BOOK REVIEW:  Nigeria’s First Secondary Grammar School

By Reuben Abati 

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Oladapo O. Fafowora (ed)., Felix Oluwayemi Kuye and Kabir Alabi Garba. Nisi Dominus Frustra: A History of the C. M. S. Grammar School, Lagos, (1859 – 2009). Lagos: Black Ivory Ltd., 2009, xii +240 pp.

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This book, edited by Ambassador Oladapo Fafowora, and written by two Nigerian journalists, Felix Kuye and Kabir Alabi Garba, co-authors previously of the biography of Pa Mac Alabi, a distiguished journalist and a legendary newspaperman, does precisely what it proclaims in its title: it offers a biography of the CMS Grammar School in Lagos, Nigeria’s first secondary grammar school. What is more remarkable in the account is the diligent manner in which the editor and the authors have used their subject as a platform for commenting on the personalities and institutions that helped to build the CMS Grammmar School, the impact of proprietorial and official policies on the education system, and the changing fortunes of the school system in Nigeria.

 The collaboration between Dr Fafowora and the two writers is well-advised. Fafowora, an alumnus of the school and a former President of the school’s alumni association, the Old Grammarians Society provides the insider knowledge and leads that may not be readily available to the journalists. The evidence of the collaboration is obvious in the number of interviews that the authors held with the editor. The product is a readable and informative account of the life and times of an educational institution, its achievements, as well as its travails.

 With a foreword by the Most Revd. Dr Adebola Ademowo, and a preface by the Rt Revd. Dr Peter Adebiyi, two of the current proprietors of the school, and an introduction by the editor, the book in eight chapters focusses on main landmarks in the history of the school, its founding and early years, its movement from its original site at Broad Street, Lagos to Odunlami street, its relocation from Odunlami to Bariga in 1958, the school’s emphasis on extracurricular activities, the take over of the school by the Lagos State Government, the return of the school to the Anglican diocese, the rehabilitation of the school by its Anglican owners, in addition to an appendix in which the authors provide fairly detailed profiles of some of the school’s distinguished alumni.

 This book has been published to mark the school’s 150th anniversary on June 6, 2009, and there is no doubt that there is a lot that is worth celebrating, even if the history of the CMS Grammar School is marked by an unbroken spell of success, truncated by government’s distruptive intrusion in 1979, and the efffort by the Anglican owners since 2001 to revive the school. Thus in the polarity of the story, after the fashion of all things human, the CMS Grammar School has had its ups and downs, its moments of failure and triumphs, and all of this is dutifully reported.

 In his foreword, Most Revd. Dr Adebola Ademowo, notes that “the history of CMS Grammar School, Nigeria’s oldest and foremost secondary institution undoubtedly has a lot to say and represent about the Nigerian nation.” The school was established on June 6, 1859 by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) with Rev Thomas Babington Macauley, father of the late nationalist Herbert Macaulay, and a notable cleric and educationist of his time, as founder and principal, the establishment of the school was part of the Missionary Society’s plan to develop a local educated elite which could help promote the Christian faith. 

 There were about four primary schools in Lagos around the period, but the products were not found to be well-trained enough to be appointed as clerks and priests, hence the decision to set up a secondary grammar school which could fill that gap. When the CMS Grammar School was founded in 1859, with the motto: Nisi Dominus Frustra (Without God, We Labour in Vain), Nigeria did not yet exist. It was not until 1861 that a colonial government was established with the declaration of Lagos as a colony, the British Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were not established until 1900, and it was in 1914, that Nigeria came into being with the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates.

 The establishment of the CMS Grammar School thus placed it at an important historical crossroads, it became the training ground for the earliest set of local Anglican priests and civil servants, and the source of inspiration for the establishment of more private schools. In 1909, the first state-owned secondary school, the King’s College was eventually established. The products of the CMS Grammar School filled an existing vacuum, they also formed the bulk of the emergent educated elite who ended up shaping “the future of Nigeria”.

