The erstwhile young girls educated at Baptist Girls School, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta are the mothers of the Nigerian nation writ large. It was in the year 1909 that an inspired British woman named Mrs. Carrie Green Lumbley, who was married to an American missionary, decided to set up the school initially in Ijaiye. The Baptist Girls School had earlier been opened in the Oyo area in 1902 but had to close shop in 1909.
The new school set up by Mrs. Lumbley started out with the admission of just four girls in 1910. The school’s intent was to train helpmates for domestic chores such as laundry, housewifery, cooking, etc. The education was based on what was then known as The Three R’s, to wit, Reading, ‘Riting, Rithmetic.
On October 10, 1924, Sir High Clifford, the then Governor of Nigeria formally opened the new site at Idi-Aba, where the community remarkably referred to the students as Omo-Ogba, which can be translated to girls within a sheltered environment. For a school to be launched forth by the very Governor of Nigeria clearly showed that Idi-Aba started out as a pacesetter, primus inter pares! There is always the exclamation of this acronym of wonderment: “Omo Idi-Aba ni – No wonder!” That is, excellence comes naturally to Idi-Aba ladies – in school and out of school.
In the setting-up of the school, the pivotal role of the then King of Abeokuta, Sir Oladapo Ademola has to be extolled because Idi-Aba was situated near the king’s vacation resort. In the words of the Introduction of this book, “Idi-Aba is in a special reserved location, which is part of the land he (the king) allocated to the missionaries for the school. He sent his children to our school as well and he was very receptive of Christianity. The King’s generosity is the reason for the massive land grant Idi-Aba was built on, so many acres of green land!” Idi-Aba, which literally means “under the araba tree”, in short, spells royalty! Little wonder it has now produced a soaring sorority!
Idi-Aba: Down Memory Lane, a book of 10 chapters is more than a compilation of the experiences and testimonies of old students of Idi-Aba. It is a landmark treatise documenting the epochal roles of missionaries from the Southern Baptist Convention of the United States of America who made indelible footprints in the sands of time at Idi-Aba, notably: Mrs Carrie Green Lumbley, Ms May Perry, Ms Clara Keith, Ms Susan Anderson, Ms Gardener, Dr Elizabeth Truly, Ms E Brooks, Ms Lide, Ms Knight, Ms Bach, and Ms Marie (Polly) Van Lear who wrote the Foreword. The pioneer Nigerian teachers at Idi-Aba equally played profound roles as exemplified by Chief James Olaniyan Fagbemi, the Rev T. A. Adejumobi, Mr J. A. Ojo, and the remarkable husband-and-wife duo of Mr and Mrs F. O. Omikunle.
In producing Idi-Aba: Down Memory Lane, Oyeronke Alake (nee Durojaiye) Olawoyin has through the apt application of knowledge, made sure that Nigeria and the world at large can enjoy a treasure-trove of industry and learning.
In his book, Dr. J. T. Ayorinde, A Study in the Growth of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, Deacon L. A. Adedoyin quotes the founder of Idi-Aba, Mrs. Carrie Lumbley, as saying: “I feel this is one of the most important branches of our work. Our workers need wives who can assist them in their work and I feel God has given me this work to do.”
Idi-Aba grew in leaps and bounds over the years as generations of Old Students proved loyal to Mrs Lumbley and her supporting cast of founders, but there is this regret: “Regrettably, within a few years of the government takeover of educational institutions, things changed. Because of neglect and lack of the proper maintenance, which made Idi-Aba what it was before, a citadel of sound moral and religious education for women, the school witnessed a remarkable decline in all aspects. Old Girls who paid return visits to the school saw physically dilapidated buildings, broken walls and soggy premises. It was hard to believe they were seeing the same school they used to know. The appearance was depressing.”
Even so, the redoubtable Old Girls of Idi-Aba are poised towards restoration. In the old days, the founding missionaries needed sun helmets to save them from the hot rays of the African sun and, of course, a regular supply of quinine tablets to save them from the white man’s nemesis known as malaria. In this modern age, the Old Girls of Idi-Aba can count on the survivalist spirit of the founding missionaries who dared all odds to stand them in good stead to equally fight against all obstacles to march their beloved alma mater forward.
Chapter Five of the book, entitled “Mission Work in Pictures”, contains very rare photographs to help inspirit the cause.
Chapter Nine, entitled: “What Idi-Aba Means to Me,” is the meat of the book in which the experiences and testimonies of the Old Girls and even their daughters hold sway. Some found Christ through Idi-Aba but, generally, the word is out about the discipline, morality, integrity, etc. imbued by the great school. There is this recall of the esteemed teacher, Miss Susan Anderson’s story of a very rich American miser who on his death-bed decided to swallow the key to his safe so that his children cannot get to his money. The children eventually opened the dead miser’s mouth and found a shining object, which turned out to be the key of the safe. The children opened the safe, shared the money, and then one of them decided to put a cent on their dead father’s palm only for the coin to drop on the floor. Then the child told his dead father: “Daddy, look, you can’t even take one cent to Heaven!” What a timeless parable!
In producing Idi-Aba: Down Memory Lane, Oyeronke Alake (nee Durojaiye) Olawoyin has through the apt application of knowledge, made sure that Nigeria and the world at large can enjoy a treasure-trove of industry and learning.
Uzor Maxim Uzoatu is a renowned poet, journalist and author.
Ayodelé is a Lagos-based journalist and the Content and Editorial Coordinator at Meiza. All around the megacity, I am steering diverse lifestyle magazine audiences with ingenious hacks and insights that spur fast, informed decisions in their busy lives.
