A member of the King’s College Old Boys Association and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Olumide Akpata, has defended the concession of King’s College, Lagos, to the association, insisting that the school has not been sold, that the old boys have no interest in buying it, and that the arrangement is the formalisation of an intervention they have been making informally for decades.
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He spoke on Arise Television’s News Night as the dispute over the concession deepened, with the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) demanding a reversal and describing the move as the privatisation of a national heritage, and with senior civil servants at the Federal Ministry of Education picketing the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja.
The NUT has asked the Federal Government to reverse the concession, describing King’s College as a national heritage and the lead school among Nigeria’s federal unity colleges.
The union says the decision was taken without adequate consultation with teachers and stakeholders, and that it threatens the job security and welfare of federal teachers. It has appealed to the National Assembly to intervene and halt the process, while urging teachers in the unity colleges to sustain the industrial action until the matter is resolved.
In its directive, the union stated that members are to report to work but “should not engage in activities that would undermine the industrial action, particularly in circumstances involving administrative or leadership responsibilities, subject to the directive of the joint unions.”
It added that its federal wing “supports the collective position that there should be no resumption of normal work until the concession of King’s College is reversed.”
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has insisted that the government is not selling King’s College or any other unity college, and said the ministry would not tolerate staff taking the law into their hands by blocking its gates and destroying property.
He said the ministry had reached a six-point agreement with the Trade Union Congress and other unions, and accused some directors and senior staff of instigating the crisis.
“We reached a clear six-point agreement with them and they released a communiqué for their staff members to go back to work,” he said. “There’s another faction that we don’t know about, led by Mr Innocent, who I am told has a legal judgment as president of the association of senior staff. We have agreed to meet with them today.”
The minister described the condition of the school as depressing, citing hostels like dungeons, classrooms littered with refuse, and nine months without electricity. He said the old boys have pledged to invest tens of billions of naira to rebuild the school without increasing fees, while ownership remains with the Federal Government.
He further accused the Parent Teacher Association of turning admission into a cash and carry business and of sponsoring the protests.
“All this protest you’re seeing is being sponsored by some people. We have information that the PTA and some other people charge up to 20 million for admission into King’s College,” he said.
He gave an assurance that no teacher would lose his or her job, adding that 3,000 PTA teachers would be converted to federal staff this year and another 5,000 next year.
Protesting members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Education chapter, who barricaded the entrance to the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, accused the minister of failing to engage directly with the unions on critical issues affecting staff and the administration of the federal unity colleges.
“That is a Nigerian national asset, the unity of Nigeria, that people want. Some persons of the King’s College, because we know it’s not all of them, it’s part of, a few of them that have come together now want to take over that school,” a protester said.
“And the minister is among them, because it’s an old boys’ school. Our demand now is that the minister should revert that decision, concession of King’s College.”
King’s College and the other unity colleges have remained shut, with both sides holding to their positions.
Asked what makes the school the object of such contention, Mr. Akpata pointed to its age, its record and its position among the federal colleges.
“King’s College is a 117-year-old institution,” he said, describing it as a recognised heritage institution and “a veritable assembly plant for the production of great Nigerians, Nigerians who have added value to the well-being of our nation.”
“King’s College is primus inter pares. King’s College was founded in 1909, and after King’s College you had Queen’s College in 1927. And it was because of the spectacular success of both colleges that post-independence Nigeria decided to set up unity colleges in the same mould.”
He traced the lineage directly: “In 1966 the first three federal government colleges were set up in Warri, Sokoto and Enugu. Indeed the first principal of FGC Warri came direct from King’s College, Lagos, Mr. Philip Howard Davis, known as PH Davis.”
He said the expansion since then is the reason intervention is now needed: “But over time, this was 60 years ago, over time from five unity schools we now have over 104 or 105 of them spread across the country. This is no longer 1966. Things are not the way they used to be. So this is why there’s the need for this intervention that is taking place.”
“Just as we were the first amongst equals, we are also now the lightning rod for the transformation of our unity colleges. And so that’s essentially why this is a hot potato.”
Responding to the complaint that stakeholders were not carried along, Mr. Akpata said engagement took place and that unanimity was never achievable.
“As far as I know there was engagement with the unions by the federal ministry in the course of this process, and whether or not there was total agreement, there will never be homogeneity of opinion on any subject. There will be some for and some against. But ultimately the Federal Government of Nigeria has taken the decision that this particular asset of the federal government should be concessioned to tried and tested stakeholders who have over time shown their commitment to the progress of the college.”
He said the old boys remain open to dialogue: “I don’t think the door has been shut on conversations and engagement. We are ready to continue the conversation. We’re ready to talk to the stakeholders so that they can hear from us. We don’t listen enough around here. We talk, but not many people are gifted in the art of listening.”
