We spent N12m on UNILAG medical college hostel —Alumni

FORMER students of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Akoka, have refurbished the female wing of the college’s hostel 20 years after graduating from the institution.

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They gave the hostel, located within the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) complex, Idi-Araba, a new good look by fixing electrical, kitchenette, toilet and bathrooms problems hitherto confronting the residents of the hostel.

It cost the group (class of 1998 and known as ‘The Lion Hearts’) about N12 million.

The president of the set, Dr Olubunmi JohnJo, stated recently this in a conversation with Tribune Education at the re-inauguration of the facilities and the reunion symposium held at the college to mark the 20th anniversary of the set.

The former medical director of LUTH, Professor Akin Osibogun; chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, LUTH, Dr Olufemi Fasanmade; executive manager, Society for Quality in Healthcare in Nigeria, Dr Olawumi Oluborode, and Doctor Olakunle Oladehin, among others, attended the symposium, entitled ‘Health System Improvement: Achieving Universal Health Coverage’.

Speaking further, JohnJo said his mates from across the globe believe in giving back to the college that produced them to become somebody in life, hence their coming together to refurbish the dilapidated hostels for the comfort of occupants.

He explained that their belief is that no government anywhere in the world could all alone provide quantitative and quality education, including 21st century accommodation facilities for its citizens and that was why they pooled resources for the purpose.

“And we will continue to help the college in anyway possible,” he promised.

The United Kingdom-based medical doctor, however, noted that though majority of them met physically again for the first time at the reunion forum after parting 20 years ago, they are connected to one another through alumni network.

Appreciating the alumni gesture, the provost and alumnus of the college, Professor Folusho Lesi, said the new hostel environment would not only ease the hitherto living challenges there, but would also enhance learning and performance of students in class.

He disclosed that various alumni sets of the college had been engaging in one philanthropic activity or another, including offering of scholarship to indigent but brilliant students in the college, and urged them not to rest on their oars as a way of complementing government efforts.