CITIZENS COMPASS— The Oyo State Chapter of a socialist organisation, Socialist Labour, on Thursday, kicked against the proposed concession of King’s College, Lagos, to its Alumni Association.
In a statement signed by Comrade Ogundele Ayo on behalf of Socialist Labour, Oyo State Chapter,
The statement titled, “King’s College Lagos: hands off public education—No to privatisation and commercialisation!,” the group said the proposed privatisation is a calculated step towards privatising and commercialising public education, and it must be resisted by workers, students, parents and the entire working people of Nigeria.
It reads: Socialist Labour, Oyo State Chapter, condemns in the strongest terms the Federal Government’s proposed concession of King’s College, Lagos, to its Alumni Association. This is not reform; it is a calculated step towards privatising and commercialising public education, and it must be resisted by workers, students, parents and the entire working people of Nigeria.
Education is a fundamental social responsibility of the government, not a marketplace for profit. The proposed arrangement exposes the Federal Government’s attempt to abandon its duty to provide free, accessible and quality public education while shifting the burden onto already impoverished families.
King’s College, Lagos, is one of Nigeria’s foremost educational institutions and part of the historic public educational legacy built by previous generations. At a time when public schools are starved of funds, infrastructure is collapsing, teachers are underpaid and learning conditions are deteriorating, the Federal Government has no justification for handing over a federal institution to any private or semi-private interest. The school must remain publicly owned, publicly funded and democratically accountable.
The question is simple: Who benefits when public education is commercialised?
Not the millions of working-class and poor Nigerian families struggling under the brutal weight of rising food prices, transportation costs, unemployment, insecurity and declining wages.
Commercialisation will force up fees, deepen inequality and shut out children whose parents cannot afford elite private-school charges. It is the poor who will pay while privileged interests gain control of public assets.
Socialist Labour rejects the fraudulent claim that government must abandon public institutions because of inadequate funding. There is money to fund education; what is lacking is political will. Public resources are being wasted, looted and handed to wealthy interests while workers and the poor are told to accept decay. The solution to the crisis of public education is massive public investment—not privatisation, concessions or profit-making schemes.
We demand that the Federal Government immediately withdraw and halt any plan to concession King’s College or convert any Federal Government College into a profit-driven institution. Government must massively fund public education, recruit and properly remunerate teachers, upgrade infrastructure, provide decent learning conditions and guarantee equal educational opportunities for every child, regardless of their parents’ income.
We call on teachers, education workers, parents, students, alumni, trade unions, civil society organisations and all progressive forces to mobilise, organise and resist every attempt to commodify public education. We must not allow public assets built with taxpayers’ money to be quietly transferred into the hands of private profiteers and privileged elites.
Education is a right, not a business.
King’s College belongs to the people, not private profiteers.
Fund public education—do not privatise it!
Hands off our public schools!
