NAN-H-73
Association
Chinyere Bassey
Lagos, April 10, 2017 (NAN) The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has flayed the call by the Queen’s College Old Students Association for the Federal Government to privatise the college.
The old students made the call, following the deadly outbreak of diarrhoea in the institution.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos on Monday, the Secretary-General of the association, Mr Alade Lawal, said that privatising the college was not in the best interest of the nation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that on Jan. 16, over 16 students of the institution were admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi Araba over complaints relating to diarrhoea.
Three of the students have since died.
Lawal said that it was regrettable that the outbreak of diarrhoea at the college had prompted renewed calls for privatisation of the 104 Unity Schools.
”It is sad that the eyes of the elite have always been on the sale of the 104 Unity Colleges to themselves in the name of privatisation.
”The diarrhoea outbreak in Queen’s College had provided another opportunity for a self-serving agenda,” he stated.
The scribe argued that people wishing to own secondary schools should set up their own, instead of using every opportunity to start a campaign for privatisation of public schools.
He said that the Unity Colleges had continued to excel in examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council.
The labour chief said that the Unity Colleges were set up in the 1960s by the Tafawa Balewa Government to act as unifying institutions for children from various parts of the country.
”Since inception in 1966, the colleges, which had increased from three when it first started to 104, have continued to fulfill those objectives.”
Lawal described the colleges as models for secondary education in the country, nurturing the ideals of the founding fathers.
He wondered why some people would want the schools privatised.
He told stakeholders of Unity Schools to put pressure on government to improve funding and healthcare delivery at the colleges to prevent outbreak of diseases. (NAN)
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Edited by Silas Nwoha