By Victor Ahiuma-Young
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, has appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to approve the proposed concession of the country’s 120 Federal Government Colleges to private individuals under a Public-Private Partnership, PPP, arrangement.
The union alleged that the plan, reportedly being championed by Old Boys Associations with King’s College, Lagos, serving as the pilot project, could undermine the objectives for which the Unity Schools were established and make quality public secondary education inaccessible to millions of Nigerian children.
In a open letter to the President, the union warned that handing over the schools to private interests would threaten national integration, increase school fees, jeopardise the jobs of education workers and ultimately defeat the founding vision of the Federal Government Colleges.
The letter, jointly signed by ASCSN President, Shehu Mohammed, and Secretary-General, Joshua Apebo, urged the President to resist what it described as attempts by vested interests to appropriate public educational institutions.
