Great vision. I'm in. Who is coordinating for 92 set? Osadolo Osamwonyi 92 Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
-----Original Message----- From: Godwin Okpe <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:35:25 To: <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Jos Commandos] The tone of our emails Great Commandos, The vission has been conceived, and we are ready to run along no doubt, but further bickerings will only stall progress. I am looking forward to a re union of my set, as a futherance to the entire plan, I honestly think that that is what we should be doing now. Senior Emeka has given us words of wisdom here, so lets get rolling. Godwin Okpe Dragon 87 --- On Thu, 10/13/11, George Igboanugo <[email protected]> wrote: From: George Igboanugo <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [Jos Commandos] The tone of our emails To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, October 13, 2011, 12:14 AM Great Commandoes, I have been quiet for a while listening observing and learning. I thank God for sending me to such a school. As stated below let us focus on returning the school to its past glory so that we will be proud to send our children there. It is not out of place for children to grow and support their parents never questioning what their parents did with their finances. It is not in our place to judge but rather to correct. It is already done Emeka Igboanugo 82' set From: Barka Saleh <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 11:52 PM Subject: RE: [Jos Commandos] The tone of our emails Great Commandos’ Details contained in the email by Adams John are true and I must say quite riveting! Our presence is across the globe, with professionals in almost every field of endeavour, certainly we need to evolve ways of effective communication. After visiting the school last 2 weeks, my heart aches whenever I remember what I saw. The current state is deplorable. As we stand tall and proud with our various accomplishments in life, I urge us all to have compassion to the great school that contributed to what we are today and give back. Details of how to do it is as proposed by Adams & Kofo. Summary is to raise an ‘Intervention Fund’ by contributing N1m per set, I know that this is achievable. Please take time to read the mails. I sincerely look forward to participation by everyone as we all work towards restoring the standards. Thank you. Saleh Barka Flying Horse 86’ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Harold Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 5:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [Jos Commandos] The tone of our emails Maybe it’s just me, but sometimes the tone used in some emails is a bit uncomfortable to read. Saleh, I will look to you and the EXCO to set clear guidelines for how we write and what we write in public forums such as this. I think we can resolve some disputes through phone calls and healthy conversations. People who write, write their opinions, and we all mature enough to decide if we think those ideas flow with us or not. We also have executives who we have elected to help us reach consensus where there is a disagreement. I tend to withdraw from documented disputes such as this one may provoke, but so I can still enjoy being a part of what we are about to become, I had to step in here. Apologies if what I have written comes across wrong. Harold Nwariaku Octopus 88. From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Adam Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 3:30 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Jos Commandos] 7 Reasons why the ‘Probe’ Idea is bad 7 Reasons why the `Probe' Idea is bad -------------------------------------------- We have read with interest the idea of probing the Administration of Command Secondary School, Jos, with the hope of knowing why the school has degenerated to its present state. The idea was first muted by Ugo Ben, "BEFORE THE 17 MILLION INTERVENTION FUND" and supported/expanded by Mike Agana and Remi Harris. You can read their submissions here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JosCommandos/message/4715 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JosCommandos/message/4726 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JosCommandos/message/4747 We beg to disagree. As we will prove below, the idea is bad and should be kept aside by all Commandos. Here are our reasons: REASON #1 The idea of a Probe is a TYPICAL Nigerian REACTION to any problem. In fact, it is used by the Political Elite to side-track Nigerians from the main issues. There is never any tangible result from such probes/inquiries. Remember the Power Probe? FCT/Nasir El-Rufai Probe? What is the main issue facing Jos Commandos today? How to restore it to its past glory. Let's focus on the main issue. REASON #2 The idea is a BETRAYAL of the warm reception given to the President and Vice President of the Lagos Chapter by the present Commandant. He welcomed them, and trusted them enough to show them the truly bad parts of CSS Jos and even to take photographs. He could have refused them access to the school. Is that how we will repay him? He will now get a letter asking him to explain how he is running the school? Or how his predecessor ran the school? Is that why the Lagos Chapter sent them ? REASON #3 Many of you do not know this: The current Commandant is less than 2 months old in the school! What answer can he give us? Or do you expect him to start calling all previous Commandants (who are probably his seniors) to answer our query? He, too, must be shocked at the level of decay. (We think that is why he allowed the representatives from the Lagos Chapter to look around.) So, please let's allow the Commandant to settle down and do his work in peace. We risk antagonising him and the Staff and thereby ruining the good relationship that we need to fully impact our Alma mater. REASON #4 The proponents of the idea don't seem to realise this FACT: We have NO AUTHORITY to probe anybody. The few people who can probe any Commandant (or order a probe ) are: a. President and C-in-C b. Minister of Defence c. Chief of Army Staff d. Director of Nigerian Army Education e. Senate Committee on Defence (and their counterparts in the House of Representatives) Even the Minister of Education may find it difficult to call the Nigerian Army Education Corps to order because of the special status of the Command Schools. We are only ex-students of CSS Jos and we should know our place. REASON #5 Ok, let's say we ask for a probe. What