The Battle For The Soul Of King’s College Lagos Gears Up As Parents, Teachers, Other Stakeholders Mobilize Against Secret Concession Of School

A couple of years ago, 12-year-old Tunde spent his evenings reading by the flickering light of a rechargeable lamp in a single room in Ajegunle. His father, a commercial bus driver, and his mother, a petty trader, could barely afford three meals a day. Yet, when the National Common Entrance Examination results were released, Tunde had achieved one of the highest scores in the state. His reward was a golden ticket: admission to King’s College, Lagos. For Tunde, the school was not just a campus of red brick and colonial history; it was a rescue boat. Because it was a federal institution, his tuition was free, allowing a boy from the slums to receive the same elite education as the sons of senators.

Today, that rescue boat is navigating turbulent waters as a recent federal concessioning agreement has handed over the management of Nigeria’s premier secondary school to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA) under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) that transfers all forms of funding from the federal government to KCOBA. While the decision aims to rescue the institution from decades of systemic decay and neglect from the government, it has ignited a fierce national debate over whether the country’s brightest, poorest children are about to be priced out of their future.

The concession of KCL is contained in a letter signed on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education  by the Director Overseeing Office of the Permanent Secretary, Dr. (Mrs.) Folake Olatunji-David. 

In  the letter dated September 4, made available to Lagos Today Extra!,  and addressed to the Principal of KCL, the ministry said all necessary processes leading to the signing of the concession agreement had been concluded and that the college had consequently been conceded to KCOBA. The ministry also stated that arrangements had been concluded to hand over the college to the association with immediate effect for the implementation of the agreement.

As part of the transition process, a transition committee is to be constituted to ensure a seamless transfer of the college’s management to KCOBA.

The  committee was given a six-month window within which to facilitate the transition, after which funding of the college from the Federation Account will cease. The principal was also directed to make available to the transition committee a list of staff members  willing to remain in the employment of the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).

Secret Concessioning Without Stakeholders Involvement

One of the big issues arising from the concessioning of the school is that the process was shrouded in secrecy as stakeholders were not carried along in the build up to the concessioning. Observers of the unfolding event say this is a huge drawback against a feasible and practicable implementation. The major question on their lips is: if the inputs of parents, teachers and other critical stakeholders are not considered before the concessioning, how can all interests be represented within the new management?

As expected, the announcement of the concession triggered an emergency meeting between the school’s management and staff union, after which the institution was shut down.

“Following the meetings with the school management and workers to notify everyone of the development, the staff union immediately announced a plan to shut down the college”, said the union in a statement on decisions reached at the meeting. The statement warned that neighbouring schools would start shutting down in solidarity with the union.

“This shutdown might spread nationwide if positive feedback is not received on time from the FME,” the union said.

With the college now shut indefinitely, the dispute could disrupt the academic calendar of the school; it has also renewed concerns about the future of Nigeria’s Federal Government Unity Colleges under concession arrangements.

Parent-Teacher Association Reacts

The secret concession of the College has been vehemently condemned by  the  National Parent- Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) and staff members of the 116-year-old institution. They questioned the rationale for relinquishing control of a premium unity school and demanded clarity on the real motive behind the concession.

 

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The staff members, under the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), had also protested shortly after the Federal Ministry of Education(FME) announced the transfer of the school to the old boys association.  

In rejecting the concession, NAPTAN, through its Board of Trustees  Chairman,   Adeolu Ogunbanjo, described it as worrisome. According to Ogunbanjo, the development could undermine access to the college, particularly if the new management substantially increases school fees.

“Affordability will become a major concern for parents, potentially denying many families access to King’s College if fees increase substantially,” he  said.

He questioned whether the Federal Government had decided it could no longer manage unity schools and demanded clarity on the reasons behind the decision.

The PTA of the college  is  demanding that, if the concession must proceed, existing students should be allowed to complete their education under the present arrangement, proposing a minimum six-year transition period before the new operators begin admitting students.

“If concession is going to take place, at least you should give it a period of a minimum of six years to consummate,”  said the association’s chairman, Peter Oluwaleye.

Oluwaleye also said the new operators could begin admitting their own students after the existing students  graduated. 

He  argued  that children already admitted into the school cannot be transferred from a government institution into a privately operated one midway through their education.

According to him, members of the association are  particularly worried that the concession would eventually trigger a sharp increase in school fees, potentially defeating the purpose of the Federal Government’s Unity School system.

“If we had wanted to put our children in private school, most of us are not capable of doing that,” Oluwaleye said.

Oluwaleye argued that many parents chose   King’s College because it provides quality education at a subsidised cost, adding that handing the institution to a private entity could make it inaccessible to families who cannot afford high private school fees.

