Unity colleges’ resumption grounded amid Kings College concession

Academic activities at the federal government’s 155 unity colleges across the country failed to kick off on Monday, September 14, as parents and guardians nationwide withheld their children from resuming.

Recall that BusinessDay had earlier reported that Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of the federal unity college threatened to resist the resumption of academic activities after the long break, as a pushback against the concession of Kings College, Lagos, to its Old Boys Association.

A nationwide check across federal unity colleges found campuses conspicuously empty of students, signalling the scale of resistance to the policy. This is coming against the federal government’s insistence that all the unity colleges must resume activities today.

Ayopo Somefun, chairman of the Parent Teacher Association of Unity Colleges in the South-West, told our correspondent that the shutdown would persist until the federal government reverses the Kings College concession.

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He warned that allowing the concession to stand would set a precedent for extending the arrangement to other unity colleges, a move he said would undermine the original mandate behind establishing the institutions.

Meanwhile, a visit to other public schools in Lagos by BusinessDay correspondent reveals that most of the schools were visible empty, with few students in attendance.

A visit at Ajumoni Junior and Senior Secondary School, Isolo, Central High School, Okota, and Oke Afa Secondary School, among others, showed that most of the students were visible not in school.

At St. Gregory College, Lagos, the report was not allowed to enter the school premises, and a call to the school authority was to no avail, as they refuse to entertain any discussion.

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