The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has implored President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to cede the 120 Federal Government Colleges to private individuals in the country.
It warned that the move under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model threatens national unity and the future of public education.
The union conveyed this in a letter addressed to the President Bola Tinubu, and read by National Vice President, Comrade Adebayo Fajobi, at a press conference in Kings College, Lagos.
The plan being championed by some Old Boys Associations with King’s College, Lagos as a pilot project was an attempt by some people to derail the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President, the union said.
It acknowledged that Old Boys Associations could support schools through donations and infrastructure upgrades, but cautioned against certain philanthropy that turns public institutions into private assets.
Tracing the history of Unity Schools to the first Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who established them in 1966 to foster national integration, the union argued that selling them would reverse that vision and make quality secondary education accessible only to the children of the elite.
It also recalled the 2005-2010 battle during the Obasanjo administration when similar plans to privatise Unity Schools were resisted through protests, strikes and litigation.
It further said peace returned in 2010 after President Goodluck Jonathan ordered the resumption of the Junior Secondary School component that had been disarticulated.
The union warned that privatisation would lead to exorbitant school fees and throw millions of Education Officers and other staff into unemployment, with negative social consequences we cannot now precisely predict.
Referencing the US, UK and Germany, ASCSN said even market-driven economies provide free, state-run secondary education to equip youths for a knowledge-based society.
“Millions of Nigerians yearn for Federal Government Colleges to continue to exist not only as models of affordable secondary education but also as institutions for nurturing national unity and integration,” it added.
The union urged President Tinubu to stand with Nigerians and resist pressure from entrepreneurs waiting to take over the schools.
