yes we are crazy about GSSA. GSSA is a large part of who we are. We paraphrase the bandaid commercial and say unabashedly: “We are stuck on GSSA for GSSA stuck on us”.

 

As far as we are concerned, therefore, it is “GSSA today, GSSA tomorrow and GSSA for ever”.

 

Thank you. May God bless you. Long live GSSA! And may God bless and preserve her for countless future generations.

 

Obi Nwasokwa, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.C.

Chairman, Board of Trustees, GSSAAA

School Captain, GSSA, 1967-1970