The Federal Government has clarified that King’s College, Lagos, has neither been sold nor privatised, insisting that ownership of the 117-year-old institution remains with the government despite a Public-Private Partnership concession involving the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA).
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The clarification came as the Joint Congress of Unions in the Federal Ministry of Education announced the suspension of first-term resumption across all Federal Unity Colleges nationwide in protest against the proposed concession of King’s College.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, in a statement issued through the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Folasade Boriowo, said the Federal Government would retain legal title to King’s College as well as its statutory powers of regulation, monitoring, inspection and enforcement.
Under the concession arrangement, according to the minister, KCOBA would be responsible for financing, rehabilitating, modernising, operating and maintaining the school.
“Let me assure Nigerians, particularly the King’s College community, that this concession is not a sale of King’s College. Government has retained legal title to the institution and will continue to exercise its oversight responsibilities,” Alausa said.
“The purpose of the arrangement is to mobilise the investment and management capacity required to strengthen this important national institution.”
Alausa said the concession was developed under the established PPP framework and subjected to technical, economic, financial, legal, environmental and social assessments.
He added that the arrangement also underwent value-for-money analysis, fiscal-impact assessment, risk allocation and commercial structuring before obtaining the required regulatory and Federal Executive Council approvals.
The minister said the government welcomed legitimate scrutiny of the arrangement and urged stakeholders to assess it on the basis of its implementation, transparency and measurable outcomes.
According to him, attention should be paid particularly to improvements in infrastructure and academic performance, admissions, staff welfare, student safety and wellbeing, proper utilisation of project funds and compliance with agreed key performance indicators.
“Our responsibility is to protect the integrity and public purpose of King’s College while ensuring that the institution receives the investment, infrastructure and management capacity required to meet the needs of present and future generations. We will continue to monitor implementation and hold all parties to their contractual obligations,” he said.
Alausa urged members of the King’s College community and the wider public to examine the substance of the concession agreement, including its safeguards, investment obligations and implementation framework, rather than regard the arrangement as a transfer of ownership.
“King’s College is a national heritage institution. The objective is not merely to preserve its past, but to build an institution worthy of its history, strengthened for the present and equipped for the future,” the ministry said.
However, the Joint Congress of Unions in the Federal Ministry of Education has rejected the proposed concession and ordered the suspension of student resumption across Federal Unity Colleges.
In a communiqué dated September 10, 2026, the unions informed parents, guardians, School-Based Management Committees, Parent-Teacher Associations, community leaders and the general public that the first-term resumption scheduled for Saturday, September 12, had been suspended nationwide until further notice.
The directive affects Federal Government Colleges, Federal Government Boys’ Colleges, Federal Government Girls’ Colleges and Federal Technical Colleges across the country.
The unions said their decision was directly linked to the proposed concession of King’s College, which they said they “vehemently rejected.”
They maintained that workers in the Federal Ministry of Education were opposed to the sale, concession or privatisation of King’s College or any other Federal Unity College.
The unions also accused the Education Minister of refusing to meet with them despite repeated requests for an audience over the past month.
“This refusal to engage in dialogue has left the union with no option but to take this stand in defence of public education,” the communiqué stated.
The Joint Congress consequently resolved that no Federal Unity College should resume until the dispute was satisfactorily resolved and what it described as the planned “sale or concession” of King’s College was reversed.
The unions called on parents, community leaders, SBMCs and PTAs across the country to support their opposition to the arrangement.
“We are not ready for the privatisation of our educational institutions,” they said.
They also sought the solidarity of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress in opposing the sale or concession of Federal Unity Colleges.
“Education must not be privatised,” the unions declared, adding that parents, guardians and members of the public would be informed of further developments.
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