 The tone of the book is generally celebratory and in this regard, the authors draw attention to the many stars in various fields of human endeavour that have been produced by the CMS Grammar School over the past 150 years. But this is also essentially a tribute to the vision of the school’s founding fathers, and the contribution of the Church Missionary Society to the development of education in Nigeria, the personal contributions and distinction of the many teachers and principals who helped to lay the foundation for the school and who invariably became the pioneers of the education system in the country. In Chapters Two and Three, the authors offer an account of the distinctive qualities of these pioneers including the Revd Thomas Babington Macaulay, Revd Isaac Oluwole, Revd Joseph Suberu Fanimokun, Canon E. J. Evans, The Rev (Dr.) J Olumide Lucas, Mr L. J. Lewis, Revd (later Bishop) Seth I. Kale, and The Revd. (later Ven.) B.A. Adelaja.

 The CMS Grammar School produced not only the first set of educated elite in Nigeria, it was also the first school to introduce the teaching of science at the secondary school level and so most of the first generation of Nigerian scientists are old Grammarians. A school is as good as its teachers and the quality of its products, but the teaching environment is also a function of space. In these pages, there is a special accent on the school owners’continuing search for an enabling environment that could best guarantee quality instruction. We are taken on a journey through space and history, as the school moved from one location to the other, from Cotton House in Marina to Odunlami street, to Bariga, and the seizure of part of its space through unfavourable official policy in 1979.

 In Chapter Four, the authors offer a brief insight into the school’s emphasis on extra-curricular activities and the achievements of some of the early students in sporting activities, as well as drama and music. The general picture that is painted is that of a school which in more than a hundred years had built a solid tradition and character defined by discipline, religious freedom and tolerance since the school admitted both Moslem and Christian students, academic excellence and a strategic relationship between church and society. It projects the significant role played by religious missions in the promotion of education and enlightenment, and ultimtely the making of the Nigerian nation. 

 In 1979, however, this was truncated, and the tone of the narration becomes dour, as the authors report the debilitating effect of the take over of privately-owned schools by the Lagos State Government and other states of the Federation as well. In Lagos, with Alhaji Lateef Jakande as Governor, the administration needed more space to accommodate a larger number of students within the school system, and to give political and practical effect to its free education policy. There were arguments also that the state had a responsibility to play a more prominent role in the education of Nigerian children.

 In other states, it was argued that some of the private school owners were more interetsed in profit and that standards had been compromised. In effect, in Lagos and elsewhere, private schools were taken over by the state governments, and in many instances, particularly in Lagos, no compensation was paid. But the more painful effect in the case of CMS Grammar School was the virtual destruction of the legacy and tradition that it had taken 120 years to build. As the authors put it:

“For the C.M. S Grammar School, that had established an enviable academic tradition for itself over a period of 120 years, the effect of its take over was tragic. The boarding house was closed, and the staff quarters were given out to staff of the Lagos State Government, including those who were not even teachers. Hoodlums from Bariga virtually took over the school premises. The physical structures in the school became dilapidated without the government taking any care for its rehabilitation. In the ensuing years that the school was managed by the Lagos state government, not a single structure was added to the school. Now compelled to run five streams instead of two, academic standards in the school fell sharply. Both the staff and students were demoralized by this development.” (p.152)

The same could be said of other schools across the coutnry that were taken over and eventually mismanaged by government. The nostalgia that the foregoing passage compels is a sentiment that is shared by all old students of once successful schools that have been run aground due to the inefficiency of government, and the growth of amorality in society. The result is the near-collapse of the education sector in Nigeria at all levels, with the public school system totally prostrate and privileged parents having to send their children to schools abroad in a desperate search for value. There is an indication here of the kind of positive role that can be played by alumni associations in insisting on the maintenance of standards, and in restoration activities, and we are confronted with details of the spirited efforts made by Old Grammarians to preserve the integrity of the school that nurtured them.

 The authors do not have much to celebrate in the years of the take-over by the Lagos state Government. They are silent about the products of the period and whether or not between 1979 and 2001, the school in spite of the encroaching rot still managed to produce anyone of note in any field of endeavour. A graphic statistical comparison would probably have been useful, but even as it is, the much younger generation of alumni, since 1979, is most likely to feel overlooked in this narration.

