2023 PRINCIPAL ADDRESS AT VALEDICTORY AND PRIZE GIVING
AN ADDRESS BY THE PRINCIPAL OF DAME IRENE OKWUOSA MEMORIAL CONVENT, ORAIFITE, DR. JOY CHINWE NDEFO AT THE 3RD GRADUATION /PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY HELD AT THE CONVENT ON SATURDAY, 29TH JULY, 2023.
Protocol,
I am greatly delighted and glad to stand before you today. My profound gratitude and thanks goes to the Almighty God for giving us the privilege to be alive to witness the 3rd Graduation and Prize-Giving Ceremony holding today at Dame Irene Okwuosa Memorial Convent, Oraifite. I warmly welcome you all to this august gathering designed to honour our SS3 gradaunds, whom the Convent has groomed for six years and also to recognise students who have excelled in different aspects of the school curriculum.
All over the world, education is a powerful instrument of change and for promoting individual and societal development. The National Policy on Education defines the role of Nigerian child in nation building. It expects the Nigerian child to obtain functional education, which prepares an individual to acquire knowledge, occupational skills, competencies, values and the logic to be able to perform tasks effectively and contribute positively to the development of his/her society. By so doing, the Nigerian child will be able to chart a meaningful path for usefulness, self-reliance, application of acquired skills and contribution to societal growth and development.
Also, the society currently acknowledges the importance of educating the girl-child. The gains of girl-child education ranges from promotion of gender equality and children’s/ women’s health through prevention of child marriage to engendering right decision-making, empowerment and effective participation in building, strengthening, stabilising and advancing economies. Education of a girl-child in a Convent not only enables her to attain functional education but exposes her to firm moral, spiritual and disciplinary conducts that engender strong and polished personality.
DIOMeCO is structured to enhance functional education, which is the epitome of the National Policy on Education. The Convent lays emphasis on practical and intellectual work, moral principles, values and spirituality in guiding her students to develop their potentials and move towards relevance and self reliance. The Chosen and Shot Arrows are taught to imbibe such virtues as hard work, diligence, honesty, respect, dignity of labour, selfless service, creativity and others.
We are gathered here today to thank the Almighty God for His goodness and mercies towards this institution, especially in the past one year. We are here to bid farewell to our Chosen and Short Arrows who painstakingly completed their course in this institution. Our joy is full and overflowing due to many reasons. God did not allow the wicked to snatch any one of them from us. As a matter of fact, he tried but the Almighty God shielded us. These students studied, conducted themselves very well and maintained the Convent’s culture of zero tolerance to examination malpractice during their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and National Examination Council Senior School Certificate Examination (NECO SSCE).
We are also here to acknowledge and encourage students who have performed very well in the subjects and some identified co-curricular activities within and outside the Convent. We are happy that today, the Convent will be distributing over 370 prizes to students from JSS One to SS three. Some of them will be tokens in recognition of the recipients’ outstanding performances at external quiz competitions, thereby bringing the Convent to the limelight and projecting her image. For instance, the Convent emerged:
as the Second Best at the Senator Dr Ifeanyi Uba’s Quiz Competition for Senior Schools in Ekwusigo LGA on 11th March, 2023. We received two Desk-Top Computers, two standing fans, a science kit and a Gold Certificate. Four Students that represented the Convent received one standing fan each. One had a Gold Certificate, two had Silver and one had Bronze.
as the Champion of the Season Five Blaze FM Quiz Competition for Junior Schools, covering 38 Secondary Schools on 8th April, 2023. As part of the prize, the Convent was invited to join in anchoring the Radio programmes from 5.30am to 3.00pm on 27th May, 2023, being the Children’s Day.
as the third best in the Junior Category for Nnewi Zone at the Dr Chinedu Umeadi Foundation’s Science Quiz Competition, held at Awka on 16th May, 2023.
as sixth in the Senior Debate and sixth in the Junior Quiz at the Authority FM Senior Schools’ Debate and Junior Schools’ Quiz Competitions held on 27th May, 2023.
as 2nd (in Arts), 3rd (in Science) and 4th (in the Junior Category) in the Diocesan Level Quiz Competition held on 7th July, 2023 at Nnewi.
We deeply appreciate these students and the teachers who prepared them for their determination, serious preparations and participation at all the events and we pray for more opportunities and favours in future. We encourage those who are not fortunate to win prizes this Session to work very hard in the coming Session. Parents should please encourage their children and wards to take seriously the Convent’s extra- curricular activities, because they are avenues for discovery and development of talents. Most importantly, we plead with this august gathering to further encourage these prize winners and ambassadors through gifts and prizes.
To you, our out-going students I say a big congratulations to you for your attainment thus far. In the course of cultivating you to fit into the society and in realisation that your success is part of our success and your failure part of our failure, we established relationships and interacted in diverse ways with you. We taught, praised, counseled, scolded and punished you. We did these not because we hated you but because we love you and have the responsibility to guide and direct you rightly and modify your unhealthy and unacceptable behaviours and tendencies, to enable you to fit profitably into the society.
