Professor Vincent Idemyor Delivering lecture
Professor Vincent Idemyor, Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Professor Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, of 1976 set Government Comprehensive Secondary School Borikiri, Old Boys Association was the guest lecturer at the maiden legacy lecture series of Government Comprehensive Old Boys Association held at the serene environment of Government Comprehensive Secondary School Borikiri Port Harcourt, on Saturday January 25th, 2025.
The first edition of the legacy lecture had its topic ‘Bridging Health and Education: Pathway to Sustainable Development in a Climate Change’. The event witnessed the convergence of old boys of the school, present students and friends of the School.
In his opening remarks the Chairman of the occasion, Chief OCJ Okocha, SAN an old boy of the school said .“We have always loved to be identified as Comprehensive old boys. I thank the President of Comprehensive Old Boys Association (COBA) for instituting the lecture and the guest lecturer who is a distinguished academician.”
“I welcome everybody. It is an honour for all of us to remember we passed through the school. It is in secondary schools bonds are formed with people. The lecture will stimulate our intellectual appetite and enrich our knowledge” Okocha said.
The highly elated Guest Lecturer, Professor Vincent Idemyor during interview with journalists at the sideline of the event expressed gratitude to the national executive body of COBA for choosing him to anchor the maiden edition of the annual legacy lecture series.
“It’s an honour that they picked me to present the first legacy COBA lecture, I feel its an honor, and I thank them for that. I think it’s a responsibility on me to work with the executive to make sure this will continue”.
Professor Vincent Idemyor while expressing high level of nostalgia about his days in the school said ,”in my days in this school, we focused on several other things not just the academic aspect, leadership was involved. They trained us on how to be leaders not just how to pass exams. The school was built to showcase ethics in terms of the environment; how do you relate to the environment in terms of education,”he said.
In his lecture, amongst other topical issues; he harped on the economic state of Nigeria and the path of human development. He said “I89 million Nigerians are hungry. We are not doing well. One thing affecting us is the issue of drugs and substance abuse. We must have to suppress it. 20 to 25 million Nigerians are on substance. If alcohol content is included, it will be 45 million persons. It affects brain development, affect growth on the young ages. I think boarding school is necessary. Please students, abstain from alcohol, it is not good to your brain.
“Don’t do anything to jeopardize the growth of your brain. Intake of alcohol by underage persons is associated with brain damage and neurocognitive deficits with the implications for learning
“189 million Nigerians go to bed hungry everyday. It requires hard measures to stop poverty. There are many holidays in Nigeria. Anybody working should put in 2080 productive hours”.
“Don’t complain how terrible Nigeria is, we are all living here, we can change things”
“Health, mental, physical and social wellbeing are very important.
Health is a resource for everyday’s life. You cannot talk of health without nutrition. We were well fed in our days in boarding school in Comprehensive and our brains developed well. Brain stops developing at age of 25 years. Sports is part of brain development,”Prof Idemyor said.
Addressing Newsmen, the Co-Chairman of the occasion, Professor Joseph Ajienka, praised the event and its outcome. He advised other schools to borrow a leaf from theirs to give back to the society that built them.
“The first COBA legacy lecture is a novelty. We conceived it as an opportunity to give back to our school and we hope that other schools will also emulate it. There was a school that led foundation for us to excel in other professions in the society and we cannot let this school down. We need to give back to the school, encourage the people who are students now to know that this school has produced people. It’s an opportunity to give back to the school and help them to build their careers in such a way that the legacy of the school can be propagated,”he said.
Speaking to Journalists also the Chief host of the occasion, Idaimo Richard-Koko Esq, President Comprehensive Old Boys Association (COBA) promised that the lecture series shall be an annual event. He stressed that the event was the brain child of UNIPORT Chapter of COBA, which the National Executive took charge and executed.
“This is the first outing of the present Executive. Primarily this idea was conceived by COBA University of Port Harcourt Chapter, which came to the notice the national body of the association and we bought it wholeheartedly. It is a yearly event and this is the first in the lecture series. This is the maiden edition and it was quite successful,”Richard-Koko said.
He averred further that their association is all about knowledge sharing. According to him, COBA has knowledge in abundance in all fields of endeavors.
“COBA unlike politicians, we don’t have money to share, but we have knowledge in abundance and we are willing to share to the society at large. Knowledge out-lives every other thing . That was why we called the present students of the school to come and witness this event, because some day they will become old boys and they will continue this,”he explained.
The COBA President posited that the Old Boys Association has been part of the school’s programme and very supportive to the affairs of the school.
“The Old Boys Association has been around for a long while and usually have several programmes. We mentor the students, we expose them to lectures like this, and other things to equip them for the future. Anybody who is an old boy of Comprehensive is usually proud of the school, “he said.
The annual legacy lecture series serves as an opportunity for the Old Boys who have not seen each other physically for decades to come together, fraternize and crack jokes.
Amongst the dignitaries that graced the occasion were Professor Aaron Ojule, Hon. Justice Sobere Biambo, Mrs. Victoria Johnson, Principal Comprehensive Junior Secondary School, students of the School and father of the Guest Lecturer, Pa Idemyor.
