Following the death of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni, the Board of Governors of Dowen College including its Founder and Chairman, Dr O. Olumide Phillips, had “chosen to retire” as part of its reorganisation, a statement from the school said. 

The statement issued by Tomi Borisade on behalf of the board, said the decision and more were aimed at reassuring the public of the school’s best intentions towards all parties’ as well as to sustain its 24-year-old legacy.

According to the statement, the school has built a strong exemplary educational institution with high moral values and a culture of enviable track record.

It reads partly, “A few weeks ago, the school experienced the unfortunate loss of a promising young student Sylvester Oromoni. May his soul rest in perfect peace and may God grant the Oromoni family the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss. We pray we will never experience such an unfortunate incident in our community again.

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“We have worked on enhancing our safeguarding, monitoring processes and policies to ensure better oversight functions within the school. We are also reviewing our policies with our parents, staff and students to ensure strict compliance and best practices are adhered to going forward. As we review our processes, the school authority will not hesitate to relieve anyone responsible for administrative lapses in the duties of their positions.

“More significantly, the founding members of the Board of Governors, including the Founder and Chairman of the Board, Dr O. Olumide Phillips (PhD, FNSE, FNSChe, FAEng) who have worked tirelessly over the years to develop outstanding children in and out of the school, have chosen to retire and pass the baton of change to a new generation of seasoned professionals who will run with the vision, leadership passion, commitment and values they have worked rigorously to establish.

“The Board of Governors had also decided to bring in external consultants to work with the school’s management over the next few months to ensure that high standards and best practices are upheld and implemented where they are needed.

“This new chapter promises to be one of collective re-dedication to excellence. We want our students to always be very proud of their school and our community to be assured of our best intentions at all times.”