By Kwin Israel, The Sight News
The Federal Government has ruled out selling, conceding or replicating the proposed King’s College management arrangement across other Federal Unity Colleges, insisting the deal would not trigger a fee increase or lead to job losses for teachers.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the assurance on Wednesday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the controversy surrounding the proposed arrangement involving the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA), stressing that the Federal Government remained directly responsible for the institutions.
“No. We’re not extending it. The government still has its responsibility,” he said.
When asked whether the arrangement would be extended to other Unity Colleges, he was firm still on suggestions that the schools were being sold off. “Let me be unequivocal, the Federal Government is not selling any Unity College. “The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Education, does not have the intention to sell any Unity College, and we will not sell any Unity College. That is the government position, and go and write it down and hold on to that, we are not selling the government institutions.”
Dr. Alausa said the KCOBA arrangement was designed to mobilise additional resources to rehabilitate and modernise King’s College while the government retains ownership, citing the extensive deterioration of the school’s infrastructure and a need to restore its historical standard.
He said an unannounced visit to the college exposed poor conditions in hostels, bathrooms, classrooms and laboratories, as well as a prolonged power outage that he personally intervened to resolve by contacting the relevant electricity distribution company.
He also raised security concerns over parts of the premises being used as a paid public car park, an arrangement he has since ordered cancelled over the risk it posed to students.
According to the minister, KCOBA has committed to investing substantially in the school through a non-profit foundation, and will maintain merit-based admission, adding that it has already invested more than N2 billion in the college’s infrastructure over the years.
The minister said the pressure to seek alternative funding stems from an infrastructure deficit across the country’s 115 Federal Unity Colleges that has built up over four decades and cannot be closed by government spending alone.
“President Bola Tinubu is investing in infrastructure, including the sub-sector, but there’s so much significant infrastructure gap that has happened for 40 years and we don’t have the funds,” he said, estimating that even N2 trillion would fall short of the colleges’ total needs with the South-West’s share of rehabilitation costs alone put at nearly N100 billion.
To help close the gap, he said the government has secured approval to repurpose about $20 million from a World Bank-supported programme for the comprehensive rehabilitation of roughly 20 selected Unity Colleges nationwide.
On fees, Dr. Alausa said the King’s College agreement carries strict Key Performance Indicators to protect government and students’ interests, and that the Ministry has set up an implementation and monitoring team to conduct unannounced inspections and ensure compliance.
For her part, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, said no teacher would lose their job as a result of the arrangement, adding that affected staff have been offered the option to choose their preferred redeployment location in line with the Public Service Rules.
“There is no fee increase in this arrangement. It is part of the MoU we signed,” she said. A committee has been set up to review the Memorandum of Understanding and address stakeholders’ concerns, with union representatives included on a separate committee to monitor its implementation.
Prof. Ahmad said restoring the historic quality of the Unity Colleges would require sustained investment in infrastructure and teacher development, and that the government is weighing several public-private partnership models, including one already in use in Kano State.
