The concession crisis rocking King’s College, Lagos, yesterday took another dimension as police operatives took over the premises of Onikan, Kings College premises, denying the protesting staff, parents and unions access into the school.
The police drawn from various formations in the state early in the morning yesterday blocked the roads leading to main gate of the college with police vehicles and officers on standby, prevent vehicular and human movements into the area, as motorists from Tafawa Balewa end, who wanted to connect CMS Bus Stop were diverted to other routes.
Contrary to the meeting held by the Minister, Dr Tunji Alausa with the unions, for which they strike by the workers’ Joint Congress of Unions of Federal Ministry of Education was announced to have been suspended on Tuesday, the PTA Chairman, King’s College, Lagos, Mr Peter Olaoluwa Oluwaleye, yesterday said the ongoing strike was not called off.
He said the TUC pronouncement did not represent that of ASCSN and JWC, which are the unions the PTAs are working with, even as he foreclosed that there was no meeting between the Minister and the unions (ASCSN and JWC) yesterday nor today.
“The Federal Ministry of Education Headquarters, Abuja remains under lock and key, while all unity colleges nationwide still stand in solidarity with us, so there has not been any resumption anywhere across the country.
“We will fix our security gates that were broken today. We must stay safe,” he stated.
However, as at 11 am yesterday, some members of the King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA), including the National President, Kassim Ibrahim-Imam and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr Olumide Akpata, had arrived the college for a meeting of the association, which was to deliberate on the way forward regarding the concession of the college to the association by the Federal Government.
Briefing journalists, members of the executive committee of KCOBA, led by National President, Ibrahim Kassim Imam, assured stakeholders that the college would be run by them bearing in mind the principles behind the running and operation of unity colleges.
“We are saying it again that we are not going to turn the college to an elitist one. We will run it in lines with the principles behind the setting up of unity colleges and their operation.
“In fact, that is contained in the agreement we signed for the concession. To say we are buying the college is wrong. There is no willing seller or buyer of King’s College. The Federal Government is not selling, while KCOBA is not buying.
“All our interventions in the past, rehabilitating and renovating facilities and even building new ones have amounted to nought.
“Whenever we fix a facility, in the next few months, if you come to assess the situation, the facility would have either been vandalised or destroyed completely,” he told journalists.
He added that their agreement with the Federal Government is open for public scrutiny, stressing that the association is open for scrutiny by the public and that they want the government to also look into how the school has been run so far.
Iman promised that the association would ensure that each state of the federation is represented so as to allow for federal character, even as he pledged that the school fees won’t be hiked.
