Paul Ibe, a Media Adviser to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has said the Federal Government’s 35-year concession of King’s College, Lagos, to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association deserves a much broader national conversation.
In a statement on Thursday, Ibe noted that this is not the first time the government has contemplated concessioning the Unity Schools. He recalled that a similar policy was pursued during the Obasanjo administration and was strongly resisted by workers, parents and other stakeholders. "Indeed, USOSA's own history records that the mobilisation of Federal Unity College alumni in 2006 was triggered by government plans affecting the future management of these schools," he said.
He said the difference today is that King’s College has actually been concessioned to its own alumni association. Under the arrangement, KCOBA assumes responsibility for financing, rehabilitating, modernising, operating and maintaining the college, while the Federal Government retains legal ownership and regulatory authority.
"That raises legitimate questions," Ibe said.
"Why was King’s College selected? What objective criteria were applied? Were the alumni associations of Federal Government Colleges in Sokoto, Warri, Enugu, Kano, Ijanikin and elsewhere invited to submit comparable proposals? Is King’s College a pilot for a policy that will eventually cover other Unity Schools, or has one institution been granted a special arrangement?
"These questions are particularly important because, as recently as May, Unity School alumni were calling on government to involve alumni associations in finding sustainable solutions to the funding and infrastructure problems confronting these institutions," he said.
According to Atiku's aide, the issue should therefore not be reduced simply to whether KCOBA has the resources or good intentions to improve King’s College. He said the larger question is whether there is a coherent, transparent and equitable national policy behind the decision.
"King’s College belongs to Nigeria. So do all the other Unity Schools.
"If alumni participation is now the Federal Government’s preferred model for rescuing these institutions, then publish the framework, disclose the criteria and give every qualifying Unity School alumni association an equal opportunity to participate.
"A national education policy should not look like a special arrangement for a privileged few," he said.
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