Education
Labour Calls on FG to Abandon Plan to Privatise or Concession Unity Schools
By Isa Abdul, Abuja
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has raised the alarm over renewed moves to privatise Federal Government Colleges, popularly known as Unity Schools, warning that such a policy would make quality secondary education inaccessible to millions of Nigerian children and undermine one of Nigeria’s enduring symbols of national integration.
The union’s reaction is based on reports that the Federal Government had approved the concessioning of King’s College, Lagos, to its Old Boys’ Association under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
The union released a statement in Abuja, jointly signed by its National President, Shehu Mohammed, and Secretary-General, Joshua Apebo, warning that concessioning the college could set a dangerous precedent that might eventually lead to the transfer of the remaining 119 Unity Schools into private hands for the wrong reasons.
The statement called on Nigerians to reject any attempt to privatise the schools, insisting that they remain a national asset that should be preserved for future generations.
ASCSN traced the Unity School system to 1966 when Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, initiated the idea to serve as model secondary schools where children from different ethnic, religious, social and economic backgrounds could study together and foster national unity.
The union stressed that the first three Unity Colleges were established in Okposi (later relocated to Enugu) for the former Eastern Region, Warri for the Western Region, and Sokoto for the Northern Region.
The union said there are now 120 Federal Government Colleges across the country, many of which remain among Nigeria’s most sought-after secondary schools because of the quality of education they provide.
The ASCSN chronicled the attempts to phase out the schools, alleging that former Head of State and later President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, first advanced the idea in 1978 that the Federal Government should not operate secondary schools.
According to the union, the policy resurfaced during Obasanjo’s civilian administration beginning in 1999, including efforts to dismantle the junior secondary sections of the Unity Schools as part of a broader plan to phase out the system.
It added that in July 2010 the then-President Goodluck Jonathan directed the restoration of the junior secondary sections, thereby preserving the Unity School system.
The ASCSN argued that privatising the schools would also contradict Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which outlines the government’s responsibility to provide free and universal education at various levels.
Grounding its argument in global antecedents, the union cited the United States which operates between 20,000 and 24,000 publicly funded secondary schools, the United Kingdom has about 4,200 publicly funded secondary schools, while Germany runs approximately 8,900 state-owned schools.
“These schools are publicly funded and managed. Since these are capitalist societies, we do not know where Nigerian politicians got the idea that government cannot run secondary schools,” the union stated.
It maintained that Old Boys’ Associations and private investors interested in operating secondary schools should establish their own institutions instead of seeking control of Unity Schools, which are the collective heritage of all Nigerians.
The ASCSN further warned that handing the schools over to private entrepreneurs could ultimately lead to the conversion of school facilities and their vast land holdings into hotels, shopping malls and other commercial ventures driven by profit.
The union called on the Federal Government to abandon any plan to privatise or concession Unity Schools and instead preserve and strengthen them as a lasting national legacy established by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and sustained by successive administrations
By Nick Ibe, Abuja
NUC-approved landmark project of National Mosque Imam, Prof. Ibrahim Maqari has commenced admissions for the 2026/27 academic year.
This development has made history in Nigeria’s education landscape.
The National Universities Commission, NUC, granted operating licence to Tazkiyah University, the first female-only university in the country in 2025.
The approval, which came alongside eight other new private institutions, spotlights the man behind it, Sheikh Professor Ibrahim Ahmad Maqari, Deputy Chief Imam of the National Mosque, Abuja, and one of Nigeria’s Islamic scholars.
Located in Zaria, Kaduna State, Tazkiyah University is envisioned as a higher institution dedicated exclusively to female students, with prospects of employing an all-female faculty,
Prof. Maqari, who announced the development on his Facebook page, said the university would serve both as a centre of academic excellence and as a moral project for social change.
According to him, profits from the institution would not be pocketed but channelled into a trust fund to support orphans across Nigeria.
“This is a trust from Allah and an amanah (sacred responsibility). The dream is to give women a platform for empowerment through knowledge, and to secure a future for children who have no parents to provide for them.”
Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa, while announcing the new licences, listed Tazkiyah among nine newly approved private universities. Others are Leadership University, Abuja; Jimoh Babalola University, Kwara State; Bridget University, Imo State; Greenland University, Taraba State; JEFAP University, Niger State; Azione Verde University, Imo State; Unique Open University, Lagos State; and American Open University, Ogun State.
Although Tazkiyah’s permanent site is planned for Kaduna metropolis, its take-off campus will be in Zaria before relocating fully.
