King’s College deal won’t affect other unity colleges — FG

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The Federal Government has clarified that it has no plan to extend the proposed management arrangement for King’s College, Lagos, to other Federal Unity Colleges across the nation.

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The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated this during a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday while addressing the ongoing controversy surrounding the proposed deal.

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Alausa revealed that the government had explicitly informed labour unions that the agreement with the King’s College Old Boys’ Association remained an isolated case.

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He stressed that the single-management model did not signal a shift towards similar arrangements for other government-owned schools.

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“No. We’re not extending it. The government still has its responsibility,” Alausa affirmed.

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He reassured the public that the Federal Government would maintain its mandate to fund the rehabilitation of all other Unity Colleges directly.

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To combat infrastructure deficits, the minister noted that the government was actively exploring alternative funding mechanisms to supplement budget allocations.

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“As part of these efforts, approval has been secured to repurpose approximately 20 million dollars from a World Bank-supported programme for school rehabilitation.”

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He explained that around 20 Unity Colleges had already been selected for the specific funding intervention, which would eventually cover institutions nationwide.

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Highlighting the scale of the financial challenge, Alausa pointed out that fully rehabilitating Unity Colleges in the South-West region alone would cost nearly N100 billion.

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He explained that the special decision regarding King’s College was driven by severe infrastructure decay and KCOBA’s readiness to invest heavily through a non-profit foundation.

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