You have been exposed to intellectual, entrepreneurial, leadership and outside the Convent exercises, in both theory and practice. Therefore, it is our sincere hope that these knowledge, skills, values and experiences will strengthen, motivate and sustain you in being good and responsible ambassadors of your alma mater and communities, where ever you find yourselves after leaving this school. As the leaders of tomorrow’s society you are the hopes of this great school and your families. Hence, you cannot afford to fail.
It will be our great delight and utmost pride to hear good news from you in the nearest future. So, Today, as you are being sent forth to the world, we pray that as Chosen and Shot Arrows, you should go forth to meet your targets in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Some of your parting words are very encouraging. They indicate that you gained substantially from your formation in this institution. So, I solicit that you keep in touch with the Convent and contribute to her speedy growth, no matter how small. Get connected with your mates and predecessors. Never Forget Your Root (NFYR), which is the origin of your inspiration and nurturing. Always reflect on the experiences you had in this great citadel of learning and keep soaring. Never make your education end here. Seek education to the highest level and make positive differences in life. Be disciplined, honest, hard-working, responsible and morally upright. Fear God and let your spirituality glow in and outside of you, in words, thoughts and deeds. Be prayerful and let your lifestyles draw people to Christ. Choose your friends carefully and wisely. Shun negative influences or peer pressures. Uphold always the good name of the school and your homes.
You all are individually unique and we will miss you dearly. Notwithstanding, we are happy that you are leaving us to proceed to the next level of your academic and life pursuits, in order to fulfill your dreams. Therefore, Dame Irene Okwuosa Memorial Convent, Oraifite sends you forth into the world with prayers for God’s guidance and protection as you aspire and work diligently to make differences in life.
At this juncture, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, please permit me to publicly acknowledge and express our deep appreciation to our indefatigable father, proprietor and Bishop of the Diocese of Nnewi (Anglican Communion), Rt. Rev. Ndubuisi Obi and our Golden Mother, Mrs Ukamaka Zipporah Obi. They are loving parents with great passion for the proper upbringing of the girl-child. We are overwhelmed and do not have the right words to thank our father and Lord Bishop. In nurturing us, he has been a passionate, tender-hearted but firm and an understanding father. We thank him most especially for understanding our plights and encouraging us always. This Session, he excluded us from some of the tasks given to our sister and brother schools. He squeezed out time out of his very tight schedules to personally stand, mobilise and intervene on our behalf by recruiting, posting and seconding qualified church workers to us and also in
sending a very high level Delegation and personally visiting our sick student during our trial period. These are very uncommon gestures and we pray God Almighty to continue to uphold our Lord Bishop, enrich and bring to realities his visions for his calling, especially for the Diocese of Nnewi and humanity in general.
We thank our Golden Mother, Mama Nnewi for her keen interest in our health and sanitation. Today, we have an almost complete kitchen and a well constructed incinerator, due to her motherly and painstaking attention to details. She visits us personally and through delegations and feeds us with physical and spiritual food each time. In fact, during the 2021/2022 Confirmation, Enrolment/Graduation and Prize-Giving Ceremony, our parents in the Lord give the Convent 350 loaves of Lovebite Bread, which was sufficient for all the students and staff. Also, at a time when it was almost impossible to buy anything from the market, our priceless mother celebrated the Mothering Sunday for us and ensured that there were laughter, joy and good memories, despite the extreme financial difficulties at that time.
Our Benefactor Engr. Dr. Emeka Okwuosa (KSC, CON) is an indispensible pillar of this Convent. He, his brothers – Dr Chinno, Hon. Sir Azuka and Ven. Barr. Amaechi and their entire families have laudable plans for this institution. Our Benefactor shares similar vision with our Proprietor, the lord Bishop, on the ideal arrangements for education of future leaders and most especially the education of the girl-child. He is very affirmative on his promise to build an ultra modern hostel for the Convent, in order to increase its carrying capacity. Through Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation, our Benefactor projects the image of the Convent and gives the girls opportunities for community services in health matters during the Foundation’s medical outreaches. The Benefactor, personally and through his Foundation watches over us, protects and defends us during external aggressions. The Foundation’s Directors, the General Manager and other staff are very friendly, caring and proactively disposed to our wellbeing. They visit the Convent on regular basis to check on our welfare and attend our programmes. During the 2021/2022 Academic Session, The Foundation reconstructed all the Convent’s Bill Boards located at four strategic locations in Nnewi and Oraifite. It consistently gives incentives to staff and scholarships to deserving students. At the end of Session Prize-Giving Ceremony, it supplemented the cost of hosting the event and distributed the sum of N5.1million to students, covering 335 prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions in all the subjects offered in the Convent. As soon as the students vacated the Convent on holidays, the Foundation moved in and renovated our hostel and equipped it with modern and state of the art facilities, thereby giving us an international image. This Academic Session, our Bill Board screens were replaced and our fence plastered, designed and painted. For today’s event, the Foundation supplemented our bills, mobilised for our VIPs and widely publicised the event. Our hopes are very high in expectation of what our benevolent father will unveil as prizes and incentives for the Convent, students and staff. We continue to pray God Almighty to grant our Benefactor joy, fulfillment and satisfaction in his strive to lift up DIOMeCO and in his service to humanity.
