The Rev W. Christie and the Rev G. Hanney of the Primitive Methodist Missionary society, accompanied by the Rev W. Collins of the United Free Church, made a reconnaissance of Bende from Ikot Ekpene in 1909. The Reverend Fredric William Dodds took over from Reverend Christie in 1910. Teachers were sent to teach the converts. These teachers doubled as both preachers on Sunday services and teachers for pupils on weekdays. These boys could not go far as there were no qualified teachers at the time. Rev Dodds took some boys in Ibo land namely, Ndubueze Ogbonna of Uzuakoli, Oji Iheukwumere of Uzuakoli, JAN Okereke of Ndoro and Chima Nwana of Arondizuogu to the Methodist Boys School at Oron, to continue their education.
It was soon discovered that many Ibo boys were in Oron. They had to travel on foot from their various locations to Bende and go on to join boats that will take them to Oron. The church began to think. It became a topical issue in the various Eastern District Synods of the Methodist church to build a school for Ibo boys situated in the Ibo heartland. The railway line from Port Harcourt passed through Uzuakoli in 1915 and soon trains bustled across Uzuakoli from Port Harcourt to Enugu. Uzuakoli was decided to be the site for Ibo Boys Institute. Rev. Banham was placed to be in charge of the buildings.
The first students were admitted in January 1923. They were drawn from pupils who were already in standard four in Methodist Central School Ndoro, Methodist Central School, Ovim, and the Methodist Town School, Uzuakoli. The Headmaster of Ndoro was J.A.N. Okereke while that of Ovim was Mr (later Rev) Chima Nwana. The church teachers and the roving missionaries formed the teaching staff of the Town School Uzuakoli. All the standard four boys in Ndoro, Ovim, and all the pupils in the Town school formed a majority of the initial intake into the college in January 1923.
A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence.
To rekindle through sound and balanced education, the god-given potentials, and talents in our children while impacting in them moral rectitude, academic excellence, accountability, self-respect, self-confidence, respect for god and man, restoring the whole human dignity.
We shall be tools in the hand of the great potter to mold children who will stand tall anywhere in the world as examples of morals, integrity, and personal solid achievement.
At UZUMECO, we recognize that the majority of the things that one learns in life happen not just in the classroom but also in different spaces and areas in life. Thus, having a conducive learning environment that encourages our kids to enjoy the whole process of knowing new things is important to us, as schools are considered to be a student’s second home since they spend a huge chunk of their daily life in it.
We appreciate our teachers and students who continuously work hard to achieve these excellent results and hope to continue raising the bar and making the best out of every child as the college boasts of more than six distinctions from 90 percent of its students that participates in the WAEC examination.
The school has a large number of distinguished old boys. A great many have gone on to make significant contributions in a wide variety of fields and some have even become famous!