I attended Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, on Lagos Island. My dream was to attend a boarding secondary school and I was focussed doggedly on that. As fate would have it, for some personal reasons, my father happened to be a great admirer of our great Alma mater MBHS as well as the first President of the country, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe - an iconic old boy of MBHS.
I attended Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, on Lagos Island. My dream was to attend a boarding secondary school and I was focussed doggedly on that. As fate would have it, for some personal reasons, my father happened to be a great admirer of our great Alma mater MBHS as well as the first President of the country, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe - an iconic old boy of MBHS.
My father was also a good friend and admirer of late Pa Creppy, iconic music teacher at MBHS, who resided on Koseh Street in Olowogbowo area, and who was always immaculately dressed in white shirt and trousers with the school tie to match and always carrying himself with dignity and at the same time being a no-nonsense disciplinarian in the area. He (my father) also loved and admired late Sola Jibowu (“Papa Jibsy”), a student at MBHS then, who was also living on Koseh Street and always dressed immaculately as a student of the school and very respectful to elders.
Unknown to me, my father had already made up his mind that I would attend MBHS. When he eventually broke the news to me, I was not excited at all because MBHS was a day school contrary to my preference of a boarding school. My father later arranged some “facts-finding” sessions for me with both late Pa Creppy and Sola Jibowu and they succeeded in convincing me that MBHS was the school for me !! Looking back today, I can say loud and clear that the epic decision to attend MBHS was a divine one which I am still most proud and thankful for, to be a product of the great school that completely changed my life and brought me in contact with great teachers (who played great roles in our lives) and all of you, my dearest classmates (of Class 71 – 75), who are now my friends and brothers for life.
I still have a vivid recollection of that Monday morning on the 16th of January 1971 - the very first day I stepped onto the “Land of our birth” MBHS ground as a brand-new Form 1 student at the school. How time flies!!
During my sojourn in the school, I suddenly developed more interest in my studies generally when compared with my rather casual attitude while in primary school. I particularly took more interest in mathematics and science subjects. Interestingly too, I was doing so well in art subjects such as French, Yoruba and most surprisingly, being from a muslim home, Religious Knowledge – to the extent that I got a new nickname “RK – Religious Knowledge” – coined from my initials. While in school, we were blessed with great teachers who ensured we excelled academically such that some of us took GCE London papers before our WASC exams and passed very well. I sat for 3 subjects General Math, Physics and Applied Math. To the Glory of God, I also excelled in my WASC O/level.
After my secondary school education, I gained admission to University of Lagos immediately after O/level study in June 1975, through the Preliminary admission program. Which means I gained one academic year as I did not have to do A/levels again. My classmates in the Prelim Class of 1975/76 included fellow schoolmates – Dr Shina Folarin-Williams, Rev. Daniel Kolawole Olukoya (General Overseer of MFM church) and late Engr Soji Dina and we represented our great school very proudly.
I later graduated with B.Sc degree (Computer Science) in 1979 and through divine Grace attained professional fulfillment as an Information Technology professional at national, continental and international levels. The peak of my career was when the clarion call came for me in August 1988 to serve the continent of Africa. I got an international job position as the very first I.T. Director of African Reinsurance Corporation as well as an accredited diplomat (technical) of the African Union (hence, my popular appellation of “Ambassador”). My initial duty post was in Lagos with overall responsibilities for other regional offices in Morocco, Cote d’Ivoire and Kenya. I was later posted to Nairobi, Kenya where I lived with my family from 1995-2002. While in Kenya, I enrolled for my Master degree (in Information Systems) at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. It is worthy of note to mention that the discipline and God-fearing foundation garnered from our Alma mater MBHS assisted me tremendously in navigating the diplomatic circuits with grace and candour.
Also, the French language background I had from MBHS readily came in very handy in my garnering appreciable working knowledge of French to make me bi-lingual enough - which was a requirement for my job then.
I later took an early retirement in 2002 and decided to relocate (from Nairobi, Kenya) to Canada with my family (my wife and 5 children).
Please permit me to conclude by stating that I am most proud to be a product of this great school that successfully entrenched in me the virtue of our school’s motto “Non Sibi Sed Aliis “ which has fixedly impacted my life to this day. I am also an active member and the current General Secretary of the MBHS Old Boys Association, North America (MBHSOBANA).
I would also like to use this opportunity to pay due respect in the form of an ode to the loving memory of late Pa Creppy and late Sola Jibowu (“Papa Jibsy”) for the cursory role played (that is, ‘plotting’ with my father) to bring to fruition my father’s wish to ensure that I attended our great school. May their (and my late father’s) gentle souls continue to rest in perfect peace, Amen. To my dearest classmates (of Class 71 – 75), I would like to thank you all for everything and for being my friends and brothers for life.
Through you guys and our great teachers, figuratively speaking, I learnt to “deal with the Valleys of Life and the Hills of life took care of themselves”.
Above all, Glory, Honour and Adoration be unto the Most High, from everlasting to everlasting, Amen!!