History of Western Boys High School
Western Boys High School (“WBHS”) was established as a Commercial Training College in 1943 by a group of philanthropists. It was sited at Ikpoba Road (Now Akpakpava Road).
Prominent among the founders were the late Chief (Senator) A.O. Airewele and the late Bishop G.R.A. Unubun, both from Igor, Ekpoma, and Esan West Local Government.
In 1947, the school was approved and became a grammar school. The site was then moved to the Old Ogiso Quarters (Royal Palace) in the East Circular Area of Benin City. A primary school was established along with it.
It can rightly be asserted that the college was the first established by private individuals in Nigeria. The first thirty-two colleges, starting with Baptist College in 1855 and ending with Edo College in 1937, were founded by missionaries and governments. It coincided with the establishment of Hussey College by the Rewane family in 1947.
Initially, the school management was rotated between the two major subscribers mentioned above, but with time, the government, by fiat, made Chief Airewele the managing proprietor of the school.
He accepted the challenge with consummate passion and deployed his entire God-given energy and resources to the development of the school.
The school comprised a U-shaped set of three blocks used as classrooms, laboratories, and assembly hall. The boarding houses contained a motley of privately rented buildings in the adjoining communities. There was a football field, which provided space for athletics.
Initially, there was a high turnover of teaching staff and principals. However, in 1953, the proprietor did a painstaking search for and employed a pioneer graduate of University College lbadan. Mr Okechi Amu-Nnadi.A synergy between the two marked a new era of notable advancement for the school.
Within a year, in 1954, the school was approved by the government. With a hired band, the students marched to the Royal Palace to share the joy with His Royal Majesty Oba Akenzua the Second, who loved education so much, having been a product of Kings College Lagos. His son, Prince Frank Akenzua, was sent to the school the following year.
In 1956, the school was approved for a Government Class Four Certificate. 1957 the school was approved for the West African School Certificate (WAEC) examinations.
Performances in the first three attempts were not satisfactory. But in 1960, the year of independence and also the year of the movement to Oregbeni, the school shot through the clouds, recording a success rate of about ninety percent. For the first time, three passed in grade one: the late Dr. A . U. Obozuwa, an eminent lawyer and parliamentarian, Prof C.O. Osakue(Law), and Prof U.M.O. Ivowi (Solid State Physics).
The school moved to a 49.50-acre plot of land in Oregbeni, its present site, in the third term of 1960, the year of our independence.
From the beginning, the school made contributions to athletics and football. In 1954, the late Nafiu Belo Osagie, a student of the school, won a bronze medal in the high jump at the Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, the same games in which the late Ifeajuna shook the world with a gold medal had leaped 6' 8" in the high jump. It is on record that seven football team members who won the Junior World Cup in 1985 were from Western Boys High School.
The school has produced high-profile individuals who have contributed to Nigeria's development. The first military governor of the then Midwest state in 1967 and later civilian governor of Bendel state in 1983, the late Brig-Gen. Samuel Ogbemudia was an old boy from our school.
The school has produced many ministers, state commissioners, permanent secretaries, and eminent professionals.
The school has produced many academic giants, including three Vice-chancellors, namely, Prof D.O.Aigbomian(A.A.U), Prof G.O.Oshodin and Prof F.F.Osarumwense(both Uniben) There must be similar laurels from our old boys in the diaspora.
Chief Asuelimen Osazee Airewele
Finally, saying a word about our great proprietor, Chief (Senator) Asuelimen Osazee Airewele is apposite. He was an extraordinarily endowed man in the management and execution of any project. He dreamt and actualized the project. He poured out his life as a libation for the school. He surmounted the challenges that beset the great odyssey with dogged determination and unwavering perseverance. He lived in a rented bungalow on Igun Street for many years. He obtained loans and bought cars for any graduate teacher he could employ while riding a daily bicycle to school.
He had no office in the school but would hang on with the bursar or principal daily. He borrowed money to sponsor teachers to study at the only university at lbadan then. When WBHS moved to Oregbeni, he eventually got a Beetle car(WB4119).
May his soul rest in peace.
Mr. Okechukwu Amu-Nnadi
Also worthy of mention is Mr. Okechukwu Amu-Nnadi, a pioneer graduate of the University College lbadan who joined the school in 1953 and, along with the proprietor, carried the school to an enviable level when he left in 1962. He was a mathematics and physics graduate but was extraordinarily gifted in the use of the English language. He was a good and virtuous man modest in appearance, and appeared to have been trained from early childhood in every good practice.
He was a great inspiration to all who came across him. He was an exceptional lover of sports. He complimented the proprietor very much.
There was Dr. G.U.Onukaogu, who had a B.Sc (Biological Chemistry), M.A (History), and Ph.D. (Political Science), all from Michigan State University. He brought science to the school and rebuffed all entreaties to join more lucrative employments. He had the habit of taking the whole school through philosophical excursions from time to time.