The Federal Government has ruled out any increase in school fees or loss of teaching jobs under the proposed management arrangement for King’s College, Lagos, amid growing concerns over the plan.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, gave the assurance on Wednesday in Abuja while responding to questions surrounding the agreement reached between the Federal Government and the King’s College Old Boys’ Association.
Alausa explained that the arrangement was not a transfer of ownership but an effort to mobilise additional resources to improve facilities and educational standards at the institution.
He said the government had retained ownership of King’s College, adding that implementation would be guided by stringent key performance indicators designed to ensure that agreed standards were maintained.
To strengthen oversight, the Ministry of Education has also established an implementation and monitoring team with powers to conduct unannounced inspections of the school.
According to the minister, the monitoring mechanism is intended to ensure that all parties comply with the terms of the agreement and that the interests of students and government are protected.
Alausa acknowledged concerns raised by organised labour and other stakeholders, saying the government remained willing to engage with unions and consider legitimate proposals capable of improving the arrangement.
He said the condition of infrastructure across Nigeria’s Unity Colleges reflected decades of accumulated deterioration and could not be reversed immediately through government funding alone.
The minister therefore urged journalists and other stakeholders to visit the schools and independently assess their condition before drawing conclusions about the management arrangement.
Reiterating the government’s position on fees, Alausa said the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the King’s College Old Boys’ Association contained provisions preventing an increase in school fees.
Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, separately assured workers that the arrangement would not result in the loss of teaching jobs.
Ahmad said teachers affected by the implementation had been given the opportunity to indicate their preferred locations for redeployment, in accordance with the Public Service Rules.
She added that the government was also implementing teacher capacity-building programmes as part of wider efforts to improve learning outcomes in Unity Colleges and other public schools.
“There is no fee increase in this arrangement. It is part of the MoU we signed,” Ahmad said.
She also linked the government’s inability to meet with protesting workers to the disruption caused by the industrial action, saying normal operations at the ministry would have to resume before further discussions could take place.
“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 the broader objective of the reforms was to restore the quality and academic excellence historically associated with Nigeria’s Unity Colleges.
She noted that the decline in standards had taken place over several decades, making sustained investment in infrastructure and teacher development necessary to reverse the trend.
As part of efforts to address the challenge, the government is also examining different public-private partnership models for rehabilitating Unity Colleges.
Ahmad cited the model adopted in Kano as one of the approaches being considered by the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, the government said it had established a committee to review the King’s College agreement and consider concerns raised by stakeholders.
Union representatives are expected to participate in the monitoring committee to oversee implementation and provide input on issues arising from the arrangement.
The government’s position is that the management arrangement is intended to supplement public funding and improve the school’s facilities and standards, rather than commercialise the institution or transfer it to private ownership.