By Grace Okaro
In honour of the memory of the legendary educator, the Aggrey Memorial College Arochukwu Alumni Association has asterisked Saturday, August 1st, 2020 to celebrate the posthumous birthday of Dr Alvan Ikoku, who would have turned 120 years were he still alive.
On that day, according to the President of the association, Mazi Emma Okoro Egbukwu, “prayers will be offered in churches for the continued repose of his soul, and a mark of gratitude for his legacies of which our alma mater sticks out as number one.”
Egbukwu also announced in a statement that banners will be displayed in Arochukwu to create awareness as a prelude to a more elaborate, nation-wide birthday celebration.
Unveiling more details of the event, Egbukwu however admonished that in deference to the ravaging pandemic, “we insist that all COVID-19 protocols must be observed by our members. Prayers will be offered at his resting place at Independence Park. We do not encourage any other gathering besides that. It’s a sober reflection for us even as we begin in earnest with planning for a more elaborate celebrations in the years ahead.”
Alvan Ikoku was a Nigerian educator, statesman, activist and politician.
Born Alvan Azinna Ikoku on August 1, 1900 in Arochukwu, Abia State, he attended the Government School and Hope Waddell College in Calabar, Cross River State.
In 1920, he received his first teaching appointment with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland at Itigidi in the Abi LGA of Cross River State.
Two years later, he became a senior tutor at St Paul’s Teachers’ Training College in Awka, Anambra State.
He earned a degree from the University of London in philosophy in 1928 through private correspondence.
In 1931, Ikoku established one of the earliest private secondary schools in Nigeria: the Aggrey Memorial College located in Arochukwu. The school was named after his role model, James EK Aggrey, an eminent Ghanaian school administrator.
In 1946, after several constitutional changes which allowed for more Nigerians to be part of the legislative chambers, Ikoku was nominated to the Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly and assigned to the Ministry of Education. In 1947, he became part of the Legislative Council in Lagos as one of three representatives of the Eastern Region.
In government, Ikoku exerted his influence to promote the interests of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and further the cause of education and his active participation in the organisation led to his becoming its National President in 1955. He was instrumental to the legislative council’s acceptance of 44 of the NUT’s proposals for amendments to various educational ordinances. He worked for the introduction of uniform education in Nigeria through the NUT, although the colonial government repeatedly rejected his recommendations throughout much of the 1950s. Ikoku and his union were vindicated after independence when the recommendations became the foundation of the new nation’s official policy on education.
He retired from politics in the early 1960s and served on various educational bodies in the country. He was a member of the West African Educational Council (now the West Africa Examination Council – WAEC) and the governing council of the University of Ibadan. He also served as the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Aviation Training Centre in Zaria,Kaduna State.
Ikoku was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in law in 1965, for his contributions to education in Nigeria at a special convocation of the University of Ibadan. The Alvan Ikoku College of Education in Owerri, Imo State, is named after him. His image appears on Nigeria’s ten Naira note.