Education
More Funds for NELFUND As Tinubu Redirects EFCC-recovered Funds, Unclaimed Dividends to Loan Body
By isa Abdul, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has taken hold steps to make the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, financially heft by directing that recovered funds from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, be diverted to it to meet its growing funding obligations.
Dr Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, disclosed this Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting.
The Federal Executive Council also approved a presidential directive that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund be channelled to NELFUND, he added. The move is to make the fund financially buoyant enough to meet its expanding obligations to Nigerian students. He announced that:
“The president, in his benevolence, has now directed that all funds recovered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission be diverted to NELFUND to continue to support its funding.
“This was also approved by FEC: that all unclaimed dividends from the Capital Market Trust Fund and the Dormant Account Trust Fund should also be directed to NELFUND, so that NELFUND will be financially buoyant to meet its growing obligations today.
“Note, and the President was very clear, not ceased properties, or recovered looted funds, but liquid funds, from the EFCC will now be transferred to NELFund.“
The minister said the directive was consistent with a campaign promise President Tinubu made to ensure access to education for Nigerian students.
He noted that the funds will include unencumbered monies which are not under legal contention.
–SUBEB Teachers Protest Contempt of Court Judgment, Accuse Grace Adagba of ‘Dribbling’ Them_
By Felix Umande
It was a rainy morning, placards and pain in Makurdi on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, as a group known as “Aggrieved Primary School Teachers under SUBEB” staged a protest in the Benue State capital to demand implementation of a 2024 court judgment on the Federal Government’s harmonized retirement age for teachers.
The protesters, most of them elderly men and women, some with their children in tow, marched to government offices to express what they described as “years of injustice, unlawful retirement and salary denial” by the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB.
Addressing journalists during the protest, Chairman of the group, Comrade Kpandegh Dennis, said the teachers were fighting for their right to remain in service for 5 additional years as approved by the Federal Government with effect from January 1, 2021.
Comrade Dennis recalled that while some states had implemented the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act 2022, Benue under former Governor Samuel Ortom allegedly implemented it “the other way round” by secretly paying selected teachers while retiring others.
“We instituted a legal action. And by the grace of God, we won the case on the 30th of April, 2024,” he said.
According to the judgment delivered by Hon. Justice E. D. E. Isele, the court declared that the claimants “are still in the employment of the Defendants and due for retirement upon attainment of the chronological age of 65 years or 40 years of pensionable service.”
The court also ordered SUBEB “to restore the names of the Claimants on the payroll… and to compute and pay to the Claimants their respective salaries and allowances due from the date of their purported retirement.”
The teachers accused the immediate past acting SUBEB Chairman, Mzaga Iorhemba, of forcing them into “unlawful retirement” and diverting their salaries. “You will receive alert, the money will not hit your account. So we had pay slips, no salary for such people,” Dennis alleged.
Following a petition to Governor Hyacinth Alia on October 17, 2023, the governor removed Mzaga and directed the current SUBEB Chairman, Dr. Grace Adagba, to resolve the matter.
Dennis said Dr. Adagba conducted screenings on March 14, 2024 and again on February 27-28, 2025, but “after the screening, none of us were reinstated. She dumped us and carried other persons.”
He further alleged that after the teachers’ counsel filed a motion for contempt of court, the then Attorney-General, Fidelis Mnyim, intervened and pleaded for an out-of-court settlement within 30 days. “As soon as the matter came down low, the woman started firing us again,” he said.
The group also referenced a resolution from the Tor Tiv which they said SUBEB has ignored.
With rain-soaked clothes and children by their side, the protesters appealed directly to Governor Alia and the Federal Government:
“Our appeal to government is that because Grace doesn’t want us to continue with our job — though the court has given us our right, our 5 years is intact — let them pay our 5 years to us to go and settle with our family.
“As you can see us, because of the rain, we are caught up. If not, we planned that we will come out with our children. See this small one is not up to 18 years. We have nothing to chop. We have served this state!”
In its April 30, 2024 judgment, the court granted the following reliefs:
- Declaration; that the claimants have not attained retirement age and remain staff of SUBEB until 65 years or 40 years of service.
- Order; directing SUBEB to restore the claimants to the payroll and pay all outstanding salaries and allowances from the date of purported retirement.
- Injunction; restraining SUBEB from further tampering with the claimants’ employment.
- Cost; of N1,000,000 awarded to the claimants. The claim for general damages was refused.
As of press time, SUBEB Chairman Dr. Grace Adagba was yet to respond to the allegations.
The protesters vowed to sustain their agitation until the state government complies fully with the court judgment.
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