Parents and students of King’s College, Lagos, have rejected the Federal Government’s proposed concession of the 116-year-old institution to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA), describing the arrangement as unacceptable.
The aggrieved parents and students staged a peaceful protest in Lagos on Thursday, demanding that the government reverse the concession and retain the school as a federal institution.
The protesters marched from the school’s gate through major roads on Lagos Island, including areas around the Tinubu-Shettima presidential campaign office, Tafawa Balewa Square and the National Museum. They carried placards with messages including “King’s College is not for sale” and “Federal Government, we say no to concession.”
Speaking during the protest, the Chairman of the King’s College Parents-Teachers Association, Peter Oluwaleye, said parents had repeatedly communicated their opposition to the arrangement to the Federal Ministry of Education and the Presidency but had yet to receive a satisfactory response.
Oluwaleye criticised claims that the old boys’ association now owned the school, arguing that KCOBA should support the institution rather than take over its management.
He also questioned the proposed 35-year concession arrangement and expressed concern about the ability of the alumni association to manage an institution of King’s College’s size and importance.
The PTA chairman said the parents had resolved to seek legal redress over the matter.
“We will tell the federal government that it is its responsibility to educate the citizens,” he said, adding that the parents would also oppose the resumption of the school until they received clarification from the Ministry of Education.
The latest protest follows an earlier opposition by the school’s PTA to the concession. In July, the association warned that the arrangement could undermine affordable public education, increase fees and exclude children from low-income families.
The Federal Government approved the concession of King’s College to KCOBA in July as part of efforts to rehabilitate and modernise the institution.
KCOBA President, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, said the arrangement was not a sale or privatisation of the school but a new governance framework through which the alumni association would partner with the Federal Government to restore and sustain the college.
The association also announced a N100 billion endowment fund to finance infrastructure renewal, teacher development, digital technology, scholarships, student welfare and other aspects of the school’s development.
KCOBA has maintained that King’s College would retain its federal character and continue to admit students from different parts of the country, irrespective of their social or economic backgrounds.
However, the PTA remains concerned that the new arrangement could eventually make the school less accessible to ordinary Nigerians through higher fees and other charges.
The dispute has also attracted opposition from organised labour. The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria previously rejected the concession of King’s College and other federal unity schools, arguing that transferring their management to private entities could make them unaffordable and threaten workers’ jobs.
With parents now threatening legal action, the disagreement over the future management of King’s College is expected to continue as the new academic session approaches.
