Employees of the Federal Ministry of Education and union leaders staged a protest in Abuja on Monday to oppose the proposed concession of Federal Unity Colleges.
Gathered at the ministry’s headquarters, the demonstrators displayed placards, chanted solidarity songs, and demanded an immediate reversal of the concession policy.
The protesters declared their intention to sustain industrial action until the Federal Government rescinds the proposal and allocates increased funding to the affected institutions.
The demonstration follows heightened tension between the Federal Government and teachers’ unions regarding the proposed concession of King’s College, Lagos.
Education stakeholders and ministry staff remain opposed to government plans to transfer management of the institution to private entities or its alumni association.
According to union leader Comrade Gali Habib, ministry workers were demonstrating in solidarity with the affected institutions.
Habib stated that the protest aimed to safeguard Federal Unity Colleges against policies that could undermine their mandate of promoting national integration and public ownership.
He noted that the colleges provide affordable, high-quality secondary education to children from low-income families.
He added that the institutions play a critical role in bridging educational divides by bringing together students from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds.
“If you are selling these schools to private organisations, will the children of the poor be able to access quality education again? No,” he asked.
Ordinary families depended on government-owned schools
Habib noted that while wealthy Nigerians can afford private schooling, the majority of average families depend on public institutions to access high-quality, affordable secondary education.
He urged the Federal Government to abandon the concession plan and provide adequate funding for infrastructure, teachers’ welfare and other educational needs.
Speaking further, Habib explained that the union would continue the industrial action until the government reversed the decision, adding that workers had no part in any concession arrangement.
Another staff representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Federal Unity Colleges remained important platforms for national integration because children from different regions studied and interacted in the same environment.
The worker noted that concession of the the schools could weaken that role and make quality secondary education less accessible to families unable to afford private school fees.
Backstory…
In July, the Federal Government approved the concession of King’s College, Lagos, to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA), a move the alumni body characterized as the onset of a new era for the 116-year-old institution.
Speaking at a press conference at the Metropolitan Club in Victoria Island, Lagos, KCOBA President Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Imam described the decision as one of the most significant milestones in the school’s history, marking the launch of the “King’s College Renaissance.”
He clarified that the arrangement does not constitute a sale or privatization of the school, but rather establishes a governance framework enabling the association to collaborate with the Federal Government to restore and modernize the institution.
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