By Etop Ekanem

Universal White Hall Schools, Fagba, Lagos recently held its 18th annual dinner/award ceremony with the theme, “The beginning of a New Crest 2021” at Abule Egba, Lagos during which 65 students were sent forth.

Speaking at the event, Managing Director of the school, Alexander Ogedengbe, while appreciating parents and guardians for entrusting their children to the school’s care, said: “For us to be able to educate them, what we promised was that we were going to return the children better than they came and we have achieved that.”

He beseeched the students to put into proper use all they have learned while in school “now they were going outside the confines of the school.”

He advised the students to put on a good attitude, which is capable of opening doors for them.

He said: “The doors that your skills cannot open, your attitude would open them easily. Ensure that you are educated by going to school more. In other words, make sure you have university education and in a good university.”

He promised to make himself available always for any student that has the need to consult him for counselling that will put him/her in the right path, adding: “Ensure that you are prosperous in future. Do everything to ensure that you are prosperous but not in an illegal or devilish way. Task your head to ensure that you are rich. Learn how to make money rightly.”

Most importantly, he advised the graduands to know God, adding: “Physical and mental strength will fail you one day but there is only one thing that will not fail you, which is spiritual strength.”

Also speaking, High Commissioner of Namibia to Nigeria, Humphrey Gelseb, congratulated the graduating students, noting, “When we were here a year before last, there were different people in your seat and today they are not here. That shows that a person can only graduate once at this level. There is no way you can graduate this year and then graduate next year again.”

He, therefore, said the students should not take for granted their graduation as it was very significant.

He said: “With respect to the proprietor, I really want to thank you for allowing our children from Namibia to attend school here. It is not easy when you have close to 200 million people in Nigeria and we know that your slots in WAEC and higher institutions are highly sought after yet you still accommodate Namibian students in your school. I really thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of their parents for giving them this education. It really means a lot to these parents.”

He commended the students for the hard work and the extra miles they went to ensure that they did well in their academic works and also graduated in a grand style.

He said: “When we gathered here a year before last, it was a different era and today too it is a completely a changed world because of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

“Many of us in Namibia have lost many relatives. We have lost close to 3,200 people and it is really a difficult time for our country. We are trying to get together resources to buy a lot of vaccines to ensure that plenty of people get to take the vaccines. So it is really a difficult year not only for Namibia but also for Nigeria and other parts of the world. We all need to combat this pandemic and make sure that our people are safe.

“So in the midst of all the pandemic, it is really noble that the school authority has put extra efforts to make sure that the graduating students had a fulfilling graduation ceremony.”

A parent, Mrs. Chukwurah Carol, whospoke on the topic, “Five Guidelines to Living a Successful and Happy Life,” said: “Most times we are so much carried away with the excitement, the aspiration and everything that we forget about the reality of life.

“The real life out there is much more different from what you have seen as students in the past 11 or 14 years of your lives because you have been in the close watch of your parents, your teachers, guardians and everybody. But you know what, freedom is what we all crave for and we do anything to get it but you must know that freedom comes with its price. The reality is that if you are not ready for freedom and you don’t watch the things you do, the same freedom will destroy you.”

Speaking on the theme for the graduation, “The beginning of a New Crest 2021,” Senior Pastor, Royal Seed Christian Centre, Remi Agbabiaka, said: “I would like to recapture the theme to something you will probably remember more, which is “Souring Higher” because what we are trying to tell you through the theme is that, it will get to a level where you would be expected to move to a greater height, which equally means souring higher.”

Addressing the graduands, Agbabiaka, who also prayed earnestly for the students to succeed in their future lives, said: “It is important to know that life does not often go the way we plan but the school wants you to be the best and they have prepared you to be the best in life.

“The school wants you to get prepared for a new journey to a new height. But life is not going to be easy. If you want it to be easy, you are the one that will make the choice.

“You don’t need to over celebrate your current level. If you do, you may begin to step into failure. Don’t see yourselves as having started at all. See yourselves as you are just at the beginning. That is the meaning of the “The beginning of a New Crest 2021,” so that you can prepare properly for the next level of your life.”