The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has expressed dismay over alleged subtle campaigns by “hired analysts” nudging the present administration to transfer the 104 Federal Unity Colleges (FUCs) to State Governments.

Calling on President Muhammad Buhari to reject such policy, the union said accepting it was at variant with the mandate given to him by Nigerians. In a statement jointly signed by the union’s National President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama and the Secretary-General, Alade Bashir Lawal, it emphasized that those pushing the President to embark on such negative action want him to enter into a collision course with millions of Nigerians who voted him into office.

“The Union is worried that now that we have a new government in place, some Nigerians under the guise of discussing the issue of devolution of power in the country are clamouring for the transfer of Unity colleges to state governments.

The question to ask is what has devolution of power got to do with ownership of Unity colleges when education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “What manner of a country do we want to run when we engage in the habit of approbating and reprobating on sensitive national issues? Moving forward and backward will not help anybody.

Let us take all our institutions as given and service them on a regular basis for the benefit of mankind. You build tollgates today, demolish them tomorrow only for you to come back later and start toying with the idea of rebuilding them. We need to get serious for once and move the country forward.

The idea of selling our national assets and heritage is only being driven by selfish motive and interest. It is not the way to go,” the Union said. It recalled that when in 2005, then Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili and “her political godfather’ tried to auction the schools to themselves and their cronies, millions of Nigerians overwhelmingly opposed the move while this Union carried out 7-week strike throughout the Federation to forestall the plan. How can anyone in his or her right senses be advising the Federal Government to handover the 104 Federal Unity Colleges to State Governments that cannot pay salaries to their workers and whose primary and secondary schools are in shamble,” the Union wondered.

Besides ASCSN pointed out that the first Prime Minister of Nigeria, Alhaji Tawafa Balewa, in 1966 established the first three Unity Schools in Sokoto in Northern region, Warri in Western region, and Okposi in Eastern region as centres for nurturing national unity because the existing political parties then used tribes and religions to divide Nigerians.

“Since then, the schools now numbering 104 have remained centres for fostering national unity as students, teachers, and other workers from different tribes and tongues mix freely to imbibe various Nigerian rich cultural heritage.

“Beyond that, the schools have acquitted themselves creditably as centres of excellence for secondary education in Nigeria as epitomized in their sparkling performances at both the examinations set by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO),” the Union stressed.

According to the ASCSN, instead of urging President Buhari to cede the 104 FUCs to the state governments, he should be enjoined to build two additional Unity schools in each of the 36 States of the federation to bring education closer to the people pointing out that in spite of advancement of education in the United States, Barack Obama still built more secondary schools when he became President of that country and America has been the better for it.

It opined that, more than 15 million Nigerians that gave Mr. President their mandate on 28th March 2015, did not envisage a situation where some “misguided elements” would begin to prop him to declare a war against millions of Nigerian children by demanding that he scraps the 104 FUCs or hand them over to state governments or to private individuals so that children of the poor would no longer have access to these national commonwealth.

“We want to state that those who wish to own secondary schools should establish their own and stop dreaming of turning the vast expanse of land and monumental structures in the Unity Schools into their private estates.

“It should also be made clear that Nigerians will not tolerate a situation where strategic departments in the Federal Ministry of Education are converted into private property of any Minister as a former Minister did when she superintended the Ministry and ceded strategic departments to his business fronts under the guise of engaging consultants to take over the functions of Civil Servants,” the Union added.

To this end, it urged President Buhari not to appoint recycled individuals whose tenures were controversial when they served as Ministers let alone assign such characters to the Federal Ministry of Education to resume the destruction of the education sector because if that happened, there would be instant showdown with the Trade Unions, the civil society groups and millions of other Nigerians.