History
Rev Fr. D.J Slattery was born on 29th February 1916 in Fermoy, Ireland into the family of Mr. Timothy Slattery and Kate Slattery. His father was a master Tailor while his mother was a trained Dress maker. There were Eight Children in the family – Six Boys and Two Girls. He was ordained a Priest on the 17th December 1939 – a few months before he attained the age of 24.
60 +
Years of history and education
Rev. Father D.J. Slattery came to Nigeria in 1939. He initially served in a parish in the Yoruba Inland Town in the Old Western Region. He was later posted to St. Gregory’s College, Obalende as a teacher. He eventually became the Games Master for the school. He later became the editor of the Catholic Herald in Mushin. It was during this period that the thought of establishing a unique school occurred to him. His school became the first bilateral school in the country, combining full Grammar (called Basic) with Arts and Technical subjects. In the 1955/56 academic year, with six students, fondly referred to as “the first six”, a new school, but without a name, was born.
The new school had no address and had to be accommodated in the newly built St. Paul’s Catholic Primary School, Apapa Road. The next task was to look for a site for the new school. Rev. Father D. J. Slattery, after an eleven-month search, which took him through the then jungles of Apapa, and now the present National Stadium, eventually got to another jungle in Akoka where he met a man who knew him but he did not know the man. The friendly disposition of the man made it easy for him to acquire a twenty-plot piece of land in the present site of the school. In 1959, the school moved from Apapa Road to its present site in Akoka, and in 1963, the school was officially opened by Dr. Nnandi Azikiwe, the first President of Nigeria, who was a personal friend of Fr. Slattery.
In a tactical move, he got a grant from the then British Colonial Government, with which he set up a ten-classroom block, two technical drawing rooms, a technical block, an administrative block, which also houses the teachers staff room, and a dining room assembly hall with a well equipped kitchen. Among the first teachers of the school were the late Chief Albert Bankole, Fr. Slattery himself, and Mr. F. Ekpeti.
Early Academic Successes
Heritage of Sports
Renowned Sports Alumni
Discipline at Saint Finbarr's College
Rev. Father Denis J. Slattery placed a very high premium on discipline and could expel any student even if he was the best in academics or in football, once it was established that he had committed a serious offense. The gate used to be referred to as the gate of no return. There was no point in appealing a case of expulsion. Father Slattery never entertained such acts – no pleading, no begging, and no beseeching. Saint Finbarr’s College had four commandments, which constitute the Moral Pillars of the school.
- Any student caught stealing will be expelled.
- Any student caught copying during an examination time will be expelled.
- Any student caught leaving the school compound during school hours without the Principal’s permission will be expelled.
- Any student caught smoking or with drugs will be expelled.
Technical Training
Government Take-Over
Return of the School to the Mission
Changing of the Guards
Since inception, to the present administration, St. Finbarr’s College has had only a handful of principals:
- Very Rev. Father D. J. Slattery – Founding Principal 1955-1975
- Late Anthony Omoera 1975-1976
- Mr. A. A. Kpotie 1977-1998
- Mr. Joseph Adusse 1998-2001
- Mr. C. B. Adejoya, Principal October 2001 to December 2003
- Mr. Daniel I. Ikediobi, Principal January 2004 – Present
The school is now managed by an administrator from the Catholic Mission, Rev. Fr. Jerome G. Oduntan.