Ibadan Grammar School started its journey as a
leading Christian secondary school providing light in
the darkness of heathenism and underdevelopment
on 31st March, 1913 with twelve foundation students
in a mud-built storey building owned by Mr. Samson
Oke and located at what was then Apampa Road at
Alekuso, near Bere Square, Ibadan. Right from the
beginning, provision was made for the growth of the
school with the donation of a 5-acre piece of land by
Balogun Shittu, the Are of Ibadan, near his personal
residence, at Oke Are.
Established as a Christian School in the best
tradition of the Anglican Church, the Founder and
first Principal of the school was Bishop (then Revd.)
A. B Akinyele, a visionary clergyman who
championed the cause of education, making great
personal sacrifices, when western education was
considered strange and unprofitable by the people. In
the words of the Late Bishop S. O. Odutola, one-time
Diocesan Bishop of Ibadan, Bishop A. B. Akinyele “in
spite of all persecutions, both within and without,
amidst teeming population of illiterate peasants,
founded the School single-handedly and made
supreme sacrifices before achieving his main
objective.” Bishop Akinyele’s exemplary work is
acknowledged throughout Nigeria and, indeed, the
African continent. Despite the fact that Revd.
Akinyele was the only graduate on staff, and had but
one or two assistants, the population of students
grew from a modest 12 in March, 1913 to 68 within a
period of three years. With the increase in student
population, the storey building at Alekuso became
inadequate and the school moved into new buildings
(provided through generous donations by
individuals) at Oke Are in 1917 with major
restructuring into Infant, Primary and Secondary
sections. Student population had risen to 79,
including eight students in the boarding house, and
the number of teachers to five.
It is noteworthy that up to this point in the history of
the school, the school relied exclusively on good-
spirited individuals for its development (the highest
donation at the foundation stone laying ceremony at
Oke Are was by Baale Irefin who donated £100), with
the Principal and staff making great sacrifices and
earning paltry salaries ranging from £80 per annum
for the Principal to £48 for Senior Tutor, £21 for
Junior Tutor and £12 each for the two pupil teachers.
It was not until 1919 that the school received its first
financial assistance from government with a grant of
£46. The school continued to make very good
progress under Revd. Akinyele with the
strengthening of the secondary section. The school
first presented candidates for the preliminary
Cambridge School Certificate by 1925 and the Junior
Cambridge in 1928. By the time Revd. Akinyele left
office as Principal in 1933, following his elevation to
the post of Assistant Bishop of Lagos Diocese, the
number of students had increased to 187,
comprising 82 students in the primary section and
105 in the secondary section.
Revd. E. L. Latunde succeeded Bishop Akinyele as
Principal and during his tenure (1933-1940) the four
houses of the school, Irefin, Olubadan, Olubi and
Akinyele, were established and the school became a
member of the AIONIAN Group of Schools. It was
during the time of Revd. E. A. Odusanwo, who
succeeded Revd. Latunde as Principal, that the school
completely excised the elementary section of the
school and, by 1942, it had become solely a
secondary grammar school. By 1948, student
population had increased astronomically to about
350, and the Oke Are site had been stretched to the
limit, necessitating another movement of the school.
It was under the legendary Archdeacon (then Revd.)
E. O. Alayande, who succeeded Revd. Odusanwo in
1948, that the school moved into new buildings on a
58-acre piece of land at its present site at Molete on
5th March, 1951. The school witnessed
unprecedented development during the tenure
(1948-1968) of Archdeacon Alayande as Principal
becoming one of the best secondary schools in
Nigeria with arguably the best Higher School
Certificate (HSC) programme in the country that
attracted students from far and wide. There were
remarkable developments not only in physical
infrastructure with the construction of new science
laboratories, a library, classrooms, an administration
block, dormitories, staff houses, sports field and a
school chapel, but also in academics with the
introduction of new academic programmes including
the HSC in 1956. The school provided quality
education in the arts and the sciences with standard
facilities including well-equipped laboratories and an
environment conducive to teaching and learning. The
school was international in outlook attracting
students and staff from all over the world. About 80
% of the student population of about 550 lived in the
boarding house with students of diverse social
background, from all parts of Nigeria and from
abroad, providing a rich cultural diversity that made
the Ibadan Grammar School experience unique.
Quality of staff was extremely high (several of the
teachers were well-trained expatriates from the UK,
USA, Canada, the Netherlands, India, South Africa,
Sierra Leone and the West Indies) and, with a few
exceptions, all the teachers (about 30) were
graduates. The school was renowned not only for its
academic excellence, but for its extra-curricular
activities, particularly sports, including athletics,
football, lawn tennis and table tennis. Students of
Ibadan Grammar School represented the country in
international competitions such as the first All
African Games in Brazzaville, Congo in 1965 where
the late Dr. Sesan Onafowokan represented Nigeria in
the high jump.
Archdeacon Alayande was succeeded in 1968 by
Chief Ayo Labiyi, the first old student of Ibadan
Grammar School to become the Principal of the
school. Even though girls were admitted into the HSC
and the remedial science programme for students
from other schools with a weak science background
in the Alayande days, it was not until 1969 that the
school became a full-fledged mixed secondary school
for boys and girls. In 1970, under the leadership of
Chief Ayo Labiyi, a 10-year development plan was
proposed and the Ibadan Grammar School Old
Students’ Association with the Late Chief ‘Bola Ige as
President, launched the £100,000 Bishop Akinyele
Memorial Fund for the development of the school
including the construction of a new Assembly Hall,
girls’ hostel and boys’ hostel. In the words of Chief
‘Bola Ige, the old students of Ibadan Grammar School
have a goodly heritage and must continue to build on
the foundation laid by Bishop A. B. Akinyele: “a
Christian school with an open door policy; an Ibadan
school with a cosmopolitan population; a grammar
school that is strong not only in the Arts and
Sciences, but also in the athletic world; a town school
that looks after the needs of pupils from rural areas.”
Regrettably, despite all the good intentions, the lofty
objectives of the 1970 school development project
were not achieved and the school witnessed
progressive decline since then in infrastructure,
teaching and learning environment, quality of staff
and students, academic performance, sports and
other extra-curricular activities. The takeover of
schools by government and the resultant problems of
poor funding, uncontrolled increase in student
enrolment leading to a student population explosion,
without investment in additional facilities, and
retrogressive government policies inimical to the
delivery of quality education further compounded the
woes of the school.
1. Based in part on information from “A short History
of Ibadan Grammar School” by Prof. Akin Mabogunje
and other sources
The Present State of the School
One hundred years after its founding, Ibadan
Grammar School which in the words of the Late
Archdeacon (then Rev. Canon) E. O. Alayande in
1970 “stands today as the great pride of this great
city (Ibadan) and whose alumni have adorned the
highest positions in all walks of our national life”, has
so degenerated in terms of physical infrastructure,
academics, sports and other extra-curricular
activities that it is no longer rated among the best
schools in Ibadan, let alone in the nation at large.
Gone are the days of straight As in the West African
School Certificate examinations and laurels in
football and athletics. The school has become a
shadow of itself with decaying buildings and other
physical infrastructure, poor quality staff and
students, and an environment that stifles teaching
and learning. Gone are the boarding facilities and the
rich diversity in staff and students with the school
degenerating from a truly international secondary
grammar school that attracted staff and students
from all over the country and from outside the shores
of Nigeria to a mediocre, local high school that is not
even the school of first choice for well-placed Ibadan
indigenes. Part of the 2011 report on the school by
Mr. Femi Adekunle, the Principal of Senior School 1 is reproduced below:
Ibadan Grammar School consists of five unit schools,three of which are Junior Secondary schools, and the other two, Senior Secondary schools. Each of the schools has its own administrative structure and is being regarded as an independent school by the supervising Ministry of Education.
From the Principal’s report, there are at present
3551 students in Ibadan Grammar School using
poorly maintained facilities that are over 50 years old meant for less than 600 students in the 1960s.
Indeed, some of these facilities have become so run
down as to make them virtually unusable. There is no Biology laboratory anymore and a classroom is being used as a Food and Nutrition laboratory. There is a two-room library used jointly by the students (3551) of all the schools. The only existing functional toilet for 3551 students is a 12-room facility built by the old students in 2011; before then there were no toilets. There is an on-going N100 million project by the then Education Trust Fund (ETF) involving renovation of hostels and construction of three new blocks of classrooms which if properly executed would improve the state of physical infrastructure in the school.