 In 2001, the Lagos State Government under the leadership of Asiwaju Bola A Ahmed Tinubu, with the approval of the state legislature decided to return all mission schools to their original owners. The challenge that this poses is the rehabilitation of the already battered schools, and how to secure enough funding for restoration and renewal. On pages 176 -177, the authors make a spirited appeal for the setting up of a Foundation as the best means of ensuring quality funding for the CMS Grammar School in the face of inadequate government subvention and the over-stretched financial resources of the Anglican Mission, the owners of the school.

 What is not stated is that it is the entire education system in Nigeria that is in need of widesperad reform and an overhaul. Much of the failure in aspects of Nigerian life in the past 30 years can be traced to the failure of the country’s education system and the consistent production of a generation of poorly trained secondary school and university graduates who lack the capacity to excel. Within 50 years of its founding, ten products of the C.M. S Grammar School sat for and passed the London Cambridge, and eight of those who applied to the University of London performed so brilliantly they did not have to sit for the London Matriculation. Today, even Nigerian universities insist that products of Nigerian secondary schools and who have passed the Matriculation Examination must sit for another exam before they can be considered for admission. The universities in introducing what is popularly known as the post-UME did not mince words in declaring that the secondary school system in Nigeria has failed.

 The story of C.M.S Grammar School is certainly the story of every other school in Nigeria in the last 100 years. Readers of this book will find in it the story of their own schools, and a reminder of much that has gone wrong with the Nigerian school system. The authors celebrate old teachers and students of the CMS Grammar School, today, school teachers are distracted and unhappy, they are owed salaries for months, the students belong to cults, and are just as distracted, the only means of escape is offered by private schools which charge such high fees that they can be accessed only by rich families and their privileged children.

 The social cost of this widening disparity in access to quality education in Nigeria has implications for peace and social stability in the immediate future. Religious missions, both Christian and Moslem which are interested in investing in the education sector and whose objectives are mainly non-profit should be encouraged to provide new directions in order to raise standards and restore lost glory. Wider opportunities should also be created for the establishment of private schools to expand the available scope of choice but more importantly, government has an urgent duty to strengthen the various schools that are still under its care at all levels, while re-instituting an effective regulatory framework for school supervision. It is a notorious point that the provision of quality education is central to national progress and competitiveness.

 Old students and teachers of the C.M.S Grammar School as well as their descendants will enjoy reading this book, historians, biographers, and other researchers interested in the history of education in Nigeria will find it useful. The list of the school’s star pupils is so long, it covers some of the most eminent personalities in Nigerian history, society and the professions, including Mr Akintola Williams, Chief Frederick Rotimi Alade Williams, Dr Henry Carr, Herbert Macaulay, Otunba TOS Benson, Chief Folarin Coker, Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, Bala Miller, Professor Ayodele Awojobi, T. K. E. Phillips, Chief G.O.K Ajayi, Major General Henry Adefowope, Prince Tanimose Bankole Oki, Mr S. O. Wey, Mr Ola Vincent, Professor Babs Fafunwa, Chief Ernest Shonekan, Rt. Rev. George Bako, Chief Ayo Adebanjo and so on.

 It is truly a distinguished society of Old Grammarians, a clear reminder of the ennobling role of education in society, and of the urgent need to restore the old glory of not just CMS Grammar School but of the entire education system in Nigeria. Without any doubt, the publication of this book, sponsored by the school’s alumni, 73/74/75 set, is a worthy initiative. It is recommended for general reading.

Robot  # 1 | 30.06.2009 05:10

://www.nigerialinks.com/images/books/CMS.BOOK REVIEW: Nigeria’s First Secondary Grammar School ByReuben Abati ______________________________ ______________________________ Oladapo O. Fafowora (ed)., Felix Oluwayemi Kuye and Kabir Alabi Garba.Nisi Dominus Frustra: A History of the C. M. S. Grammar School, Lagos, (1859 – 2009).Lagos: Black Ivory Ltd., 2009,xii +240 pp. ______________________________ ______________________________ This book, edited by Ambassador Oladapo Fafowora, and written by two Nigerian journalists, Felix Kuye and Kabir Alabi Garba, co-authors previously of the biography of Pa Mac Alabi, a distiguished journalist and a legendary newspaperman, does precisely what it proclaims in its title: it offers a biography of the CMS Grammar School in Lagos, Nigeria’s first sec...Read the full article.