Reminscence

By January 1967, when I went to Ibadan to join the third form at Government College, Ibadan it was against the background of personal and national crises.

-- extracts

I settled easily into GCI and generally the environment posed no great cultural shocks. GCI was cast in the tradition of the other 'government colleges' except that the physical infrastructure was of an older vintage than at Owerri.

The same white colonial school master was alive and well at Ibadan as John Garrod had been at Owerre except that this one was called Derek John Bullock.

DJ Bullock was a school master's school master; he knew boys or so he thought and whilst he recognised that boys must boys, he was pro-active in his approach to discipline. He gave no quarter and in return expected none.

Sports
The traditional sports - cricket, football, hockey and athletics were the staple diet of life at GCI.

Nobody was overly concerned or fretful about academic work because everybody - pupils, parents teachers and old boys - expected GCI boys to do well at the West African School Certificate exams and the boys felt it a matter of pride to succeed and buy for themselves the types of cars owned by some of the old boys especially Professor Dupe Olatubosun's metallic blue American limousine!

Therefore academic matters and high attainment were taken as given...

Chief JBO Ojo, an old boy who later became Principal in succession to DJ Bullock, would recount how he went to Wole Soyinka's father's school in Abeokuta to persuade him to send to GCI the man who would later become a nobel laureate in literature.

I was crossing from Waterloo Station towards the Shell International Building in London about three years ago when a gentleman said 'good evening' and proceeded to identify himself as Femi Bajomo who was in Field House.

I had not recognised the face but remembered him once he mentioned his name. He was on the eve of his departure to assume duties as Managing Director of Shell, Namibia.

In December 1971, I would leave GCI.

Tokunbo Ogunbiyi
Editor The Rock
Monday, February 16, 2004