do we expect? That a serving Lt. Colonel will apologise to us? All the past Commandants (our FATHERS) will quake in their boots and apologise to us? That the Nigerian Army will apologise to us? That they will refund the monies they should have used to fix the school? Let's get this clear: WE CANNOT TELL THE NIGERIAN ARMY WHAT TO DO WITH THEIR BABY. REASON #6 We are an example of a FAILED ALUMNI Association ourselves. Are we satisfied with our performance as Alumni? What are our achievements in the 29 years after the first set left CSS Jos in 1982? Can we compare ourselves with our contemporaries? FGC Jos? CSS Ibadan? Have we donated one single desk? Have we instituted a scholarship? How many prizes did we sponsor at the Speech and Prize-Giving day? Or Inter-House Sports? How many Chapters are on ground? Only 5? After 29 years? Are we not ashamed that even the COJOSA Chapter in JOS, JOS, JOS (which should be the largest in membership) is in-active? Was it not after 29 years - this year, AD 2011- that we finally succeeded in registering the Association? After 29 years? We have PERFORMED WOEFULLY AS ALUMNI and we should cover our faces in shame instead of talking of probing anyone. We, the CSS Jos Alumni need to remove the plank from our own eyes first. And it is a big plank. REASON #7 Finally, this whole probe business is a DISTRACTION. While we talk and talk, we are CONVENIENTLY AVOIDING THE BIG ASSIGNMENT on the table: raising 17 million naira. One week in the month of October 2011 has gone. By this time, we expected that the idea would have been fine-tuned to perfection. The members of the sub-committees should have been finalised. All Sets should have been contacting each other and sensitising each other. But, no, some of us prefer to probe. Dear Commandos, we should leave this probing idea alone. The CSS Jos Invention Fund Project is already in the public domain. Abuja, UK-Irl and Lagos have clearly bought into the idea. No one has said it is a bad idea. No one has said it is bound to fail. No one has said it is impractical. However, we must not UNDER-ESTIMATE THE TASK AHEAD. It is not going to be a walk-in-park. Only a few Sets have the experience of working together. It will be difficult. It will try our patience. But, we believe it is achievable. With a dose of healthy competition, we will finally see the action Sets amongst us. Already, one of the 2000-2010 Sets (who are exempted) are already ganging up on Facebook to raise their money. It will be a shame if such a Set raises 1 million BEFORE their seniors. It is our hope that when we do succeed, we will identify and use our money in the best way for our dear CSS Jos. Even though we will seek approval from the relevant Authorities, NO COMMANDANT WILL DICTATE TO US HOW TO USE OUR MONEY. It is ours to spend as we wish. But, we must be humble. CONCLUSION In conclusion, while we will be available to discuss the CSS Jos Intervention Fund Project, we do not intend this piece as a personal attack on anyone. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It is just that our idea of raising 17 miliion to fix CSS Jos next year is BETTER than trying to investigate how or why CSS Jos got this bad. Meanwhile, we advise everyone to start contacting their Set mates and decide on their Set Coordinators. Please re-read the Project Idea again and send us your feedback or questions. We will be back soon to get the sub-committees filled up. As from November 2011, we will see the most organised Set from CSS Jos. Lets get started! Kofo Owojori ('86 Set) Sagai John Adam ('86 Set) --- In [email protected], lugo Ben <raftex1994@...> wrote: > > Great Commandos, > In as much as being among those who do not subscribe to the > posting of verbatim discussions at EXCO or membership meetings on a public > platform as this, it is good to learn that COJOSA-Lagos is sending 2 > officials on > fact finding mission: to visit and speak with the commandant of CSSJ. It is > the > first thing, the right thing and highly commendable. > Photos of the deplorable status of once glorious CSSJ have > been posted on FaceBook (kudos to Commando Ibrahim Kadiri). It is understood > that great infrastructural developments are taking place in the other Command > Schools > but that of Jos. Looking at those pictures posted I see that some structures > are been renovated (eg, admin block, the clinic, the classroom blocks). It > will > be interesting to know if there is an ongoing turn around or “makeover†on > ground. If it is school wide or just some specific structures. > Whatever the report from the fact finding mission; bottom line > is that as alumni we have to make an impactful presence in the school that > gave > much to us.  It is the right thing. I > think that is the vision and mission of the chapters in ABJ, LAG, PH, UK-IRL > and North America. > 1.      Will this require a coordinated effort to visit > the Nigerian Army Education Corps to draw its attention to the deplorable > conditions? > We have very high senior military officers who were pillars to the birth of > COJOSA that can facilitate such an audience. > 2.      Will it require the assistance of commandos > whose parents are Generals or retired Generals? COJOSA may explore using such > networks to lobby the right authorities to fix our alma mater. > 3.      Will it just require a loud media noise to draw > attention of the authorities to the collapsed infrastructures at CSSJ? We have > media people who are not only passionately commando, but have high interest in > the vision and mission of COJOSA. I know of Vivian Akinyosoye. I know of > Victor > Okhai. > 4.      Will it require a 17 million intervention fund > from commandos? May be, maybe not. Will this amount be less or more than may > be > needed? “Will the Cart come before the Horse or the Horse before the Cart? > Is > it possible that some set coordinators for the fund drive might end up having > no > body to coordinate? Very Possible. Is it practicable for a strong and > accountable COJOSA to host a public event in Nigeria to raise funds for the > cause of CSSJ? Very practicable. > 5.      Will there be better options than the ones > enumerated above by great commando minds if the reports that may be presented > by the 2 Lagos officials are made available to the other chapters to brain > storm? Probably. > 6.      Finally, are there commandos on this forum who > have not joined a COJOSA chapter? Please we need you. > Thanks > Ugo Ben (Class of 82) > > > A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public > opinion....Grantland Rice >
