By Joseph Erunke, Abuja
ABUJA — The crisis over the planned concession of King’s College, Lagos, deepened on Monday as the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, was alleged to have declined to come to the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja to meet protesting workers, amid threats by the unions to disrupt the resumption of Federal Government Unity Colleges nationwide.
The fresh development came as angry workers under the Joint Workers Committee of Unions, JWC, shut down the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters, barricading the main entrance and preventing officials and other workers from gaining access to the premises.
A union leader who participated in negotiations with the ministry told Vanguard that Alausa had initially agreed to meet the protesting workers at the ministry but later informed them that he could not come to the premises and instead proposed a meeting at the headquarters of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund.
The unions, however, rejected the proposal, insisting that they would only meet the minister at the ministry’s headquarters.
According to the union leader, “He (Minister) pleaded to meet with us. He pleaded with the national body. So, the national body came to plead with us and said we should give him a hearing so that we can hear him out.
“Initially, our national executive members promised to come today but the minister later said that they should not come to the ministry, that they should come to TETFund to meet him.”
Asked why the minister would not come to the ministry, the union leader said, “Yes, the minister said he is scared to come to the ministry.”
The workers, he said, subsequently made it clear that they would not move to TETFund, demanding that any invitation from the minister be formally communicated in writing.
“We now told him that we are not coming. That if we must come, he should put it in writing. He should invite us officially by writing,” he said.
The impasse reportedly prompted the national president of the unions to intervene and plead with the workers to give the minister an opportunity to address their grievances.
The union leader said the workers eventually agreed to meet with Alausa, but insisted that the minister must come to the ministry for the engagement.
“Then he called our national president. So, the national president came and pleaded. But they gave him a condition that he must be in the ministry, not outside the ministry,” he said.
According to him, the meeting was expected to hold at 1pm on Tuesday.
The development followed the workers’ decision to shut down the ministry in protest against the reported plan by the Federal Government to concession King’s College to the institution’s Old Boys Association for 35 years.
The unions have accused the ministry of failing to adequately consult workers and other stakeholders before proceeding with the concession process.
They argue that handing over the management of a Federal Government-owned school to an alumni organisation could undermine its public character and create a precedent for similar concessions involving other Federal Government Unity Colleges.
The workers had earlier threatened to extend their action to the colleges themselves, putting the commencement of the new academic term in jeopardy.
The first-term resumption of 112 out of the 115 Federal Government Unity Colleges is now facing uncertainty, following indications that teachers in some schools may join the resistance to the concession plan.
Reports from some locations indicated that workers had also barricaded school entrances, preventing students from commencing academic activities.
The unions have vowed to sustain their action until the Federal Government addresses their grievances, raising fears that the King’s College dispute could snowball into a wider industrial crisis across the Unity Colleges.
The Tuesday meeting between Alausa and the unions is therefore being closely watched, as its outcome could determine whether the workers will suspend their protest or intensify the action, with thousands of students and parents awaiting clarity on the commencement of the new academic session.
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