The Principal of King’s College, Lagos, Mr Isaac Kolawole, said the school had embarked on rehabilitation of its dilapidated infrastructure to provide enabling environment for academic excellence.

Mr Kolawole said this during the school’s 2018/2019 matriculation ceremony in Lagos on Saturday.

The principal explained that most of the school’s infrastructure were dilapidated adding that he felt “the need for an academic friendly especially for the JSS arm of the college.

“We run a dual campus which comprises the junior and senior. Giving these campuses the enabling environment that will enhance academic excellence was my target.

“We are giving priority attention to the junior campus, the reason being that if the foundation is strong, then, we can build on it.

“We are concentrating efforts on JSS1 now, next week, we are moving to JSS 2 to restore the school to its glory,” he said.

He listed the projects to include complete renovation of assembly hall, JSS1 classroom block, dinning hall extension, hostels and provision of furniture.

“Others included purchase of marker boards, repair of damaged bunks, purchase of grass slashers and others,” he said.

Mr Kolawole then appealed to the federal government to accord the institution a special status being a national monument by increasing its funding and renewing infrastructure.

“This is a heritage school, it is a national monument, it should be treated as a special unity college and be allocated more funds,” he said.

He appealed to the old boys to support the infrastructure renewal efforts to ensure that the school retained its place of pride and glory in the academia.

The principal commended the efforts of the Old Boys Association in restoring culture and values in the school.

He commended the ongoing construction of a five-storey hostel building in the main campus by the Parents-Teachers, describing it as “the most ambitious PTA project in any college in the country.”

Kashim Imam, President, Kings College Old Boys Association, lauded the efforts of the principal and pledged the support of the association for the infrastructure renewal.

“The principal has done very well, I have seen some of the physical infrastructure.

“The best thing that happened to me in life was the privilege of attending King’s College,” he said.

Mr Imam said the association would join hands with the school management in the massive rehabilitation of the facilities towards the 110th anniversary of the school.

He said that the old boys would attend to both infrastructure and “content” by way of training and retraining of teachers.

“The old boys are determined to restore the glory. King’s College used to be number one and would be number one forever,” he said.

The Managing Director, CitiBank Group in Nigeria, Mr Akin Dawodu, also an old boy and guest speaker at the occasion, said that the cultural diversity of the nation being fostered in the school was important to the future of the students.

Speaking on the topic “Hardwork and Determination; Panacea for Life Success,” he encouraged the students to be dedicated to the principles of hard work.

“Hardwork is the most important ingredient needed for success, determination is also important but it makes you work hard,” he said.

Mr Dawodu encouraged intellectual curiosity as well as hard work on social interactions among students to have social harmony.

He said that success was not restricted to academics but being good in other areas of life.

“Success is team work, take your opportunity to learn how to work with others along the hard work you put in,” he said.

He urged the students to uphold the legacy and build on the tradition of excellence in values and aspirations that established the school.

(NAN)