10 November 2009
Chioma Anozie — President, Umaru Yar'Adua and the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola are expected to grace the official launching of the N500 million naira students hostel of the Holy Child College, Ikoyi, Lagos State on Saturday.
Yar'Adua who did his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in the school, is expected along other personalities who have passed through the College either as teachers or during their National Youth Service.
Other dignitaries expected at the occasion include His Royal Majesty, Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, and old students of the college.
This was disclosed by the Administrator of the Holy Child College, Rev. Sister Sophia Onuora during a press briefing in Lagos last week to announce the programmes lined up for the official luanching of the N5 million students' hostels of the College.
The Administrator said the purpose of raising funds for the building of additional hostels for the students in the school was to provide the youngsters a better environment for their educational studies.
Sister Onuora said the project of building hostels for the students was special one considering the fact that the society will benefit from it, She solicited cooperation from the general public towards achieving this dream
The College, she added, is building leaders for greater tomorrow and people who will contribute positively in the governance of Nigeria.
'Holy Child College is investing in the construction of befitting hostels accommodation for up to 500 students in the College from across the country' she stated
According to her, Holy Child College has been operating boarding system since its inception in 1945, except when Lagos State government seized it from the Catholic Church, the original owner of the school in 1972, till when it was returned in 2001.
'The College operated a boarding system from its inception with a moderate number of 30 students and rose to 300 students before the government of Lagos State took over its running in the early seventies. The boarding system was abolished when the school was taken over because Lagos State government, at the time did not have boarding policy"' she said
When the school was returned in 200, the College administration went back to the boarding system which made it distinct from other schools in the country.
The Nigeria community, she said regard Holy Child College as a friendly school and as one that has one of the best boarding house s, sufficient classrooms and space, equipment, teaching and learning materials particularly for girls,she said. Providing such conducive learning environment with adequate learning materials are too expensive, ,hence the need to seek support from public individuals and organisations.
The administrator said the College was bent on providing the hostels because Nigerian girls need a very good all round education now, more than before and the only way to that was to let them study in enabling environment.
However, she stated that since the College was returned to the Catholic by the Lagos State, the College management had made tremendous progress by trying to put the school in better shape and order.
'Since the return of the school in October 2001, it has been eight years of hard work, very challenging, sometimes daunting, but on the whole exciting and rewarding. We have made giant strides in the educational training, which the College is known for before it was taken over by the government in 1972. With the effort of the management of the College, the school had won a lot of laurels in academics, quiz, music, arts and sporting,'"she added.
Earlier the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos State, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, represented by Msgr. J.K.A. Aniagwu, disclosed that the College was established in 1945 by Catholic Church to provide quality education to the girl child.
He stressed that since the Government of Lagos State returned the College to the Catholic, a lot of transformation have taken place in the College, promising to continue with the further development of the College for the betterment of the citizenry.
Cardinal Okogie further disclosed that the demand of parents for more hostels in the College necessitated the construction of the new blocks of hostels in the school, appealing to people to support the initiative by donating towards the project.
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