The Contributions Of Old Students To School
Development

The Ibadan Grammar School Old Students’
Association has, over several decades, contributed
substantially and in diverse ways to the development of Ibadan Grammar School. The most noticeable major physical infrastructural project to have been undertaken in the school in the last 40 years is the multi-million naira Emmanuel Alayande Hall by the old students of Ibadan Grammar School. Other physical infrastructure running into millions of naira that the old students have provided for the school include classrooms, toilets, sporting facilities and water supply. Just recently, the school hosted the 72nd AIONIAN Festival of Sports and Academics
Competitions, tagged Ibadan 2011, featuring 12
secondary schools from all the states of the South
West on 24-27 March, 2011. Despite repeated
entreaties made to the Oyo State Government, no
financial grant or any other form of support was
received by the school and the old students bore
majorly the huge cost of hosting the festival and
provided among other forms of support the following:
1)New sports field, complete with football pitch and
athletics tracks
2)12-room modern toilet facility, complete with deep well and overhead storage tank
3)Modern lawn tennis court
4)Handball pitch
5)Sporting equipment
6)Water supply facilities
7)Renovated classrooms.
The old students have also contributed to the
intellectual development of students including the
employment of teachers, donation of computers and scientific equipment and the endowment of prizes and scholarships. The Annual Founder’s Day Reunion including Thanksgiving Service, the traditional laying of wreaths and reception promote interaction between the old students, the teachers and the present students and facilitate the propagation of the values and ideals of the school ensuring that succeeding generations of students imbibe the Christian values and traditions of the school.
In 2007, the Ibadan Grammar School Old Students’
Association instituted the Venerable Emmanuel
Alayande Memorial Lectures to immortalize the
former teacher and Principal of the school. The
objectives of the Alayande Memorial Lectures are to
celebrate the life and times of Venerable Emmanuel
Alayande, promote national discourse on issues of
education, politics and national development, and
propagate Venerable Emmanuel Alayande’s values,
beliefs, attitudes and ideals with a view to impacting
the lives of succeeding generations in selfless service
to God and Fatherland (Deo et Patriae). The first
lecture entitled “Schooling, Education and the Social
Order in Nigeria was delivered by Prof. Akin L.
Mabogunje, a most distinguished old student, on
31st March 2008 and the second lecture will be
delivered by another most distinguished old student
and immediate past Head of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, on 29th March
2012.
By March 31st 2013,Ibadan Grammar School will attain the height of 100years of existence..... Come join us and celebrate with the most prestigious secondary school in Nigeria because 100years is quite an age..... Up Grammarian.

I G S Alumni who have made names for themselves includes:
Professor Akin Mabogunje
Professor Oladapo Afolabi, who is the immediate past Head of Service of the Federation.
The current Professor of Agriculture, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OSU), Professor Siji Adeokun.  Mr Goodie Ibru 
Mike Adenuga jnr
Senator Femi Lanlehin
late Chief Bola Ige
Papa Emmanuel Alayande