Role of old students in education development..... by Marshal Sulayman

FELLOW EHSIOSA Friends and Colleagues: I welcome you all to the Eighth Annual General Meeting (AGM) of our beloved Alma Mater – Eleyele High School (EHS). It has been a great honor for me to have served as the Chairman for the Board of Trustees of Eleyele High School Ibadan Old Student Association (EHSIOSA) in the past five years. I give thanks to God for the opportunity afforded me to give back to our beloved Alma Mater and grateful for the modest accomplishments of the BOT team. On the Twenty Sixth day of September of every year, 400 secondary schools in Oyo State celebrate their Founder’s Day. Eleyele High School, Ibadan (Eleyele Heights), our Alma Mater, is one of the 400 schools. Although this is our eighth AGM, our school remains one of the leading schools in Oyo State among our peers, that has quickly established a robust productive Annual General Meeting (AGM) tradition and making best use of the annual tradition to give back to our school, reflect on our individual journey of life, celebrate success and accomplishments, and provide support to lift up our colleagues as needed. EHSIOSA doubles the celebration with the AGM to celebrate the legacy of our Founding Fathers.Five years ago, at the third AGM, the General Assembly made a bold and courageous but strategic move to reconstitute the Board of Trustees in accordance with the provision of the constitution for a single term of 5 years. A team of committed, dedicated, astute and diverse leaders of different professional backgrounds and life experiences was inaugurated to provide quality supervisory leadership at the board level. Ladies and gentlemen, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with this team of leaders. We had a great team and had almost twenty virtual sessions, despite the constitutional provision one meeting per year. We have become friends and allies in the Board room regardless of the set/year of graduation, seniority, age, religion or gender. I would like to congratulate and appreciate my friends and colleagues on the Board: Pastor Sunday Ogoigbe – 1985, Pastor Olanrewaju Samuel – 1985, Alhaji Sulaiman Ajayi – 1986, Alhaji Wale Ogunbadejo – 1986, Dr. Adenike Aremu – 1987, Pastor (Mrs.) Olubunmi Ayoola – 1987, Pastor Bamidele Adegunwa – 1987, and Dr. Martins Ayodele – 1988 for their selfless services to the stability, growth, development, and advancement of our Alma Mater in general and EHIOSA in particular.As provided by the Constitution, the President and General Secretary are automatic members of the BOT. We thank and appreciate the leadership of Pastor Adewunmi Mohammed-1988, immediate Past President and our current President Pastor Oludayo Ayoola – 1987, Alhaji Bashir Balarabe – 2000, Pastor Emmanuel Oworu – 1996, and, Pastor Kolawole Shore – 1998.

Part Time Monthly - Click Here to Make Money Monthly and Get Paid on Time

In the past five years of the outgoing BOT team, and working closely with the Executive Council, our organization made significant progress. While it is probably helpful to mention projects executed in conjunction with the EXCO, i.e. the ICT Lab, Science Lab, donations of chairs and tables for students use, sponsored inter house sport competition, donations of chairs and tables to OYO State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), sponsored the school 2023 and 2024 prize giving day, purchase of photocopy machine and printer, renovation and furnishing of Principal’s Office etc., I would like to highlight the following strategically impactful accomplishments, to demonstrate a few examples of visionary leadership the Board provided for the organization. 1. Peace and Stability – the team inherited a chaotic organization which was on the brink of breaking due to internal rancor or crisis that could have been better managed or mitigated, by all parties concerned. Our team worked tirelessly to bring sustainable peace which has led to the enabling environment created and progress accomplished. Where applicable, we provided onsite or hands on leadership via consultation instead of confrontation, set the tone from the top to condemn unacceptable behaviors and put in place policies and procedures to mitigate risk, encourage transparency, and discourage abuse of power.

Leadership Succession – as a young and evolving organization and apparently in its formative years, we promoted enabling environment and successfully conducted elections to change the executive leadership team and transition of power. This has further helped identified potential future leaders and where applicable, identified constitutional inadequacies for us to address in order for our organization to continue to thrive. 3. Alumni Principal – at the inception of our administration, one key goal of the Board working with the EXCO, was to identify a qualified and credible alumnus as a principal candidate for EHS and work with the appropriate authorities to advocate for an Eleyele High School alumnus to be transferred to our school as the principal. We embarked on the search journey and Alhaja Bolanle Abass of 1985, who was already a Principal, in another school, was identified. We liaised with the appropriate authorities to expedite her posting to EHS. Alhaja Bolanle Abbas started at our school on May of 2023 and that has been a most significant and impactful game changer. She has attended 4 BOT meetings and consistently updated us on the State of our Alma Mater. She provided quality information on the progress of the school as well as the challenges. Having access to quality information and reliable data has helped in our virtual boardroom discussions to position our school to be the best among its peers.

While it is very convenient to focus on our success, I think it is also important to briefly mention a couple of areas where we could improve and if not well addressed, could constitute potential threats to the organization.  1. Authentic Transparent Selfless Leadership: Our organization is still young, and it is impossible to rule out teething problems. We should be careful and be thoughtful selecting and electing new BOT team and future EXCO. Our process could be more robust, and we should be more Intentional in our effort to identify credible and experienced leaders and not select based on a sentiment, internal political alignments. Leadership is about service, and service requires sacrifice. Further, we should continue to develop a culture of making our servant- leaders look good and provide required coaching and mentoring where needed. Seniority matters but it should not be the sole basis for selecting our leaders.We should be careful not to disqualify or discourage qualified, eligible and interested talented leaders from serving and leading. We should not be shortsighted, let us make good decisions that would stand the test of time regardless of who is in the office.

Maintenance Culture: In the past 5 years, we have invested close to N20M on different projects some of them listed above. While it could be tempting to continue accumulate projects, we should be careful not to neglect our existing investments. Let us continue to think about the ROI. We should work with the Principal and teachers to help protect our investments. We should educate the students to make best use of the opportunities we are providing them The parents should know that they have a responsibility to support the school and we are partners on the same journey.

In making financial or investment decisions, we (Parents, Principal/Teachers and EHSIOSA) should constantly ask the question. Can I spend my personal money like this?In closing, to God Almighty be the glory. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be at the service of my Alma Mater. I am very grateful for the trust bestowed on me and support received from my primary constituency of 1985 set (Pioneer Set). Posterity will not forgive me if I failed to acknowledge and appreciate all the previous EHSIOSA EXCO and BOT leaders who have served the organization since inception. I stand on the shoulders of all the leaders who tirelessly worked, did the heavy lifting, and paved the way to make our journey easier and better. It would be extremely impossible to exhaust the list, but I would like to recognize the First Interim Head, Air Vice Marshal Adebayo Kehinde – 1987, the First President Engr. Hakeem Suara – 1985, his immediate successor – Comrade Oladimeji Adepegba – 1987, First Interim BOT Chairman, Rotarian Rahman Olapade – 1986, and the team that worked with them. They have done a fantastic job in laying the foundation for EHSIOSA. I look forward to my next chapter of service as I transition into my new status with the new title Former BOT Chairman.Thank you very much. God Bless You.

Sulayman, Chairman, Board of Trustees Eleyele High School, Ibadan Old Students Association, delivered this address at the eighth Annual General Meeting of the association.