The Federal Government has said it will proceed with its planned land swap at the Federal Government College (FGC), Kano, despite opposition.
The government said the project is aimed at raising funds to expand the school and improve its facilities.
The Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Olatunji Alausa, disclosed this during a visit to the school on Monday. He was accompanied by the Minister of State for Education, officials from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), as well as the Kano State Commissioner for Education.
Alausa said the government would make decisions based on what benefits students rather than public sentiment.
“There is no going back. We will do what we think is right for Nigerian children. It is not about sentiment or emotion; it is about giving every child access to the highest quality of education,” he said.
The minister explained that the project would be implemented through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), allowing the government to utilise unused portions of the school’s land to generate funds for new infrastructure.
He said there was no reason to keep land that would remain unused for decades when it could be used to improve education.
“There is no need keeping so many hectares of land that we are not going to use in the next 100 years. If we can mobilise resources through partnerships to improve infrastructure and expand capacity, then we should do so,” Alausa said.
He added that he asked the school’s principal whether the proposal would benefit the college and its students, and the answer was “Yes.”
According to him, the ministry conducted several assessments before approving the plan and did not rely solely on reports from Abuja.
Alausa also invited the school’s old students and other interested investors to participate in the project if they could meet the government’s conditions.