• PTA, old boys clash at school gate
• Education ministry workers reject TUC talks, boo minister of state, perm sec
• Allege fresh plans to concession Federal Government Academy, Suleja

The Federal Government has agreed to review the controversial Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concession model for King’s College, Lagos, following pressure from organised labour, prompting the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to suspend their industrial action.

The development followed an emergency high-level meeting between the unions and the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, chaired by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa.

Under the resolutions reached at the meeting, a seven-member joint review committee, including labour representatives, has been constituted to examine the concession document and address stakeholders’ concerns.

The committee has two weeks to identify areas of concern and make recommendations for inclusion in the document.

Meanwhile, the long-running dispute over the proposed concession of King’s College, Lagos, yesterday, took a dramatic turn as members of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) resisted the entry of the college’s Old Boys into the school premises for a planned media briefing.

The confrontation at the school gate created tension among parents, teachers, students and supporters of the two sides, with a detachment of policemen, led by Lagos State Commissioner of Police, CP Tijani Fatai, eventually forcing open the gate to allow the Old Boys into the premises.

The old boys, under the umbrella of the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA), had planned to explain their position on the Federal Government’s decision to transfer the management and operation of the 117-year-old institution to King’s College Education Trust.

Chairman of the Association’s Board of Trustees, Femi Okunnu (SAN), while speaking on behalf of the President of KCOBA, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, said King’s College was “not for sale” and that the Old Boys were not seeking ownership of the school.

He said the proposed arrangement was about changing the framework through which the college would be “managed, maintained, financed, modernised and developed,” stressing that the institution would remain a public national school and that the proposed arrangement was a “rescue mission.”

A teacher at the college, Eme Ojeo, who spoke during the confrontation, challenged the old boys to point to major infrastructure projects they had independently completed within the college in their 117 years of existence.

However, the shutdown of the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters in Abuja and over 100 Federal Unity Colleges across the country entered its second day yesterday, as workers rejected the outcome of negotiations between the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa and a faction of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), insisting that the agreement did not represent the position of the Joint Workers Committee of the ministry, which comprises the unions representing education workers.

The workers, who accused the ministry of attempting to push through the concession without adequate consultation with the unions and other key stakeholders, booed and blocked the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad and the Acting Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dr Folake Olatunji-David.

The workers also identified the Federal Government Academy, Suleja, formerly known as Suleja Academy, as the next institution for concession.