Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
I consider it an honour and indeed a great privilege to have been given the opportunity; a unanimous nomination and election to lead this prestigious Association out of the many illustrious and highly accomplished products of our great Institution.
Let me start by acknowledging our own Electoral Committee for doing an exceptionally brilliant job of executing our first ever election using an electronic voting system! A feat I believe our nation’s electoral body (INEC) can learn a thing or two from.
The election has come and gone, and now is the period for us to face the real task of moving our Alumni Association to a higher level of performance. The challenge facing us as a body is daunting but not unsurmountable and I intend to, along with my team, frontally tackle them, for that is the only way we can truly be deserving of your sacred mandate. GSSAE has a unique identity of being a premier Institution in this part of the country and I shall not fail to uphold the noble objectives of this Association in this regard.
Having all been key beneficiaries of the greatness of GSSAE, it should be our endeavour to continue to give back, out of the abundance that this prestigious Institution has given us, in a way that will reinforce our impact and relevance to this Institution as we work to restore the greatness of our School.
In my introductory note while accepting the nomination for this election, I listed out five (5) broad priority areas my team and Iintend to focus on. I will re-cap them here:
1. Expanded/enhanced mentorship, sponsorship and scholarship programme for students.
2. Infrastructural intervention (library and laboratory supplies/equipment support).
3. Welfare programs for all members – health, death and funeral insurance scheme
4. Completion and official launch of a robust Alumni website
5. Sustained Membership base expansion.
We have commenced work on fleshing out these priority areas and will share with you in the coming days a comprehensive implementation package.
Those of you who have had the opportunity of touring the premises of the School would have noticed that the level of decay of the School’s infrastructure is overwhelming in spite of recent intervention works.
This tour has reinforced the need for us collaborate strongly with the state government for urgent intervention and to network closely with our friends in the corporate world and donor organizations for assistance. What is obvious to us is that, our current system of funding this Association is not sustainable, if we are going to comfortably achieve and maintain our agendas, we must begin to think strategically about a sort of self-sustaining initiative. We must begin to think now!
In pursuant of these noble objectives, our mission is to make our modest contribution to restore and preserve the greatness of our great institution. This should be our solemn pledge. It is the very least we can do for this great institution that has given us first, an exceptional education, and then the privilege of being part of a family that others envy.
For those of us who have done well for themselves; let us further exemplify in our character the value of generosity and kindness that should remind us that when we are successful, we should look back with a reaching arm and pull up our brothers and sisters.
I would like to thank the outgoing President, Rt. Honourable David Lawrence, for his leadership over these past years. I would also like to similarly thank the out-going EXCOM that worked with him for their services to the Association for leaving very positive footprints in our journey thus far.
Thank you and look forward to working with you all.
ANIEKAN BASSEY WILLIE/’83
PRESIDENT, GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOL AFAHA EKET ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
JULY 27, 2019
