President’s Opening Remarks
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen!
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the inauguration of Edo Boys High School Old Students’ Association, N. East Chapter, USA and its 2010 fund-raising event.
About 50 years ago, P.D. C. Okenwa, a man from a very humble background decided to establish a secondary school for boys in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Realizing that educated citizenry is fundamental to the rapid economic development of any nation, he invested both his money and time in creating an enabling academic environment for students enrolled in the school. There is no doubt in my mind that his efforts have contributed immensely to the empowerment of the “next generation”-(i.e. us). As many of us are aware, secondary school education in Nigeria today is vastly different from what it used to be. As they say, a lot of water has gone under the bridge.
Due to the pathetic state of affairs in the school today, a few of us decided to form an association for the sole purpose of contributing our quota to the rehabilitation of the institution. Although this chapter is relatively young, it is important to highlight its accomplishments so far. To date, we have successfully fortified the main library with iron doors and windows, thus making it burglary proof and safe; in January 2010, we sent more than two thousand books (including texts and reference books covering myriad of subjects) to the school; and moreover, work on the bore-hole water project is nearing completion. There is no doubt that these collective actions will contribute to bringing the school back to its lost glory.
The aforementioned accomplishments notwithstanding, a lot of work is yet to be done. Even though students now have access to books of all sorts, they cannot study in the library for lack of tables, chairs and bookshelves. This is the motivation behind this fund-raising event. Our goal is to complete the rehabilitation of the entire library by the end of this year. Therefore, we are appealing to everyone present here today to donate generously to this noble effort.
Tonight we are presenting you with a salivating package that includes dinner, to be provided by the Catering services at Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resort, Elizabeth, New Jersey, and music by our esteemed Dee-jay. We hope that you will have a wonderful evening.
On behalf of EBHS Old Boys Association, I wish to thank the Catering and other employees of Crown Plaza and Resorts for making this event a successful one.
God Bless
LONG LIVE EBHS
Braimoh D. Oseghale, Ph.D.
President
