NCS Unveils Fully Renovated Ile-Ife Girls’ High School Under ‘Customs Cares’ Initiative

… Provides ‘Back to School’ Materials for Students 

…As CGC Adeniyi Promises University Scholarships for Three Best Performing Students

ZAINAB JUNAID

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has unveiled a fully renovated Ife Girls’ High School, Eleyele, Ile-Ife, under its “Customs Cares” initiative, with the Comptroller-General, Dr Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, announcing university scholarships for the school’s three best-performing students in their next school certificate examinations.

CGC Adeniyi commissioned the renovated school on Monday, 14 September 2026, in Osun State, in an event that saw him and other Customs officers dressed in polo shirts emblazoned with “Customs Cares.”

The renovation, carried out under the Customs Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, covered four blocks of 15 classrooms, a block of four laboratory rooms, an Admin/Staff Block, the Principal’s Lodge (now the NYSC Lodge), a gatehouse and a fence. Newly built structures include 10 toilets, a borehole with nine water distribution outlets, solar power for the borehole, staff rooms and classrooms, and an all-purpose sports court for basketball, volleyball, tennis and badminton, along with chairs and tables for 200 students.

Students were also provided with 200 school bags, 1,000 notebooks, 400 pens, 200 pencils, 200 erasers, 200 sharpeners and 200 rulers as learning materials.

CGC Adeniyi challenged the students to justify the investment in their education through outstanding academic performance, urging them to seize the improved learning environment to boost their results in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination.

“Before, when the environment was not good, maybe you were not having five credits. Now that you have a very good environment, we now want to have a better school certificate examination result,” he said.

He urged the students to become good ambassadors of the school and return in future to contribute to its development, just as old students had done.

Adeniyi said the intervention was necessary to revive girl-child education at the school, which has more than 60 years of history but had seen enrollment decline from thousands of students to about 200 before the renovation.

He commended the Old Girls Association, the Osun state government and the Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, for supporting the project, and urged stakeholders to ensure the school did not return to its former state of decay.

Adeniyi said the Customs Service had carried out similar projects nationwide, including construction of a community hospital in Ibubu, Onne, Rivers state, and a science hub under development at Modakeke High School to expose the community to information and communication technology.

Osun state Education Commissioner Adedipo Sunday Eluwole, who represented Gov. Ademola Adeleke, commended Adeniyi for facilitating the renovation, saying it covered classrooms, water and sanitation facilities, sports infrastructure, administrative areas and other amenities needed for a safe learning environment.

Eluwole said the sports facilities would promote discipline, teamwork, leadership and physical fitness among students, and said the state government welcomed collaborations that complement its education efforts. He said the government plans to reintroduce boarding facilities in selected secondary schools, beginning with one school in each of the state’s three senatorial zones, with Ife Girls’ High School as a beneficiary — an initiative aimed at ensuring proper use of the renovated facilities and improving access to quality education statewide.

Principal Martina Iyabo Akinremi thanked the comptroller-general for completing the project, calling it an investment in the future of the students and society. She pledged that the school would properly maintain the facilities and urged students to treat the renovation as both an opportunity and a responsibility.

Dignitaries at the event included Finance Commissioner Ogungbile Adeola Olusola; Ife Development Board Chairman Gbenga Adefaye; a representative of the Ooni of Ife; members of the academic community from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife; old students of the school; and senior Customs officers.