NUT rejects King’s College concession, questions FG’s education responsibility

Idiong urged the Federal Government to publish the agreement and establish a representative board involving relevant stakeholders to monitor its implementation.

She also said the government needed to address concerns over school fees and provide clear assurances that the arrangement would not undermine equal access to King’s College.

She said, “The major issue is that there seems to be a lack of transparency in the concession agreement, which is generating fears from various stakeholders.”

According to her, wider consultation at the beginning of the process could have reduced the level of opposition now confronting the government.

“The first thing would have been to consult widely and act based on input from stakeholders from the beginning. This would have been averted now,” she said.

Idiong said transparent communication between the government and affected stakeholders remained necessary to resolve the dispute.

The controversy led the Federal Government on Wednesday to suspend the implementation of the concession for two weeks following discussions between the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, and representatives of education-sector labour unions.

The parties also agreed to suspend the workers’ industrial action, withdraw police personnel deployed to King’s College and establish a seven-member committee, with labour representatives included, to review and negotiate the concession agreement.

The Federal Government has consistently maintained that the arrangement does not involve the sale or privatisation of King’s College, stressing that ownership of the institution remains with the government.

Alausa said the proposed concession was intended to attract additional funding for the rehabilitation and modernisation of the school while leaving ownership and government oversight intact.

The minister also stated that the government had no intention of applying the King’s College arrangement to other Unity Colleges and maintained that the agreement did not provide for an automatic increase in school fees.

The decision to suspend implementation came after several days of protests involving workers, parents and other stakeholders, with tensions eventually resulting in a confrontation at the school and the deployment of police personnel to the premises.

Source: THE PUNCH