Twenty years after the establishment of Kings College, the first government-owned high school, by the British colonial government, three similar public schools were founded in 1929. These three institutions, Government College Umuahia (GCU), Government College, Ibadan and Government College Zaria (now Barewa College), were designed to follow the traditions of British public schools such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester. The GCU was known as the 'Eton of the East,' at that time because it was located in Nigeria's orient and was known for its elite standards and selectivity.[2]
Rev. Robert Fisher was the founding principal of GCU.[3]
On December 22, 2014, a Deed of Trust was signed with the Abia State government, thereby vesting the Fisher Educational Trust with all legal interests, rights and power pertaining to ownership, management, operation, control and funding of Government College Umuahia. The trust was set up by the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association.
History
In 1927, the British Colonial Government in Lagos started three new secondary schools for boys, namely a school in Ibadan (Government College, Ibadan), in Zaria (now Barewa College) and in Umuahia (Government College Umuahia). King's College, Lagos had started twenty years earlier in 1909. These four schools were modeled after the famous English public schools – Eton and Harrow. The Queen's College, Lagos (for girls) had opened that year. The onus for starting the Government College Umuahia fell on an English educator, mathematician, and Anglican priest, the Rev. Robert Fisher who had been a teacher at the Achimota College, Accra, and education administrator in the Gold Coast, now Ghana. He served as the first principal of the Government College Umuahia from 1929 to 1939.
Robert Fisher arrived in Umuahia in 1927 and acquired land of 10 square miles (26 km2). On January 29, 1929 he opened the gates of the school to 25 students drawn from all parts of Nigeria and West Africa, but with catchment in Eastern Nigeria, and the Southern Cameroons. The Government College Umuahia began in 1929 as a teacher training institute and in 1930, converted to a secondary school. Fisher ran this school until 1939 when, at the start of the Second World War, he left for England on retirement and was replaced by W. N. Tolfree. The school was closed thereafter, and for three years it was used as a Prisoner of War camp for detaining German and Italian prisoners captured in Cameroon by the British and the students and staff were suddenly dispersed to King's College, Lagos and to other mission schools east of the Niger.[3]
Academics
GCU has drawn students from among the best performing from Nigeria and Southern Cameroons.[4] It has classrooms and laboratories. Its students consistently achieve high scores in exam results at SSCE, O-Level and A-Level. All students complete core courses in the Arts and Sciences.
Students participate in sports like cricket, hockey, handball and football There are two standard fields (the Upper and Lower fields), cricket pavilions, seven lawn tennis courts, basketball court; and Olympic-size track field. It has a nine-hole golf course; a botanical garden, and an aquarium.
The English artist and archeologist, Kenneth C. Murray, pioneered modern art education in Nigeria when he left Balliol College, Oxford and arrived Nigeria in 1927 to teach art. He taught art at the Government College Umuahia from 1933 to 1939 and started the Art Gallery which had in its collection, the works of C.C. Ibeto, Uthman Ibrahim, and the early charcoal drawings of Ben Enwonwu. The gallery was looted and destroyed during the Nigerian-Biafra civil war (1967–70), when the school was closed to serve as the General Staff Headquarters of the secessionist Republic of Biafra. K.C. Murray himself had left Umuahia in 1939 to become Director/Surveyor of Nigerian Antiquities, and the editor of the Nigeria Magazine from work he did at Umuahia.
Government College Umuahia also produces an unusual high number of literary elite who influenced African Literature more than any other educational institution.[5]
Restoration and Fisher Trust
Determined to put an end to years of decline of the college, the Government College Umuahia Old Boy's Association (GCUOBA), approached the government to take over ownership of the school to restructure, fund and manage sustainably.[6] Again on January, 1, 2024, the Old Boys of the Government College, Umuahia (GCU) made a statement that they are taking over the school from the state government to restore its lost glory. The National Secretary of the Old Boys Association, Mr Nkem Egbuta stated, "we have begun from the scratch again, trying to restore those values that made Umuahia so prominent and by the Grace of God, we are on the path to achieving that.”[7]
In pursuit of the objective, a trust; Fisher Educational and Development Trust was established by the Old boys with directive from the state government. The trust was named after Rev. Robert Fisher, founding Principal of the College.
On December 22, 2014 a Deed of Trust was signed between the old boys and the Abia State government, thereby vesting the Trust with all legal interests, rights and power pertaining to ownership, management, operation, control and funding of Government College Umuahia.
The Trust is duly registered, in line with the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria allocated Appropriation Act for the execution of projects at the Federal Government College Umuahia. The appropriation was in compliance of the Public Procurement Act, 2007.[8]
Notable alumni
Chinua Achebe, writer, novelist, first winner of the Nigerian National Order of Merit
