By Simeon OSAJIE
All is set as Benin branch of the St. Patrick’s College Asaba Old Boy’s Association play host to this year Annual National Convention/Feast Day celebration slated from 16th, 17th to 18th March, 2026.
Speaking on the activities line up for this year Convention, the President General of the Association, Barr. Tony Odiadi disclosed that the Convention starts on the 16th of March, with a Gala Nite and Convention Lecture while on the 17th will addresses state of affairs of the school’s Alma Mater; SPCOBA, Keynote Address on a topic – Managing Communal Security in a Challenging Environment to be addressed by Vice Admiral Dele Ezeobi, Awards of Excellence to Distinguished Almni etc.
According to him, “We are here in Benin now to sensitize our members with regards to our planned National Convention. We are also engaging with our very old members and some of our members of the Board of Trustees (BoT). The Chairman of our Board of Trustees is His Royal Highness, Professor Gregory Akinzua.
He added that the Convention has a number of invited guests and visit to His Excellency, the Governor of Edo Sate, Senator Monday Okpebholo by the Exco.
We have been with him. We’ve also met our distinguished old boy, former Governor of Edo State, His Excellency John Odige Oyegun. Our members in the Mini-Branch, we’ve been together with them and we’ve gone around.
“The Gala Night will also include a convention lecture, which will be delivered by one of our old boys. And the topic will have to do with managing schools through a charter system.
“Managing schools through a charter system in which the old boys and alumni associations will play key roles because of value enhancement, value promotion in this generation of students and promotion of excellence. Academic excellence, moral excellence and what have you. The other aspects of our program will continue on the 17th, which is also our feast day, the Feast of St. Patrick’s.
“We also treat it as our Founders’ Day. On that day, we’ll start with the Thanksgiving Mass, followed by keynote addresses by the Chairman of the Organizing Committee and then our Board of Trustees Chairman, Professor Akenzua, who will be the chairperson of the event. Then we’re going to have a keynote address from the former Chief of Nava Staff, Vice-Admiral Dele Zorba, who will deliver a lecture, as it were, on communal security in the time of challenges.
“You know, so we have security issues in the country, communal security, how do people protect themselves, in the family, in the community and the nation at large. So when we do that, the next, we’ll have some award events. Then we’ll now have some discussions about how to promote development of our school.
“What we need to do to the school. There are some ongoing projects which we have in the school, which we are going to make sure that the projects get to completion and then we’ll do the new projects. We have some members of our old boys who are committed to helping us in those regards. So we’ll be talking to everybody.”
Going further, the President General of the Association added: “One of the key things that will come out of this convention is our brochure, which will promote some of our members.
“It will be an opportunity for our old boys to meet one another. The reason why we’ve taken Benin this time around is that Benin City is the cradle of our association, our old boys’ association, called the SPCOBA.
“We’re galvanizing our members. Our branches are in Port Harcourt, Asaba, Abuja, Lagos and here in Benin.
“So we’re expecting to have delegates who will come from all these places and some will come from abroad. Because we have a vibrant, lively membership in the USA, in the UK and elsewhere in Africa.”