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By Christopher Oji
Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA) at the weekend took to the streets to protest the sale of some portions of land belonging to Kano Federal Government College through Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
The association has therefore sent a save-our-souls (SOS) message to President Bola Tinubu to prevail on the Minister of Education to stop the sale of the school land, warning that they would use all legal means available to fight against the sale of FGC lands across the country.
The old students from various FGCs across the country, under one umbrella body, USOSA, in Lagos, urged Tinubu to expedite action.
The placard-carrying protesters with different inscriptions such as “Unity Schools are a legacy, preserve them,” “Don’t reduce schools to commercial plots,” “Protect the future,” “Save Unity Schools,” and “Asset stripping is not PPP,” converged at Atlantic City Gate and marched to Muri Okunola Park, Victoria Island, chanting solidarity songs.
Addressing the crowd, President of the Kano Old Students Association, Lagos Chapter, Humphrey Nwafor, said: “We all came together to embark on an awareness march to voice out our displeasure over the manner in which the Federal Government decided to sell their land through Public-Private Partnership.
“What we are doing is to raise awareness and let the government know that we are not happy about the Public-Private Partnership arrangement concerning our land.
“We are telling the Federal Government that we have a better option; that instead of selling our land, we would rather fund the school. If their problem is funding the schools, they don’t have to sell our land and assets.
“What we are telling the government is that they shouldn’t sell our assets. When the issue started, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Education formed a committee that Public-Private Partnership would fund the Unity Schools. They didn’t invite us when they formed their guidelines and they didn’t tell us what the guidelines were.
“Unfortunately, they went ahead to do a concession for Federal Government College, Kano, which is my school. Through the concession, 33 hectares of land were given to a company. And we all said no, all in the name of raising money. The Minister of Education invited us and ordered us to withdraw the suit we filed in court on the matter.
“The Minister of Education said we should withdraw the lawsuit and stop the protest. The minister insisted they were not going to cancel the concession.
“That’s the reason we are on the streets to let Nigerians know what the Federal Government is doing to Federal Government Colleges across the country.
“Instead of selling our lands, we can afford to fund the school. We want the government to be aware of our stand. They went ahead to give a private individual 33 hectares. We will raise N5 billion. We don’t want our Unity Schools to fail. I am an Igbo man fighting for a school in the North, and so also is Soyinka standing behind me. We don’t want Unity Schools started by our fathers to die. Don’t kill Unity Schools in Nigeria.
“Late Prime Minister,Tafawa Balewa started the Unity Schools for the unification of Nigeria. You don’t need to sell our schools to strengthen them. We have gone to court. We won’t allow this wickedness to thrive, that is why we are appealing to President Tinubu to prevail on the Minister of Education to rescind his decision to start selling our lands. If we keep quiet on the one in Kano, they will continue with the sale of others. The lands belong to the FG. There is a procedure for selling government land. We are trying to build this nation with the President, so he should not allow people to tarnish his image.”
In his remarks, USOSA President-General, Michael Magaji, said Unity Schools have come to stay and have produced generations of top-quality Nigerians.
He said: “Twenty years ago when the association was created, the idea was to return the schools to what the founding fathers wanted them to be. Through the resources of the association, we have been able to build infrastructure in the schools.
“We are begging government to look into our demands. We are doing our best because through alumni support, we have done a lot. What we are doing is constructive engagement. All of us who were trained through taxpayers’ money have a responsibility to give back to the school.
“I want to urge us to support each other. After 60 years of these schools being in place, it’s time we played important roles in how the schools are managed and how we can optimise the assets the schools have.
“Myself and the president of Federal Government College, Kano, met with the Ministry of Education and they have shown some commitment towards resolving the issue on the ground. They showed commitment to integrating the alumni into the mainstream. We are discussing to come up with solutions not only for Kano, but indeed for all other Unity Schools.
“The solution is to improve the schools’ infrastructure, assets and manpower resources in Unity Schools across the country.”
The President of Alumni of Idoani FGC, Alex Akindunmila, said the land allocated to Unity Schools was not accidental but meant for capacity, opportunity and potential for the students.
Akindunmila said the lands were not surplus and were not meant for disposal, adding that they were designed to ensure the schools would be self-sustaining, expansive and adaptable to future needs.
“But when you shrink the land of a Unity School, you do not just reduce space, you reduce possibility. You reduce the ability to run agricultural programmes that can feed students and teach enterprise.
“The space required for sports facilities that build discipline, health and national pride and the capacity to develop modern ICT hubs and innovation centres, the room for technical workshops and vocational training facilities would not be there again after being sold by the government. We want the land back; it is the school’s legacy. It is our pride.”
He noted that the flexibility to construct additional classrooms as enrolment grows, and the provision of staff quarters to ensure teachers can live within the academic environment, would all be lost through the concession.
“These are not luxuries, they are the very foundation of a complete educational ecosystem. Unity Schools were designed as ecosystems — places where education meets living, learning meets unity, and diversity meets unity.
“The schools were built to shape not just students, but citizens. Nigerians should remember what these institutions have given. Unity Schools have produced state governors, ministers, bankers, commissioners and captains of industry.”
