Alausa: King's College Not Sold, FG Retains Legal Title Under KCOBA Concession Deal

The Federal Government has dismissed reports suggesting that King's College, Lagos, has been sold or privatised, assuring students, parents, staff, alumni, and other stakeholders that the 117-year-old institution remains publicly owned.

Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, gave the clarification while explaining the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) concession agreement between the Federal Government and the King's College Old Boys' Association (KCOBA). He said the agreement transfers neither ownership nor proprietary interest in the school to KCOBA, stressing that the Federal Government retains legal title as well as its statutory regulatory, monitoring, inspection, and enforcement powers.

"Let me assure Nigerians, particularly the King's College community, that this concession is not a sale of King's College. Government has retained legal title to the institution and will continue to exercise its oversight responsibilities," he said.

According to Alausa, the concession was designed to mobilise the financial and management capacity needed to rehabilitate, modernise, and sustain the institution, while preserving its public character and national identity. He explained that the PPP arrangement underwent technical, economic, financial, legal, environmental, and social assessments, as well as value-for-money, fiscal-impact, risk-allocation, and commercial-structuring processes before receiving the necessary regulatory and Federal Executive Council approvals.

Under the agreement, KCOBA is expected to finance, rehabilitate, operate, and maintain the school, including academic and administrative buildings, hostels, staff quarters, laboratories, libraries, dining facilities, health facilities, utilities, and sports and recreational facilities. The programme also provides for new classrooms, laboratories, and hostels, alongside improved sports facilities, learning resources, and digital tools. Alausa said the arrangement was necessary to address the institution's infrastructure and operational challenges and ensure its long-term sustainability. "King's College is an institution with a remarkable history, but preserving that history requires us to invest in its future," he said.

On admissions, the minister said the school would continue to operate within applicable Unity College policies, with merit, transparency, fairness, and national representation maintained. He explained that admission would continue to provide equitable representation from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, subject to merit requirements, while JSS1 admission would remain subject to the prescribed testing and assessment process, with the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) remaining central to the entry framework. Alausa also clarified that the concession agreement does not prescribe an automatic increase in school fees, though it does not establish a permanent fee freeze either.

On staff welfare, Alausa said the agreement contained a Staff Transition and Protection Framework designed to ensure an orderly transition and continuity of teaching, boarding, security, and other essential services. He explained that existing employment obligations, arrears, pensions, gratuities, and other liabilities arising before the transition would remain the responsibility of the Federal Government unless expressly assumed by KCOBA. Following the transition, KCOBA would assume responsibility for relevant operating expenditure, including salaries, benefits, and allowances of personnel engaged under the project, in line with applicable contracts and laws.

The minister further stressed that government oversight would remain intact, with the agreement providing for key performance indicators, infrastructure standards, academic and student-development measures, reporting, audits, inspections, and independent verification. He said government retained corrective and step-in powers in cases of persistent underperformance or serious contractual default. KCOBA would also be restricted from selling, transferring, or disposing of concession assets without the required approvals, while asset stripping and deterioration beyond agreed standards were explicitly prohibited under the deal.

Alausa said the agreement did not provide for a conventional monetary concession fee, noting instead that KCOBA's obligations centred on capital investment, operational funding, infrastructure modernisation, institutional strengthening, and measurable performance benchmarks.

The clarification comes amid reported tension over the concession, with a staff union separately threatening a nationwide shutdown of Unity Colleges over the King's College arrangement, underscoring the sensitivity surrounding the deal even as the Federal Government moves to reassure stakeholders that the historic institution's public status remains unchanged.