The Federal Government has assured that school fees will not increase under the proposed management arrangement for King’s College, Lagos.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the assurance at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday while addressing concerns over the arrangement.
Alausa said the agreement with the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) was designed to mobilise additional resources for the school without transferring its ownership from government.
He said the arrangement would be subject to stringent key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure compliance with agreed standards.
According to him, the Ministry of Education had established an implementation and monitoring team to conduct unannounced inspections and ensure compliance with the agreement.
Alausa said the government remained open to dialogue with unions and would consider legitimate concerns that could add value to the arrangement.
He said decades of accumulated infrastructure decay in Unity Colleges could not be addressed immediately through government funding alone.
The minister reiterated that there would be no increase in school fees, noting that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) contained provisions to protect the interests of government and learners.
He urged journalists to visit the schools and independently assess their condition before reporting on the controversy surrounding the arrangement.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, assured that no teacher would lose their job as a result of the King’s College arrangement.
Ahmad said affected teachers had been given the option to indicate where they wanted to be redeployed, in line with the Public Service Rules.
She said the government was implementing teacher capacity-building programmes as part of broader reforms to improve learning outcomes in Unity Colleges and other schools.
According to her, the government remained open to further engagement with unions on concerns surrounding the arrangement.
She said legitimate concerns would be considered for possible incorporation into the MOU, adding that a committee had been established to review the agreement and address issues raised by stakeholders.
Ahmad said union representatives would also be included in a committee to monitor implementation of the agreement.
“There is no fee increase in this arrangement. It is part of the MoU we signed.
“With the workers’ protest, we cannot meet with them when they have shut the ministry.
“Normalcy must return to the ministry if the unions want us to listen to them,” she said.
Ahmad said government’s objective was to restore the quality and excellence historically associated with Unity Colleges.
She said the decline in standards had occurred over several decades and required sustained interventions in infrastructure and teacher development.
The minister added that government was exploring various public-private partnership models to rehabilitate Unity Colleges, citing the Kano model as one of the options being considered.
Alausa also clarified that the government has no plan to extend the proposed management arrangement for King’s College, Lagos, to other Federal Unity Colleges across the nation.
The Minister revealed that the government explicitly informed labour unions that the agreement with the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) remains an isolated case.
He stressed that the single management model does not signal a shift toward similar arrangements for other government-owned schools.
“No. We’re not extending it. The government still has its responsibility,” Alausa affirmed.
He reassured the public that the Federal Government would maintain its mandate to fund the rehabilitation of all other unity colleges directly.
To combat infrastructure deficits, the minister noted that the government is actively exploring alternative funding mechanisms to supplement budget allocations.
“As part of these efforts, approval has been secured to repurpose approximately $20 million from a World Bank-supported programme for school rehabilitation”.
He explained that around 20 unity colleges have already been selected for this specific funding intervention, which would eventually cover institutions nationwide.
Highlighting the scale of the financial challenge, Alausa pointed out that fully rehabilitating unity colleges in the South-West region alone would cost nearly N100 billion.
He explained that the special decision regarding King’s College was driven by severe infrastructure decay and KCOBA’s readiness to invest heavily through a non-profit foundation.
Meanwhile, police officers were on Wednesday deployed to Kings College, Lagos to maintain peace amid ongoing disputes over the proposed concession of the school.
Patrol vehicles were seen stationed at the main entrance and barricaded parts of the adjoining roads.
Also, armed officers were seen conducting routine checks within and around the premises.
A police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the deployment was a preventive measure to ensure safety of lives and property and to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
He said there was a meeting ongoing to address the issue.
The meeting, he said, was among workers of the school, members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) and representatives of the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA).
Earlier, ASCSN had issued a statement, calling on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Olatunji Disu, to withdraw the police from the premises.
The statement, signed by the ASCSN National President Shehu Mohammed and General-Secretary Joshua Apebo had followed a dispute that occurred at the school premises on Tuesday.
The association had accused the police of acting in concert with KCOBA to forcefully open the gates of the school at the time when dialogue and lawful processes were underway.
‘’This act has effectively undermined and stalled the implementation of understandings reached by the Federal Ministry of Education, Trade Union Congress, and ASCSN, ‘’ it said.
Efforts to speak with KCOBA proved abortive as the police officer said no one was allowed into the premises as at the time of the report.
