The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has voiced strong opposition to the Federal Government’s reported intention to privatize Unity Schools. The union cautioned that such a move would threaten educational accessibility for many Nigerian families and jeopardize an essential institution for national unity. The controversy stems from a reported Public-Private Partnership arrangement involving King’s College, Lagos, which the union fears could serve as a model for transferring all 120 federal colleges to private hands.
Signed by national leaders Shehu Mohammed and Joshua Apebo, the ASCSN statement emphasizes that these schools were founded in 1966 by Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to promote national integration across ethnic and religious lines. The union highlighted that previous attempts to dismantle the Unity School system, including those under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, were blocked through sustained collective resistance and legal action, eventually leading to a preservation directive by President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010.
The ASCSN argues that privatization contradicts the government’s constitutional obligation to provide public education. By referencing the robust state-funded secondary school systems in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, the union challenged the premise that governments are incapable of managing secondary education. They further warned that privatization could result in the repurposing of valuable educational land for commercial developments like hotels or shopping centers. The union is calling on the administration to drop these plans and focus on strengthening these state-owned institutions as a vital national legacy.