“If the stakeholders will come around to the table and sit with us, they will understand that we are well-meaning, we are well intentioned, and that over the years we have continued to establish our bona fides.”
Pressed on why the association would not simply place the funds in a trust for rebuilding rather than take a concession, and on the objection that 35 years is too long, Mr. Akpata first rejected the premise of a sale.
“I think it’s important that you continue to emphasise and re-emphasise that King’s College has not been sold. We have not bought the school. The school has not been offered to us. We’re not interested in buying our school.”
“You know the expression alma mater is a Latin expression which literally translates to nourishing mother. So you must understand that this school is our mother, and no son will sit idly by and watch his mother deteriorate in such a dastardly manner.”
He confirmed the state of the funding and of the agreement: “Yes, we have our old boy community ready to put together these funds, 100 billion naira. The commitments are on the table. They have waited for the concession agreement, which has now been executed, and the monies are rolling in.”
Explaining why direct donations are no longer considered sufficient, he set out the association’s record and its frustration.
“Why don’t we just give the money to the school? We’ve done that before. The school is 117 years old. The King’s College Old Boys Association is at least 75 years old. But in the first 50 years of our existence as an association, we just played a complementary role, because things were functioning at that time. We helped with the training of the boys. We came into the school now and again to give pep talks, give career guidance, we do back to school exercises. But that was then.”
“In today’s Nigeria, there are so many competing interests, so many things before the Federal Government of Nigeria that they need to deal with. Running secondary schools may not get priority in today’s Nigeria.”
He listed what the association says it has already provided: “We have spent billions of naira on that school. We have renovated every building standing in that school at one point in time or the other. We have redone the sports pitch. We have put tartan tracks. We have put the football pitch. We have put drainage under the football pitch. What have we not done? We have put generators in that school, an ICT lab. We have a library for the blind students where braille and other equipment have been provided. We have done everything conceivable.”
“But as soon as we turn our backs, these facilities deteriorate immediately, because there’s a lack of maintenance culture, as with most things around here. So we went to government and said, we know you have a lot on your plate. We are ready to help. We have been helping. We have demonstrated capacity. But going forward, can we formalise this engagement?”
Mr. Akpata confirmed the minister’s account of the school’s physical condition, saying journalists taken round it that day were visibly affected.
“We took some of your colleagues around the school today. Some were close to tears. It’s probably a well-kept secret, but it’s no longer a secret. The school is in bad shape. And the minister is very correct. You would not want to take your boys to that school today.”
He stressed that the issue was never the availability of money: “If I point to the money, we have the money. We have the money. But we wanted a more formalised arrangement. That is what we’re doing. And the government was persuaded by our argument.”
On the duration of the concession and the safeguards attached to it, he said the agreement binds the association to the founding principles of the unity colleges and provides for its removal.
“This concession agreement holds us to a very high standard. These schools were established based on underpinning principles: inclusivity, unfettered access, not charging arbitrary fees. There are things that are in that agreement that we will be held to, and in the event that we do not keep to those principles, of course, upon review, we could get kicked out. So we must stay true. We must pay fidelity to those provisions in the agreement.”
Asked how long a turnaround would take, he said the work is a marathon rather than a sprint but predicted visible change within three years, citing the transformation achieved by old students’ associations at Government College Ibadan and at Government College Enugu, the latter led by a former governor of Enugu State.
“Give us another couple of years, three years, and you will see a total transformation. There is no profit motive here. It is all altruistic. We want to look after our mother. We want to make sure that the products of King’s College are those that were envisaged by the founding fathers, leaders who will continue to steer the ship of our nation. That is what the school was set up for, and that is what we want to return it to.”
Asked about the minister’s allegation that admission slots are being sold for as much as N20 million, and who would be paying such sums, Mr. Akpata was careful to distinguish between what he has heard and what he can attest to.
“I have heard these allegations. I cannot put hand to heart and tell you that I have witnessed anything of the sort. We have heard these stories so many times.”
He said the complaints extend beyond admissions: “Not only have we heard about admission racketeering, we’ve also heard about parents being made to pay all types of levies so as to keep their boys in the school. So when people talk about increased fees, the parents are already being subjected, beyond the fees charged by the school, to all sorts of levies that the PTA charge.”
“So yes, there are such rumours, admission racketeering, lots of levies and fees being charged, and these are the leakages that we intend to block.”
He then linked the allegations to the opposition the concession has met: “There’s no doubt that if indeed there are persons who have been benefiting from the dysfunction, obviously they will be upset to hear that this concession is going through, because their gravy train has essentially been taken away from them. But all of that will stop. All of that must stop.”
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