- FG Assures Unity Colleges Will Resume Lessons Monday
By Our Reporter, With Agency Reports
THE NIGERIA Union of Teachers (NUT), Federal Wing, has backed the suspension of resumption in all Federal Unity Colleges nationwide over the concession of King’s College, Lagos, declaring that its members will not resume for the new academic session until the issue is addressed.
The union’s position comes despite the Federal Government’s assurance that all necessary arrangements, including heightened security measures, are in place for the colleges to reopen on Monday, September 14, 2026.
The contrasting positions have created uncertainty over the commencement of the new academic session in the affected schools, with the Federal Government urging families to proceed with preparations for resumption while the teachers’ union backs a suspension declared by education-sector unions.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the assurance of a safe and seamless resumption in a statement issued on Friday by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mrs Folasade Boriowo.
Alausa said the government had put necessary arrangements in place to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students and staff as academic activities resumed across the country.
He said relevant security agencies had been duly informed of the resumption plans and were maintaining heightened vigilance around the Federal Unity Colleges and their immediate environments.
According to the minister, the coordinated security measures are intended to protect students, teachers and other members of the school communities and create a secure and conducive environment for learning.
He therefore urged parents and guardians to remain calm, rely on official information and continue preparations for their children and wards to return to their respective colleges on Monday.
The minister also directed school authorities to maintain close coordination with security agencies and other relevant authorities to ensure an orderly and secure reopening of the institutions.
Alausa called on students, parents, teachers, administrators and other stakeholders to work collectively to maintain peaceful and supportive school environments, stressing that the safety of learners was a shared responsibility.
He added that the Ministry of Education would continue to monitor developments and take whatever measures were necessary, in collaboration with the relevant authorities, to guarantee a smooth and safe resumption.
The minister further reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to strengthening the education system and ensuring that Nigerian children have access to quality education in a safe and conducive environment, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
However, the government’s resumption directive is being challenged by the NUT, Federal Wing, which has thrown its weight behind the suspension of resumption announced by the Joint Congress of Unions of the Federal Ministry of Education.
The NUT Federal Wing Chairman, Mr Emeka Okonta, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday that teachers under the union would not resume for the new academic session until the dispute over the concession of King’s College was addressed.
“We are not resuming. We are in support of the suspension of the resumption,” Okonta said.
He explained that the union’s position was intended to create an opportunity for the unions to engage with the Minister of Education and obtain clarification on the agreement reportedly reached between the Federal Government and the alumni of King’s College concerning the school.
Okonta said teachers were concerned that they had not been adequately informed about the terms and purpose of the arrangement.
He questioned the rationale for conceding what he described as a public institution and expressed concern that allowing the arrangement to stand could create a precedent for similar concessions in other Federal Unity Colleges.
“We want to understand what is the agreement they reached with the old boys or the alumni of King’s College,” he said.
The NUT chairman maintained that the union could not support the concession without sufficient information about the arrangement and called for the decision to be reversed.
The disagreement follows a communiqué issued on Thursday by the Joint Congress of Unions of the Federal Ministry of Education, announcing the suspension of resumption in all Federal Unity Colleges until further notice.
The unions said the action was in protest against the concession of King’s College, Lagos, and demanded that the decision be reversed. They also appealed to stakeholders, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), to support their opposition to the concession.
The affected institutions include Federal Government Colleges, Federal Government Boys’ Colleges, Federal Government Girls’ Colleges and Federal Technical Colleges across the country.
The unions argued that public educational institutions should not be privatised or conceded, while the NUT specifically warned that permitting the King’s College arrangement could encourage similar moves in other Federal Unity Colleges.
