Workers Shut Down Education Ministry Over King’s College Concession, Threaten to Close 115 Unity Schools

• As APCI raises the alarm, demands reversal of 35-year concession of college

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja and Funmi Ogundare in Lagos

Workers of the Federal Ministry of Education on Thursday shut down the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja in protest against the reported 35-year concession of King’s College, Lagos, to its old boys’ association.

Under the Joint Workers Union (JWU), comprising Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, ASCSN, and four other unions, the workers threatened to indefinitely shut down the ministry and all 115 Federal Unity Colleges nationwide if the concession was not reversed.

In a related development, African Principals Conference Initiative (APCI) called on the federal government to immediately halt the proposed 35-year concession of King’s College, Lagos, warning the planned cessation of budgetary allocations to the institution amounts to an abdication of the government’s responsibility to fund public education.