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By Johnson Adebowale
Festac Girls’ Secondary School Old Students’ Association (FGSSOSA), Festac Town, Lagos, last week, converged on their alma mater in their large numbers to celebrate the 40th anniversary amid pomp and fanfare. The theme of the event was “Nurturing the world through a girl child.”
Since its inception on September 29, 1982, Festac Girls Secondary School, Festac Town, has produced students with academic excellence and high moral standard, which stand them out among their peers, within and outside the country.
The teachers wore green attire while the students in junior and senior secondary schools wore their uniforms to commemorate the event. The students had various programmes, which focused on unity in cultural diversity. The students sang, danced and choreographed in diverse ethnic groups to the delight of guests. Other programmes during the three-day celebration included health talk, titled, “My body my pride,” by Mrs. Toyin Falaiye, chief executive officer, Jewels Hive Initiative; and “Nurturing the world through a girl child,” by Mojisola Macaulay.
One of the old students, Mrs. Chinonye Egbujuo, who graduated in 1987 and a member of the first set after the school became an all-girls school, thanked God for keeping them alive.
She said: “We have everything to give God the glory and we are very happy. I thank God the school is still existing. The school is noted for discipline and we grew up from girls to women. Ladies are meant to be seen and not heard. We were trained by disciplined teachers and they helped to shape our lives positively.”
She urged the students to believe in God and be diligent at their studies so that they would become great and responsible women in future.
President of FGSSOSA, Mrs. Agatha Matthew Irabor, in her welcome address, explained how the theme of the anniversary, “Nurturing the world through a girl child,” was arrived at.
She said: The theme materialised due to the fact that, more than ever before, our girl-children face very daunting situations in their everyday life and stand the risk of rape, molestation, child labour, peer pressure and wrong societal influences, among others, which eventually may mar their developmental years. And we owe it to them as mothers, teachers, sisters and friends to ensure that they are given the enabling environment, necessary support and advice to ensure that they are educated and imbibe the right morals to prepare them for their roles in society.
“Let us not forget the saying, ‘Educate a girl child, you educate a nation.’ This is very apt and true. We are gathered here today, well intuited with the right education and morals and that has created the foundation to enable us to give back today to our growing children.
“This legacy must not die. This school has produced very successful women in all areas of endeavour and I stand very tall here today to say that we are all very proud of these amazons and we intend to raise more amazons to nurture our society in the future.”
President of the ’86 Set, Mr. Chinaka Nwuzor, acknowledged the apparent changes in the school premises. He expressed gratitude to God on how far the school has come, urging the students to shun drugs, bad peers but listen to their parents and teachers and study hard to succeed in the end.
Vice-chairperson, Amuwo Odofin, Local Government Area, Mrs. Maureen Achia, who took to the dance floor in celebration, said, “Once in a while, we need to dance in order to burn some calories in our body.”
She charged the students to take their education seriously, saying education exposes them to a whole lot of things. “Be humble, believe in yourself to achieve great things in life.”
Achia on the occasion, planted a tree in honour of the girl child.
Committee chairperson, Muizza Tarela, enjoined the students to make their education an important aspect of their life: “We also want to encourage our young girls so that they will become great and respected in their chosen professions in future. We are celebrating the girl child at this time, for how long we have come as alumni of the school.”
Tosin Eniola, a student, said she was very happy to see women who had graduated from the school many years ago, admitting they were role models to her. She promised to study hard so that she would become great in life.
