Jos — Sixty years after its establishment, Boys Secondary School (BSS), Gindiri, in the Central Senatorial District of Plateau State has produced great personalities that have affected lives, positively, all over the world. To celebrate the milestone and the old students, the Gindiri Old Students Association (GOSA), recently organised a special Awards Dinner and Distinguished Lecture at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja.

National President of GOSA, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, said the event was held to identify with the vision of the founding missionaries, who had envisaged the importance of Agricultural Science in Nigeria's development and had therefore encouraged its in dept study at the school. "In this respect BSS products have over the years constituted a significant proportion of the skilled manpower in agricultural sciences at local, national and international levels", he said.

According to him, "The distinguished lecturer, Dr Ayo Abifarin, who is a member of the first set of BSS is one of the finest scientific ambassadors this country has sent out to compete and excel at the highest level internationally. Our decision to request Dr. Abifanin to deliver this lecture is to remind us that we have veritable reservoirs of retired scientists who can be relied upon to advise and guide at the highest level, and that they are some of the finest because they had sound foundation in the unique BSS training that produced the best in the Northern Nigeria when manpower was the problem of the North."

Bogoro said the school had no rival among its peers in northern Nigeria. "We are reputed to have over the last six decades produced the highest per capita number of professionals, experts and scientists compared to our peers. It is also a fact that we are one of the most organised Old Students Associations in Nigeria.

"Despite the collective effort of our members in sustaining the association, we recognise the fact that some few of us have given GOSA and raised our profile more than others. This underscores the wisdom in our periodic recognition of some of our members to challenge others to redouble their contributions and sacrifices the way Christ did on our behalf."

The school has managed to sustain its traditional high academic and moral standards, he said, because the indigenous teachers have sought to protect the cherished values and standards of Gindiri training.

In his lecture, on the Role of Plant Breeding Technologies Towards Sustainable Food Security in Nigeria, Abifarin concluded that without internally bred varieties, Nigeria would have important much more food than it currently does. He said if complemented by other agricultural disciplines and public and private sectors, the country would achieve sustainable food security.

GOSA members that were presented with medals include, Minister of Water Resources, Chief Obadiah Ando; Managing Director of Federal Housing Estate, Abuja, Mr. Terver Gemade; a construction expert, Mr Dacholom Jambol; first female Medical Doctor in the North, Dr (Mrs.) Mary Ogebe; a Permanent Secretary in the Federal Civil Service, Engr. (Mrs.) Esther Gonda, and former Plateau State Commissioner for Health, Dr (Mrs.) Alti Chinme Zwando who are all of the female arm of the association.

Funded by the Christian missionaries of the Sudan United Mission (SUM), now Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN), as a Teacher Training Centre to provide high level training for the spiritual and educational development of the emerging Christian population in the area in 1934; the Centre became BSS, Gindiri in August 1950 and Girls High School (GHS), Gindiri, was added in 1958, under the leadership of W. M. Bristow.

Responding on behalf of the recipients, Minister for Water Resources minister, said, their alma mater has given them a lot, assuring that they will go back to the school. He said his ministry will hasten to complete the Mangu Regional Water Project which is located in Gindiri to address the water shortage plaguing the school

Among the eminent old students of the school are; the wife of the former Head of State, Mrs. Victoria Gowon, the first female Civil Engineer and former Head of Service of the Federation, Mrs. Ebele Okeke; first female Engineer in the entire Northern-Nigeria, Mrs. Mary Akuode, to mention a few.

Bogoro said the Awards Night was only the beginning of a bigger event coming up in November, when the association will roll out drums to celebrate its school's 60th anniversary.