I would have been a doctor, says Obasanjo

As Chevron, others donate multi-million naira laboratory complex to 67-year-old school

FORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he would have preferred to be a medical doctor but for lack of well-equipped laboratory and teachers in the secondary school he attended.

Obasanjo, who admitted he went to a very good school, Baptist Boys’ High School, however, explained “even then, we did not have a modern science laboratory complex. So I did physics with chemistry because there was no good enough facilities and teachers for biology. If I had had a good science laboratory, I would have become a medical doctor”.

The former President spoke at the commissioning ceremony of a multi-million naira science laboratory complex donated to Ibogun Comprehensive High School, Ibogun, Ogun State. Ibogun is Obasanjo’s ancestral home.

Obasanjo said he started his primary education in that school 67years ago. But the school has since been turned to a Secondary School, which is now the only government secondary school serving 39 villages in Ibogun, according to the school’s Principal, Mr. Sanusi Ayinla.

The laboratory complex with the latest science equipment for biology, chemistry and physics, costing several millions of naira, was donated by the Chevron Oil Company and its co-ventures in the Agbami field.

They include Famfa Oil Ltd, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), Statoil Nigria Limited and Petroleo Brasileiro Nig. Ltd.

Obasanjo who disclosed to his large audience, including traditional rulers stated that he was a pioneer primary school pupil in the school before it became a secondary school, adding: “I want to say to you students and teachers that you are lucky.”

He added, “I was told the laboratory has three sections: physics, chemistry, biology. I went to a very good secondary school, BBHS (Baptist Boys High School) but even then, we did not have a modern science laboratory, so I could not do physics, chemistry and biology because there was no good facility and teachers, but now modern science laboratories are at your doorstep”.