When it became pertinent to bring post-primary education nearer to the teeming girl-child population in the area, BBSS was turned into a co-educational institution and renamed Boki Comprehensive Secondary School
By Nweh Mu‘Jafreh
Saturday March 16, 2024 was a day of nostalgic reunion for alumni of Boki Boys Secondary School (BBSS), Okundi Boki, Cross River State, who gathered in their Alma Mater for another Home-Coming event.
As early as 7am, the school compound was abuzz with activities as students and the event organizers were seen putting finishing touches to ensure a hitch-free ceremony. Old students came in from far and near to rub minds on how best to fast track the process of giving back to the school that nurtured them.
Boki Boys Secondary School, Okundi, the first post primary school to be established by a community in the old Ogoja province, was formally opened on February 22nd, 1966 with a pioneer intake of twenty five students.
During the aggressive Agricultural development days of the Eastern Regional government of Premier (Dr) Michael I. Okpara, the then Eastern Nigerian Development Corporation (ENDC) acquired a parcel of land from the Borum, Irruan, Oku and Osokom communities in Boki to establish the Boki Farm Settlement, now known as Boki Oil Palm Estate, Borum.
These communities under the aegis of Boki Welfare Association (BWA), led by the late Ambassador Chief M. T. Mbu, used six thousand, eight hundred pounds only, a fraction of the compensation paid for the land, to set up a post primary School for the younger generation. They named the venture: Boki Boys Secondary School.
At inception, the Founding Fathers handed over the new school to Bishop Thomas McGettrick, prelate of the Catholic Diocese of Ogoja to administer. In the beginning therefore, BBSS was run in the traditional standards of Catholic Mission Schools. Her first two principals were Irish missionary priests – Rev Fr Seamus Whelan sps and late Rev Fr Brian J. Twomey sps.
It was the desire of Boki Welfare Association to establish yet another Secondary School for girls, but the Nigerian civil war aborted this dream. Consequently as time went on, when it became pertinent to bring post-primary education nearer to the teeming girl-child population in the area, BBSS was turned into a co-educational institution and renamed Boki Comprehensive Secondary School (BCSS).
As explained to this Reporter, the promoters of the Alumni Association feel that for purposes of history, the name BBSS shouldn’t go extinct, hence the adoption of ‘BBSS Alumni’ as nomenclature for the Association. The understanding is that with the coming up of Class Alumni Associations such groups will rightly identify themselves as either BBSS or BCSS depending on year of graduation.
This year’s Home-Coming was chaired by an illustrious Alumnus, Surveyor (Sir) Emmanuel B Arop KSJI, a member of the schools second graduating batch – Class ‘71,who incidentally was the first student in the history of the school to make a Division 1 in the West African School Certificate Examination.
The event began with a Holy Mass celebrated in the School Assembly Hall by Rev Fr Greg Joseph Orimokor, Assistant pastor of St Ignatius Loyola Parish, Okundi. Immediately after the Mass the School Principal led the group on a guided tour of the school compound.
Event Chairman, Surv Emma Arop delivering his speech.
In his welcome address, the Chairman, Interim National Executive Committee, Peter Nandi Bette, who was unanimously nominated to steer the affairs of the Association during the February 2020 Home Coming event, said the tempo of activities was slowed down by the COVID 19 pandemic that came soon after. This development adversely affected the implementation of virtually all the resolutions made in during that 2020 Home Coming.
He however said that in order to keep the Association alive, the Committee decided to produce two hundred twin-seater seats for the students. With the little donations that came in from Alumni, and the strong support of Ogoja Chapter of the Association, the Committee has been able to produce eighty eight seats. These seats were formally handed over to the School on Tuesday 23 May, 2023 in a ceremony which had in attendance Elder (Mrs) Carolyn Okongor, the Coordinating Supervising Director of the Ministry of Education, Ikom Zonal Office, who stood in for the Commissioner of Education.
The Interim National Chairman also said that in August 2022, the Committee was able to influence the State Secondary Education Board to post a principal who is an Alumnus to take proper charge of the School. ”We got one, an Old Boy, who on graduation several years ago returned to the school and spent seventeen years on the staff as a Science teacher”, he jubilantly declared.
Later in his address, the Principal, Engr Matthew Bikom catalogued challenges facing the school. Among them were the massive encroachment on School land; insecurity of the school compound which recently resulted in the theft of a heavy duty Mekano generator; and the non-challant attitude towards the school by members of Okundi Community, who ordinarily are seen as the most immediate landlord stakeholders.
Cross section of Alumni at the event
He also reported about the ‘de-recognition’ of the School’s Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) Center by the West African Examination Council (WAEC). This was due to the fact that for some years the School couldn’t field candidates for the examination, because students in Senior Secondary Class two (SS II) usually migrated to register in private Schools whose Examination centers are better described as ‘Magic Centers’ , thus leaving BBSS with no students in SS3. The effort made to restore the WAEC center, he lamented, has thrown the school authority into indebtedness, as money had to be borrowed to facilitate the process.
In a Keynote Address, Professor Beshel Cletus Ushie of the University of Calabar, a member of the 1975 set of the School, noted that most of the glory of what made BBSS an institution of repute seem to have been lost. The school, he said, is literally on a sick bed and admonished that ”it was time to look around and see what as individuals or as groups we can give back to this great School of ours. Let us see what we can do to put some life back to our Alma mater”. He appealed to the various classes to each identify a challenge and provide solution, so that by the next Home-Coming tangible improvement shall be seen to have taken place.
At the end of the day’s deliberations key resolutions were made which are captured in a Communique. The highlights of these resolutions include the formation of Committees to look into the Alumni Constitution; School Anthem; Projects; Encroachment / Land recovery; and Students Career Counseling.
The students entertained with colourful displays of cultural dances which were beautifully choreographed to the delight of all present. To round up the day, Alumni raised funds to enable the Works Committee continue with the construction of the twin-seater seats.
In his closing Remarks the Chairman of the event, Surv Emmanuel Arop commended the Interim National Chairman and the Event Planning Committee for a job well done. He called on all Alumni at home and in the diaspora to come on board and join hands so they can “restore our Alma Mater to the once prestigious institution that was known for high academic performances, excellence in Sports and Character formation.”
This Reporter learnt that this school, the very first secondary school to be established in Boki land has produced professionals and successful persons in all fields of life, but yet to have a strong Alumni Association. It is the hope of Peter Nandi Bette, the Interim National Chairman that as time goes on the BBSS Alumni Association which has Chapters in Port Harcourt, Abuja, Calabar, Lagos, Ogoja, the Diaspora and in Boki Home Front, will attract more Old students, gather steam and in earnest intensify efforts at repositioning their ailing Alma mater.