AGSIOBA raises alarm over encroachment on alma mater’s land

The leadership and members of the Anglican Grammar School Igarra Old Boys Association (AGSIOBA), Igarra, in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, have raised the alarm over encroachment on the school’s land.

The association called on the state government to urgently intervene to recover the land and erect a perimeter fence around the school.

The president of the Benin branch of the association, Mr Titus Okuo, raised the alarm in Benin City, on Monday, at the association’s pre-70th anniversary dinner held in the state capital.

Okuo, who lamented that the association wrote to the government on December 3, 2025, about the dilapidated state of infrastructure in the school without receiving any response, pleaded that the legacy of the school, which has produced many prominent Nigerians, must not be allowed to die.

Recalling the glorious heritage and trajectory of the school, he said: “In the early 1970s, the state government took over all the missionary schools, including our alma mater. Sadly, the government allowed the school to deteriorate, and it is now a shell of its old self.

“There is no adequate teaching staff; the boarding facilities were scrapped, and land grabbers have encroached on and developed parts of the school land. They continue to encroach as if there are no owners of the property.

“We appeal to the governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, to urgently reclaim the land and construct a perimeter fence around the school to stem the tide of encroachment.

READ ALSO: Customs ‘killing’ haulage industry with indiscriminate seizure of trucks — AMATO

“We will be calling on you all to come and celebrate with us at the 70th anniversary and to join hands with us, the old boys, to rescue Anglican Grammar School Igarra from going into extinction.”

Corroborating Okuo’s statement, an elder in the association, Prince M. M. Ogedengbe, said the school remains the second-oldest Anglican secondary school in the old Midwestern Region, now Edo and Delta states.

In his remarks, the Secretary of the association, Martins Agomini, called on the government to properly implement and fund the current Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme, which, he said, emphasised the importance of accurately determining the ages of schoolchildren.