Union cautions against privatising unity schools
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has cautioned against renewed attempts to privatise Federal Government colleges, popularly known as unity schools.
The National Vice-President of ASCSN, Mr Olubunmi Fajobi, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the privatisation would make quality secondary education inaccessible to millions of Nigerian children.
The unionist spoke at King’s College Lagos.
He said that the union would reject attempts to cede the 120 Federal Government colleges to private individuals or groups, including old students’ associations.
He described the schools as national assets established to promote unity and integration among Nigerians.
According to him, privatising the schools will lead to exorbitant tuition fees, deny children from low-income families access to quality education, and expose thousands of education workers and other employees to unemployment.
He recalled that the union had, on July 1, urged the Federal Government not to concession the schools, insisting that private organisations or individuals interested in running secondary schools should establish theirs instead of taking over public ones.
Fajobi said that the latest intervention became necessary following claims by the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA) that the college had been concessioned to it.
“If the old boys claim the school has been ceded to them, what template have they designed to cater for the students and employees of the college?” he asked.
The vice-president noted that a similar attempt to concession unity schools under a public-private partnership arrangement was made in 2005, during the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
According to him, the union, alongside students, parents, civil society organisations, religious leaders, traditional rulers and other stakeholders, rejected the policy through sustained dialogue, industrial actions and litigation.
Fajobi said that normalcy returned to the unity school system in 2010 when the administration of Dr Goodluck Jonathan restored the junior secondary school components that had earlier been disarticulated.
He said that unity schools were conceived by Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, the late Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, to foster national integration by bringing together children from different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds.
“The least the present generation can do is preserve these institutions as a lasting legacy of national unity instead of turning them over to private entrepreneurs,” Fajobi said.
He said that beyond increasing school fees, privatisation could result in the conversion of school facilities and vast expanses of land to commercial ventures such as hotels and shopping malls.
Fajobi appealed to political leaders, religious and traditional rulers, civil society groups and other stakeholders to support efforts to preserve unity schools as public institutions.
He said that the union would continue to engage the Federal Government through dialogue but would seek legal redress if necessary.
Mr Samuel Enang, the Chairman of ASCSN, King’s College Unit, described the proposed concession of the college as barbaric.
Enang said that members of KCOBA benefitted from free education in the school and should not seek to take over the institution for private interests.
He said that KCOBA could not point to any major infrastructure it had established at either the college’s main campus or its annex to justify taking over the management of the school.
“You cannot see any building or major structure in King’s College that was erected by the old boys.
“What they mostly do is repaint some buildings, renovate leaking roofs or carry out minor maintenance works,” Enang said.
According to him, such interventions will not justify concessioning the college.
He said that the union would continue to resist any policy that could make education unaffordable for ordinary Nigerians.
The spokesperson for the Parents Community of King’s College Lagos, Mr Olatunji Ojulari, said that parents would not support any attempt to hand the school over to private interests.
Ojulari said that concessioning the college would increase the cost of education and make it unaffordable for many Nigerian families.
He appealed to the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, to intervene and ensure that King’s College would remain a public institution accessible to all Nigerians.
Ojulari urged the Federal Government to provide modern facilities to improve teaching and learning in the school instead of concessioning it.