Just as everyone was debating whether or not President Muhammadu Buhari would be able to draw up a list of his ministers before the end of September 2015, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai distracted public attention when he proposed that Federal Government colleges (otherwise known as unity schools) should be sold to private business organisations and state governments. el-Rufai’s proposal was made at a Founders’ Day event celebrated by the King’s College Old Boys Association on Friday, 18 September 2015, when he called on President Muhammadu Buhari to privatise the unity schools.
Quite appropriately, el-Rufai’s proposal was shut down swiftly and vigorously by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN). Alade Bashir Lawal, secretary-general of the organisation, said the suggestion to scrap the Federal Government colleges was anti-democratic as it would “make qualitative secondary education a commodity only for the rich in the country”. He said el-Rufai’s proposal would destroy the main aim of the unity schools that were set up in the 1960s.
The ASCSN expressed his astonishment over the idea that the Federal Government should consider selling the unity schools to state governments when in fact, many state governments are still owing public servants many months of unpaid salaries, not to mention the inability of the state governments to fund secondary and primary schools under their management. Against this background, Lawal said: “What El-Rufai is advocating is the spread of hunger, disease, illiteracy, mediocrity and mass poverty. Thus, instead of urging Buhari to sell the colleges, he should be encouraged to build more of such colleges to accommodate millions of children who cannot find admission into existing secondary schools.”
As an alumnus of the Federal Government College, Warri, I am vehemently opposed to the idea that Federal colleges should be discarded, and handed over to private businesses and state governments to manage. That call will not sit well with many people.
Many graduates of Federal Government colleges and their parents do not share the idea expressed by El-Rufai. The suggestion is not only silly, unwise, unpopular, weird and crazy, it is also unreasonable, illogical, and nonsensical. Rather than abandon the Federal Government college system or hand the management over to state governments and business interests, Buhari should consider improving the level of funding provided to such schools. The rise in the number of Federal Government colleges from the original figure of three in 1966 to the current 104 colleges shows the schools are achieving the objectives for which they were set up.
Suggesting that the Federal Government colleges should be scrapped is analogous to advocating an end to the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. The two schemes share common objectives. Both the Federal Government colleges and the NYSC scheme are intended to encourage and promote national unity among the youths.
For clarity, El-Rufai’s call was not the first time such a suggestion would be tabled in the public domain. When the privatisation debate led by Obiageli Ezekwesili, former Education minister in Olusegun Obasanjo’s government, erupted in 2006, it was argued that about 80 per cent of the Federal Government’s financial provision for secondary education across the country (estimated to be about $300 million) was used up in catering for 122,000 students in the unity schools. On this basis, Ezekwesili argued that “Such heavy expenditure on the elite schools would seem unjustifiable.”
It is alright to talk about the need to reflect equity in the allocation of resources and funds to secondary schools across the country. However, how would private business interests and state governments that would take over Federal Government colleges deal with the problem of imbalance in the allocation of resources? Equity is an idea that appeals to everyone because it is associated with impartiality and justice for all. Nevertheless, the Federal Government must explore practical and rational ways of ensuring equity in schools.
Let us get this point clear. Federal Government colleges are not the reason why the government has failed for decades to find solutions to problems of funding the unity schools, or why the government has failed to provide adequate human and material resources to secondary schools in general.
In 2006, Ezekwesili had argued that “The capacity of the 40-year-old model to achieve the noble dreams of earlier decades in the light of modern Nigeria’s impinging constraints has caused the vision to fossilise.” That was wrong. If anything had become outdated, it is not the concept of Federal Government colleges but the decision of previous governments to starve the schools of funding and essential infrastructure to support science and technology laboratories. Additionally, the quality of teaching and learning in Federal Government colleges has suffered immeasurably for many decades because of recruitment of poor quality teachers, provision of inadequate facilities, and corrupt appraisal of secondary school curriculum to ensure the courses and programmes offered in the unity schools are in accord with modern times.
Indeed, if the benchmark for academic performance or quality teaching has disintegrated in Federal colleges, government must take responsibility for that shortcoming because the government is the general overseer of the institutions. One easy strategy to address problems in the unity schools is to provide acceptable levels of funding and infrastructure to the schools, as well as high quality teachers who will be able to convert the principles of Federal education policy into practical outcomes.
Ever since Federal colleges were established in the late 1960s, they have served as veritable emblems of national unity. Students of the colleges have also established an impressive track record of academic performances in the West African School Certificate Examinations (WASCE) and tests conducted by the National Examination Council (NECO). As Ezekwesili admitted nine years ago during her campaign to turn over the management of the schools to private organisations, “These schools, since they were established 40 years ago, have raised generations of leaders from diverse backgrounds and ethnic groups. The vision of the Unity Schools is a powerful one motivated by a strong desire to build one nation.”
If this was obvious to the minister in 2006, why did she persist in her push for privatisation of the schools? Why did Ezekwesili propose the commercialisation of Federal Government colleges when she understood that doing so would be at variance with the core objectives that underpinned the setting up of the schools? Why would El-Rufai suddenly revive a matter that had since been considered and dumped by Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration in 2007?
Those who encourage the privatisation of the Federal Government colleges argue that corruption, preferential treatment, discrimination, and all manner of social and political ills have destroyed the noble objectives of the colleges. For example, it has been argued that rather than serve as a forum for the education of children of all classes, the current admission system precludes children from poor families from getting admitted into the colleges. Perhaps this is true. Even if this is the case, the best approach would be for the government to put in place mechanisms that would eliminate abuses in the admission system.
If the Federal Government can no longer bear the burden of funding the colleges, if corruption, nepotism, and cronyism have undermined the admission process that was designed to ensure that intelligent students were admitted into the schools regardless of their socioeconomic background, if ethnicity, regionalism, and religious affiliation have destroyed the fundamental objectives that informed the establishment of the unity schools, the best way to deal with the problems is not to privatise the schools.
Government should not throw out the unity schools on the basis that the institutions are becoming too burdensome to administer. If Buhari should accede to the proposal to sell the unity schools, the government would be relinquishing its responsibility to manage the schools and also to promote national unity among the youth.
Handing over the unity schools to private businesses will not solve the problems that have crippled effective management of the schools. Private business interests will not enhance the quality of secondary education across the country. They have no selfless objectives to improve the standards of secondary education. To be clear, private businesses that operate in the secondary education sector are driven by commercial interests and profit motives.
A market-driven Federal Government college system will only serve the interests of the rich and the privileged members of our society. That will be against the spirit and fundamental objectives that informed the establishment of Federal Government colleges. Privatisation will damage rather than improve the effective management and funding model of the unity schools.
If El-Rufai’s eerie call for sale of the Federal Government colleges is motivated by declining quality of education and disruptive behaviour by students of the unity schools, if there are cases of financial misdemeanour and administrative incompetence that have undermined proper management of the schools, the best way to resolve the issues is not to sell the schools to private businesses or state governments that cannot even pay the salaries of workers in their public service.
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