Unity schools: Labour rejects PPP plan, begs Tinubu to halt planned sale

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to approve the proposed concession of the country’s 120 Federal Government Colleges to private individuals under a Public-Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement.

The union alleged that the plan, reportedly being championed by Old Boys Associations with King’s College, Lagos, serving as the pilot project, could undermine the objectives for which the Unity Schools were established and make quality public secondary education inaccessible to millions of Nigerian children.

In a open letter to the President, the union warned that handing over the schools to private interests would threaten national integration, increase school fees, jeopardise the jobs of education workers and ultimately defeat the founding vision of the Federal Government Colleges.

The letter, jointly signed by ASCSN President, Shehu Mohammed, and Secretary-General, Joshua Apebo, urged the President to resist what it described as attempts by vested interests to appropriate public educational institutions.

The union stated: “We wish to implore Your Excellency not to accede to plans to cede the 120 Federal Government Colleges to private individuals under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model currently being spearheaded by Old Boys Associations with King’s College, Lagos, as a pilot project.

“As a preeminent politician who has, over the decades, continued to hold aloft the banner of progressive governance, it may well be that fifth-columnists in your administration are pursuing this agenda of appropriating public schools for private purposes to dent your impeccable credentials and derail your Renewed Hope Agenda for Nigerian youths.”

While acknowledging the contributions of alumni associations to educational development, the union argued that such support should not translate into ownership or control of public schools.

“There is certainly nothing wrong if Old Boys Associations… desire to give back to their alma maters by donating resources, renovating infrastructure or providing contemporary technologies to such schools to enhance learning, but that can be done without necessarily insisting on taking over such educational institutions,” the letter said.

Drawing comparisons with advanced economies, ASCSN noted that countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany continue to maintain thousands of government-funded secondary schools despite operating market-driven economies.

The union maintained that public investment in education remains critical to national development and social cohesion, insisting that Nigeria should strengthen, rather than privatise, its Unity School system.

Recalling previous attempts to privatise the schools between 2005 and 2010, the union cited the report of the Jonathan Zwingina Committee, which concluded that the cost of sustaining national integration through Unity Schools was insignificant compared to the consequences of national disintegration.

Quoting the committee’s report, the union said: “National integration is so important that we cannot place a limit to the cost of sustaining it. Those complaining about the cost of national integration should reflect on the comparative cost of national disintegration.”

The association further traced the origin of the Unity Schools to the vision of Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Sir Tafawa Balewa, who established them to promote national unity by bringing together children from different ethnic, religious and social backgrounds.

According to the union, “The least the present generation of political elites can do is to sustain the institutions as legacy for national integration among Nigerian youths instead of selling them to private entrepreneurs so that they become accessible only to the children of the privileged rich.”

It warned that privatisation would not only result in exorbitant tuition fees but could also throw thousands of education workers into unemployment, with far-reaching social consequences.

The ASCSN also revisited the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, alleging that plans to privatise the schools were first actively pursued in 2005 under the supervision of the then Minister of Education, Obiageli Ezekwesili.

The union equally dismissed previous claims that Unity Schools were underperforming academically, insisting that available data from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) consistently showed over 90 per cent success rates in public examinations.
It recalled that labour unions, students, parents, civil society organisations, traditional rulers and host communities successfully resisted earlier privatisation efforts through protests, strikes and court actions, culminating in the restoration of the schools’ junior secondary sections in 2010.

The association warned against reopening what it described as a settled issue.

“Millions of Nigerian children ought not to be subjected to this periodic trauma over attempts to deny them quality secondary education by adults bent on turning the Unity Colleges into their private estates,” it said.

The union expressed confidence that President Tinubu would reject the proposal and preserve the schools as symbols of national unity and affordable quality education.

“As a democrat with sterling progressive credentials, we have no doubt whatsoever that Your Excellency will not succumb to pressures by Old Boys Associations and other private entrepreneurs angling to take over the Federal Government Colleges… but will stand firm with Nigerian people on this matter so that you can leave your indelible footprints on the sands of time,” the letter concluded.