We are indebted to the present and past members of the Board of Governors, ably led by a very humane, astute and experienced school administrator, counselor and spiritual father, Ven. Dr. Charles Nnaemeka for their unalloyed support and commitment to proper translation of the Diocesan Education Policy into realities. We deeply appreciate the Chairman for his fatherly concerns, availability despite his tight schedules, counsels, encouragement and deliberate personal mobilisations and interventions on behalf of the Convent during our crisis in this Session. We pray the Almighty God to bless and reward him and the others for their sacrifices and labours of love for the good of the Convent and humanity.
We appreciate the friends and well wishers of the convent, other good-spirited individuals and organisations, especially those that partner with the Diocese and assist the Convent in her developmental strides. We are still indebted to Engr. Paul Erinne (Ugogbe Anaedo), who from 2019 to 2022 made good his promise by paying for the full scholarship he awarded to five (5) students of this Convent. They have all graduated and some of them are already in tertiary institutions, thanks to his godly intervention. We deeply appreciate Chief Dr. Emma Bishop Okonkwo (KSC, OFR) for offering scholarship award to 10 students in the 2022/2023 Academic Session. The scholarship covers their school fees, throughout their stay in this Convent. May the Almighty God replenish their pockets and reward them abundantly. We thank other individuals too numerous to mention in this short address. They stood by us and supported us with prayers, advice, guidance, encouragement, gifts, attendance to our programmes and so on and on. May the Almighty God reward your labours of love and remember you for good in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
To the parents and guardians of the out-going students, we say a very big thank you for your unflinching
support and sacrifices on these students. May the Almighty God reward you for your roles in helping them to reach this level of their education. Please, do not relent on your commitment to prepare them for adult life, especially ensuring that their education is not truncated at this level.
We appreciate the support and cooperation of all other parents, individually and collectively. The Parents Teachers Association (PTA) ably led by a meticulous but caring father and the Accountant of the Diocese of Nnewi, Ven Azubike Ifejirika has been wonderfully supportive. This Session, the PTA purchased and installed three 1000–litre water tanks to ensure adequate water supply. They purchased 10 sewing machines to boost vocational/entrepreneurial education and also supplemented for the purchase of 363 prizes that will be given to deserving students today.
I acknowledge the unique dedication, commitment and cooperation of the staff of this progressive citadel of learning as the bases for the students’ remarkable progress in their conducts, value orientation and intellectual development. In their various uniqueness, they painstakingly and meticulously guide the girls on the application of themselves to academic work for their self- actualization. They make sacrifices and inspire our students to imbibe endearing virtues and values along with their intellectual development. To the great DIOMeCO teaching and non-teaching Staff, I say bravo for a job well done and a big thank you for being my team members. May the Almighty reward you exceedingly more than you can ever imagine.
DIOMeCO is a place to be for students who want to sit down and read under a godly atmosphere, for wisdom and excellence. Our students are the reason why we are here. They have been wonderful. In their uniqueness, they have lots of potentials and act their ages. We have very high hopes about their future and pray God to protect and guide them always.
Indeed, we testify that God has been very faithful and favourable to this family in this 2023, considering our unprecedented accomplishments. We took advantage of the slight upgrade in school fees to purchase and install three extra 1000-litre water tanks and one extra 7KVA generator; four laptops, eight desktop computer systems, two printers, three stabilizers, one steel cabinet and one kitchen grinding machine; install 30 fans in the dining hall, clinic, food store, laboratories, and Chapel; reconstruct the incinerator; sink two soak-away pits, construct metal window protectors at the clinic and food store, wooden racks at the food store, one big cupboard and one big filing cabinet with doors. Also, we were able to floor a stretch beside the hostel and refurbish the school bus. However, our progress is being hampered in many ways. We have urgent needs for:
solar panels as an alternative source of electricity supply due to irregular power supply coupled with the hike in fuel prices;
a 25-Seater Bus to ease our transportation difficulties;
Staff Quarters to attract and retain qualified staff and improve on students’ monitoring;
Students’ Scholarship Scheme to attract and retain brilliant students; and
staff incentives and motivation to encourage their retention and improved productivity.
We solicit for assistance from you our dear parents, Benefactor, friends and well wishers to procure these necessities. May the Almighty God enrich your pockets as you donate generously for the good and progress of this Convent, Amen.
In conclusion, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, we thank you once again for honouring us with your presence, which is a demonstration of your love and goodwill. We pray the Almighty God to reward everyone for his/her labour towards the progress of this generation of future leaders. We pray that His grace will abound for all of us to continue in His service, especially as it relates to the upbringing of the girl-child; and particularly for supporting the expansion and effective teaching and learning in this progressive institution, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Thank you very much for your attention.