The workers gathered at the ministry’s entrance as a motorcade reportedly conveying Alausa arrived at the premises, with protesters chanting “Alausa must go” and preventing vehicles from gaining access.
The action came a day after workers at King’s College, Lagos, also blocked members of the school’s Old Boys’ Association from entering the institution over the Federal Government’s concession arrangement.
The dispute centres on the Federal Government’s decision to transfer the management of King’s College to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association, KCOBA, under a public-private partnership arrangement.
The Federal Government maintains that the arrangement is a concession and not a sale or privatization of the 117-year-old institution.
According to the Ministry of Education, the government will retain legal ownership and regulatory oversight, while KCOBA will finance, rehabilitate, operate and maintain the school under the agreement.
The ministry has also said the arrangement was designed to address the school’s infrastructure and operational needs, with KCOBA expected to fund improvements covering classrooms, laboratories, hostels, libraries, healthcare facilities, sports infrastructure, utilities and other areas.
The government said admissions would continue under applicable Federal Unity College policies and that the agreement does not prescribe an automatic increase in school fees.
However, education-sector unions have rejected the arrangement and questioned the proposed transfer of management of a Federal Unity College to an alumni association. They have demanded that the concession be reversed and have previously called for Alausa’s removal.
The unions intensified their action in September, directing workers in Federal Unity Colleges across the country not to resume academic activities for the 2026/2027 session until their concerns over King’s College were addressed. The directive affected more than 100 Federal Unity Colleges nationwide.
Also Read: FG seeks compromise over King’s College concession
On September 10, the Joint Workers Union also threatened to shut down the ministry and all 115 Federal Unity Colleges if the government failed to reverse the decision.
The unions raised additional concerns over staff welfare, administrative practices and what they described as the outsourcing of some ministry activities to consultants.
The crisis prompted a meeting between Alausa and organized labour on September 14. The engagement involved the Trade Union Congress, TUC, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria and other affiliated unions, with the minister assuring workers that the government would address their concerns through dialogue.
Following the meeting, TUC General Secretary Nuhu Toro directed affiliated unions to suspend industrial action over the King’s College concession.
However, subsequent reports indicated that some education-sector workers rejected the suspension and maintained their opposition to the arrangement, leaving the dispute unresolved.
The disagreement was further heightened on Tuesday when King’s College workers and parents prevented KCOBA representatives from entering the school for a press briefing on the concession.
KCOBA President Kashim Ibrahim-Imam subsequently addressed journalists outside the school, insisting that the arrangement did not amount to a sale of the institution.
Ibrahim-Imam said the association’s objective was to rehabilitate and develop the school rather than take ownership of it.
He also said teachers who opted to remain under the new arrangement would have their salaries and allowances doubled, while those who did not wish to remain could retain their status as Federal Ministry of Education employees and be transferred to other Federal Government schools.
The latest blockade at the ministry headquarters signals that tensions between the government and sections of its workforce remain unresolved despite recent talks and the TUC’s call for a suspension of industrial action.
With the disagreement now affecting the ministry’s operations and the reopening of Federal Unity Colleges, further engagement between the government and the unions is expected to determine whether the King’s College concession proceeds under the approved framework or whether the Federal Government revisits aspects of the arrangement.
Daily Post