School Fees To Rise Up to N5 Million Per Student

Unit Chairman of ASCSN,   Samuel Enang, also  argued  that fees could  rise to between N4 million and N5 million per student if the old boys association eventually took  over the school’s ownership.

“How many parents in this present economy of the country can afford such education for their children?” Enang asked.

 He  alleged that  the old boys association intends to commercialise portions of the college’s property, into hotels, shopping malls and car parks.

Even though this allegation has not been independently verified, observers who spoke with Lagos Today Extra! say those are measures usually put in place to ensure continued inflow of revenue to run the operations and also fulfil personal interests that might not be in favour of the students themselves.

Staff Of The College In A Dilemma

Apart from the fear that the new arrangement could trigger school fees out of the reach of students from poor homes, the teachers of King’s College have found themselves in a tight dilemma. The letter from the Federal Ministry of Education asked the teachers to indicate whether they want to remain with the federal civil service or move over to the new management, the KCOBA. One of the teachers who spoke with Lagos Today Extra! on the condition of anonymity said the choice is like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea.

“if you decide to go with the KCOBA, you might lose the emoluments of unpaid salary and other promotional arrears which the federal government has been owing us for many years. What about gratuity, what about pension? And if you decide to stay with the federal civil service, you might be deployed to other locations where you will need to start hunting for a new accommodation at this time that rents have spiraled out of control for the ordinary people, including teachers. Don’t forget that the accommodations in the school you are redeployed to have been filled up with staff in that institution,” he said, adding that all these issues would have been adequately presented  and addressed if the concessioning was not secretly done, without inputs from critical stakeholders.

Another member of the college staff who spoke with our correspondent said the secret manner in which the process was carried out suggests there might be some hidden personal interests at the heart of the concession.

“I don’t know why they had to do everything in secrecy. What are they trying to hide? Is there some vested personal interests of the new owners they wanted to protect at all costs. Who are the big boys in KCOBA and what influence do they have in the present administration? Why the rush to concession the school before the 2027 general election? Questions upon questions without answers. All these issues would have been addressed if critical stakeholders were carried along in the process of the concession,” he told our correspondent.

We Still Own King’s College -  FG

Confronted with all the backlash, the Federal Government came out with a statement that King’s College, Lagos, has not been sold or privatised, saying it retains legal ownership of the institution.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Friday, to clarify the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concession agreement with the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA).

In the statement, signed by the Director of Press and Public Relations, Folasade Boriowo, the minister explained that the concession only transferred responsibility for financing, rehabilitating, modernising, operating and maintaining the school to KCOBA.

He stressed that the Federal Government retained its statutory, regulatory, monitoring, inspection and enforcement powers over the institution.

“Let me assure Nigerians, particularly the King’s College community, that this concession is not a sale of King’s College. The government has retained legal title to the institution and will continue to exercise its oversight responsibilities.

Alausa also claimed that the agreement did not prescribe an automatic increase in school fees even though he did not say whether the agreement established a temporary or permanent fee freeze for students.

The Issues At Stake

While the Federal Ministry of Education maintains that the school remains public property, private administrative management requires financial sustainability. To maintain world-class facilities and recruit premium teaching talent, the baseline cost of attendance is expected to adjust. For families living on the economic margins, even a modest increase in utility, boarding, or developmental fees can transform an admission letter from a triumph into a heartbreak.

Education advocates warn that this shift could fundamentally distort the school's historic admission structure. If the financial threshold for enrollment rises, the entry system ceases to be purely about academic brilliance. Instead, the pool of candidates naturally narrows to those who can afford the premium, turning an institution founded to groom nation-builders into an exclusive enclave for the wealthy.

To preserve the soul of King’s College, stakeholders argue that the new management framework must treat accessibility not as an afterthought, but as a core metric of success. The KCOBA’s ambitious funding models will need to build robust, ironclad endowment funds specifically earmarked for full-ride scholarships, ensuring that no brilliant mind is turned away due to an empty pocket.

Analysts say the future of staff of the college who choose to go with the KCOBA should also be protected in terms of ensuring that salary and promotional arrears owed them are duly paid, while those who choose to remain with the federal civil service and are redeployed to other schools, should be adequately supported to a get a good accommodation wherever they are deployed to.

The walls of King’s College may desperately need a coat of paint and structural repair, but its true legacy lies in the diversity of its classrooms. As the concession takes effect, Nigeria watches closely to see if the institution can modernize its infrastructure without sacrificing the very egalitarian principles that gave boys like Tunde (earlier mentioned) a seat at the table.

  

Categories: Education