The federal government on Wednesday, September 16, suspended the implementation of the concession arrangement for King’s College, Lagos, with the old boys’ association of the school for two weeks.
The two-week suspension of the implementation was part of resolutions reached at the end of an emergency meeting held by Tunji Alausa, minister of education, with labour unions at the federal ministry of education.
The parties at the meeting also agreed on the immediate suspension of all industrial action over the King’s College concession.
It was also agreed that no staff would be victimised for participating in any industrial action over the dispute.
Other agreements include redeployment of policemen from the college premises, while a seven-man committee was set up to further discuss the concession arrangement with the King’s College Old Students Association (KCOBA).
In recent weeks, parents and teachers of the college have staged protests against attempts by KCOBA to take over the school’s management in furtherance of the arrangement reached with the government.
The tension grew on Monday when unity colleges officially resumed, and members of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) declared industrial action, disrupting resumption across unity colleges nationwide.
However, Alausa summoned an emergency meeting with the workers’ union, including the leadership of the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
Following the meeting, the TUC urged ASCSN to suspend the industrial action, while Alausa called on all staff and students of unity colleges to resume the following day.
However, King’s College staff and parents blocked members of KCOBA from accessing the school for any activity.
The development degenerated into a fracas, prompting the intervention of men of the Lagos police command, who have been deployed to the school premises.
Alausa said the government had invited the aggrieved unions for further discussions, subject to the condition that ministry workers return to their offices and the ministry gates are not blocked.
The minister said the proposed arrangement with KCOBA was intended to mobilise additional resources to rehabilitate and modernise King’s College while retaining government ownership of the institution.
He, however, said the government would not extend the concession arrangement to other unity colleges.
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