GCI Codes: The Slangs, Habits & Hype of ‘91 Jan Set, 1991 – 1996

If you didn’t pass through Government College Ibadan between 1991 and 1996, you won’t understand.

GCI didn’t just teach us Maths and English. It gave us a language. A posture. A whole culture.

35 years later, some of those things are fading. But if you watch two GCI boys talk today, you’ll still see it.

The Slangs Only GCI Boys Knew

1. “Tirogo”
Translation: “I beg, I never chop” 😂
Nobody knew where it came from. JSS1 or SSS3, everybody used it. Hungry after prep? “Tirogo bro.” Broke on Sunday? “Tirogo.”
It was our code for “life is hard but we’re laughing.” Till today, if a ‘91 Jan Set man says “Tirogo”, you know he’s GCI.

2. The Zip Hold 🩳
You couldn’t explain it. You just did it. Hand casually resting on the zip area of your shorts or trouser.
Was it swag? Was it “I’m the guy”? Nobody defined it. But all the senior boys did it, so we copied.
If you walked past Great Hall with that posture in 1994, you felt like a don. 😉

3. Spinning the Board
Every GCI boy had a ruler or duster he could spin on one finger like a basketball.
Prep class was 70% notes, 30% board-spinning competitions. If you could spin for 10 seconds without dropping it, you had respect. Simple things, big bragging rights.

The Hype: Designers or Nothing
GCI was a boys’ school. No distractions... except the ones we created ourselves.

And the biggest distraction was clothes.

Tommy Hilfiger. Versace. Yves Saint Laurent. Ralph Lauren. If it had a logo, GCI wanted it.
Sunday church? Designer. Inter-house sports? Designer cap. Even mufti day became a runway.

We were 14-17 with no income, but somehow someone’s uncle brought “original” from London. The obsession was real. And if you look closely at ‘91 Jan Set men today? The love for clean, branded clothes never left us. GCI taste stuck.

Girls in GCI? Chaos.
We were a boys-only college. So when Queen's school, Our lady, or Wesley girls walked into GCI for a club show or inter-school event...

Brother, Great Hall scattered. Cat calls. Whistles. “Ehen!” “Omo see babe!”
Teachers would shout “Order!” but we were already gone.

For many of us, that was the first time we understood adrenaline. A girl + GCI boys = noise. Simple formula.

Why These Things Matter
“Tirogo”, zip-hold, board-spinning, designer obsession, cat calls... they look small now.

But they were our identity. They told us: “You are GCI. You are different.”

We didn’t have TikTok. We had culture. We created our own fun because Great Hall was our world between 1991-1996.

Fading, But Not Forgotten
Today, the boys in GCI don’t spin boards. They have phones. “Tirogo” sounds old-school. The zip-hold would get you a query.

And we ‘91 Jan Set men? We’re no longer in dormitories. We’re in offices, traffic, hospitals, chasing the hierarchy of needs.

But the code is still in us. Say “Tirogo” in a ‘91 Jan Set group and 40 men will laugh instantly. Mention Tommy Hilfiger and watch 5 people drop photos of their caps.

A Call to ‘91 Jan Set
For our 35th, let’s collect these fragments before they vanish.

Drop in the group:
1. Your Slang: What GCI slang do you still use today?
2. Your Habit: Board spin? Zip hold? Something else?
3. Your Designer Era: What was your “must-have” brand in 1994?

Because if we don’t record it, history will think GCI 1991-1996 was only about academics.

It was also about Tirogo. Swag. Designers. And the noise girls made when they entered Great Hall.

That was us. That was GCI. That was ‘91 Jan Set.

Pro Unitate, always.

Submitted by:Mayowa Akingbohungbe
GCIOBA ‘91 Jan Set