A while ago I was greatly astonished to discover that there was a school in the United Kingdom that had produced 19 British Prime Ministers, what was also amazing was the level of aristocracy, which had been in existence for over 600 years, this led to the question, does Nigeria have a school with similar recognition?
The answer is “Yes”, the Barewa college established in Northern Nigeria, in 1921 by the British Governor General, Hugh Clifford, to tutor majorly muslim students in western education. The college is the first post-primary educational institution in Northern Nigeria and it was later upgraded to a higher college in 1929.
The college can boast of producing five heads of states, namely: General Murtala Mohammed, General Yakubu Gowon, Umaru Shehu Yar’adua, Alhaji Shehu Shagari and Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, all from the North. The Generals were heads of state, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Yar’adua and Tafawa Balewa were presidents and prime minister respectively. The Alumni also include Sir Ahmadu Bello who exerted great influence during the first republic and was a prefect and an amazing cricketer for the school.
Other notable alumni include, Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie. He was one time Inspector General of police of Nigeria, from 1993-1999 under the military Governments of Generals Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, an alumni of the college, became the 18th Sultan of Sokoto, but was disposed in 1996, the position launched him into national and international lime light.
Other Notable members of the college include, Alhaji Umaru Dikko was a politician and a trusted adviser to President Shehu Shagari. He was also Nigeria Minister for Transportation from 1979-1983.
Late Alhaji Suleman Takuma (1934-2001) was a Journalist, politician and businessman. He served as the National Secretary of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN).
Late Justice Mohammad Bello (1930-2004) was the first Northern Chief Justice of Nigeria from (1987-1995),
Mallam Nasir El-Rufai was a former director general of the Bureau of public enterprises, also former Minister of FCT Abuja from 2003-2007 and present Governor of Kaduna state.
Nuhu Ribadu was the chairman of the Petroleum Revenue Task Force and a former chairman of Nigeria Government Anti-corruption agency
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
General Alwali Kazir (Rtd) was a Military Governor of Kwara State from 1989-1992 during IBB’s military regime. He was also the Chief of Army staff from 1994-1996.
Governor Sule Lamido served as the foreign minister of Nigeria from 1999 to 2003 and was elected Governor of Jigawa State in 2007, he ran for re-election in 2011 and was re -elected as the Governor.
There are so many other highly placed officials in both public and private sector past and present, all one has to do is Google the names and a long list will surface, with the contribution they have made to Nigeria.
Unfortunately, due to the neglect of the school, just like almost every other sector of the Nigerian economy the school has gone through a decline and is almost unrecognisable. One begins to wonder if such a school with notable alumni should be allowed to go down such a route. The present state of the school is saddening, the classrooms are not up to standards as well as the toilets, the hostels are said to be in terrible state, the school is in so much decay and needs immediate assistance.
We all know the fortunes of this school will have changed if it was situated in the Western world, example of such is Eton college which was mentioned earlier on, still produces leaders to this very day, another school is the Doon school in India which is part of the G20 schools and has also produced former ministers, generals, Prime Ministers and other high ranking officials.
We are not suggesting there are no good schools in Nigeria, but a school with such a legacy should not be allowed to reach this level of deterioration. The Barewa college should be a school where parents would try their very best to enrol their children in the school. The alumni should have the responsibility of rehabilitating the decaying infrastructures and resuscitate such a great college, with the addition of proper restructuring projects and schemes one can believe that the glory of the school can be restored.
In concluding, concerted efforts should be made by both the alumni and the Government to fix the college to attain an enviable precision, and be able to compete internationally so that they could be at par with Eton college and the Doon School.
“Floreat Barewa” meaning may Barewa flourish.
No comments:
Post a Comment