For the Group MD/ CEO VDT Communications Limited, Engr. Abiodun Omoniyi, the role of alumni associations in fostering unity and national integration could not be overemphasized.
Speaking at the 40th-anniversary reunion of the Class of “83 set of Awori Ajeromi Grammar School (AAGS) Lagos, he said that the alumni association could help create a just and equitable world.
With the theme: “The Role of the Alumni Association in Fostering Unity & National Integration,” he noted that alumni associations could also enhance social cohesion, cultural exchange, and community development.
To him, it behooves on everyone to use their education skills to create positive change in communities. Going down memory lane, he recalled: “My life was shaped in various ways from the experiences, starting from the first day I set my foot on the school in September 1975 till I graduated in 1980, wondering what the future would hold.”
Those years in school were filled with landmark events that shaped my life today.” Commending the ‘83 set for organising a great reunion, he added: “My old classmates and I also planned a grand reunion. We didn’t do it in our 40th year; maybe we’ll do it in the 45th or 50th year.
We are in the 43rd. When I hear your governor speak of your successes, I feel encouraged and charged, that we must do something.” Speaking further, he said that a day like this should not only be for merry-making but also for giving back to society.
“Getting people to be committed to alumni issues is usually very tough, but I don’t think it is so in your group,” he stated. To him, giving back usually require time, effort, and resources, very often, material and financial.
“As people get older, responsibilities increase and they face more pressure in allocating scarce resources. If people have not solved their own problems, how do you expect them to solve society’s problems? Before alumni groups can serve their alma maters, they must first serve their members. It is when members are empowered that they can empower their alma mater.
In his speech, the Guv’nor AAGS Class of ’83 Old Students Association, Peter Ebhota highlighted some success stories of the association.
“We recently rehabilitated the toilets and repainted the school gate, constructed and erected by our set two years ago as part of our 40th anniversary.”
Before now, he said that they had rehabilitated the Home Economics lab of the school, purchased mathematics and English textbooks for Senior Secondary School pupils, provided school uniforms for some students, and raised the school’s fence.
