Razaq Bamidele
It was excitement galore in Abeokuta, capital city of Ogun State in the south-western axis of Nigeria when the 1980 alumni of Nawair-Ud-Deen (NUD) Grammar School, Obantoko in the ancient town donate their signature school project, a block of two big classrooms constructed at a princely sum of N5, 876,900:00 to the senior section of their Alma Mata.
This milestone achievement was recorded in the history of Alumni interventions in the provision of infrastructure to their former schools (Alma Mata), as part of activities marking the 40th year of the class graduation from the school. The presentation, according to a reported credited to Ayo Dada, was the first by a single set in the school’s history.
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In the immediate past, according to Dada, the class had also named other purposeful interventions to the school, through the school’s old students’ association; the Nawair-Ud- Deen Grammar School Old Students’ Association (NUDGOSA).
Notable among the so named Intervention Projects included being the first to donate the levied One Million Naira (N1m), to the ongoing hall project championed by the national body of the old students association, as well as the distribution of 500 mathematical sets to students and 28 computers to the school by members of the class of 1980.
At the official handing over of the project during the school’s old students’ annual general meeting, Alhaji Saburi Sodeinde, the representative of the National President of the parent body of the school, Nawair-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Alhaji R.O Yusuf, thanked all the living members of the class for their commitment and generosity towards the upliftment of their Alma Marta and called on others to emulate their good gesture.
In the same vein, the elated and highly impressed principal of the Senior School, Alhaja Muibat Bola Arisekola, who received the building from the Class of 1980 on behalf of the Management, Staff and Students, thanked the members for their thoughtful donation promising that the classrooms shall be put into good use by the students.
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The collection of donations from members for the construction of the building, according to the report, was superintended over by Dr Kazeem Bello, a member of the class and an American based economist, while another class member, Engr. Chief Adeniyi Nurudeen Akanni, the Asiwaju Onimo-Ero of Egbaland, disbursed the funds as the head of treasury for the project.
In addition, other professionals in the construction industry who are also members, made their professional contributions toward the construction of the building in record time. A doyen of old students’ activities, programmes and projects, Mr. Olabode Samuel Fabule, emerged as the coordinating chairman of the class activities for the next two years at a reunion luncheon after the handing over. Most of those present were re-uniting physically for the first time in 41 years since they completed high school in May/June 1980.
The report went down the memory lane to disclose that the original parent body of the school before being taken over by the government decades ago is the Nawair -Ud- Deen Society of Nigeria and overseas. The organization came into being on 4th November 1939 as a practical solution to the early Christian missionary’s discrimination against Muslims’ children who were either refused admission into missionary schools or were converted involuntarily to Christianity. The parent body established the secondary school on 6th July 1962 and moved the school to its permanent site at Obantoko in 1964. The then Alake of Egbaland, HRM Oba Adesina Gbadebo II, laid the foundation for the first science blocks and classrooms. History records the school as one of the foremost Islamic Institutions in the South Western Region of Nigeria.
The report has it that, the society has proved to be a strong partner with the government in grooming responsible men and women for the country through her schools and penchant for qualitative education, especially for Muslim children.
Thus, today, thousands of her products are across the globe working in all human endeavours. The current Nigeria High Commissioner to Great Britain, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Isola and the current Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre Abeokuta, Prof. Abd’Samiu Adewale Musa-Olomu, are proud Alumni of the school.
Hon. Olawale Sabr Olayiwola, a member of the Lagos State House of Assembly is the National President of the Old Students’ Association, of the school.