My name is Oladisun Ige, a member of the 1976 set of Igbomina Secondary Grammar School, Ajasse-Ipo, now Ajasse-Ipo Comprehensive High School. I joined this set in Form 3, in the third term of the 1973/74 academic session. Many people have asked me how did I find my way to Ajasse-Ipo, all the way from Lagos. Well, here is the story: My uncle, the late Engr Abiodun Coker was the Technical Director of the construction firm,T.A. Oni And Sons, which later morphed to Harboni Ltd. This firm was carrying out some road and bridge projects between Ajasse and Ilorin at the time, and my late uncle, being an acquaintance of the then Principal, Chief T.A Adesoye, decided, for reasons best known to him, to enroll me in the school. The rest, as they say, is history.

I have no regrets, for Ajasse-Ipo was nice to me.There I met many good people. I made good friends. I met peope whose friendship I trust and cherish, up to this day. Back then, we became attracted to each other, because in each other, we found ourseleves. If we look back the past forty-nine years, some of us will agree, that the times we spent together when we all had nothing, as Comrade Alamu Oladokun said during our last meeting at Oshogbo, were some of the best moments of our lives. It was at Ajasse that I realized that I didn’t have to spend all of my time on my studies, while neglecting my social skills. I studied hard, and I played and partied hard. I was in the school football team and we travelled to play some good football in many neighbouring schools, using Mr Fadipe’s Peugeot 404 pick-up van, as our school van. I also represented the school in some Radio and TV inter-school quiz programs.

We had some very good teachers. I will also be honest to say that we had some very bad ones too. One good teacher that stood out, among the others, was our Mathematics and Additional Mathematics teacher, Mr. Akin Ogundana. May God bless him wherever he is. He loved me, and I reciprocated his love by loving him back. He not only taught me Mathematics, he also brought me out of my shell, for me to take interest in diverse subjects, subjects that had no nexus with my ambition to become an engineer then. “Disun, don’t be narrow-minded!”, he would admonish me. He encouraged me to have an expansive world view. His voice still rings along the corridors of time till this day.. Mr Ogundana was a man with depth, and he understood complex issues. I give my unabashed salute to a teacher who cheerfully mentored me. My grateful thanks also to Chief T.A. Adesoye, through whose influence Mr Ogundana became our teacher.

I studied Civil Engineering at the University of Lagos and graduated in 1982. I went back to the same university four years later, after passing all my requisite professional examinations, to obtain a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering. Today, in addition to my private practice as a consulting engineer, I also double as a visiting lecturer in the university. I am a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers and a member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, (COREN) since 1986. I have represented the Nigerian Society of Engineers on many fronts. I was in the engineering team that carried out extensive structural survey in Lagos during the Bomb Blast of 27th January 2002 in Lagos. I was also nominated by the Nigerian Society of Engineers in 2003 as one of the team of engineers to train and certify some engineers working for Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, in Warri and PortHarcourt.

Good friends we had, and good friends we also lost. My heart goes out to our departed class mates who are no longer here with us on this terrestrial divide. May the grace of God abide with the families that they left behind.