FGC Ikot Ekpene Alumni Donate To Alma Mater As Obasanjo
 Makes Emphatic Statement on Unity Schools
 30th OCT 2006

As President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday laid to rest the controversy surrounding the sale of unity schools in the country, saying emphatically that the Federal Government will not sell any of its educational institutions, the United Kingdom Chapter of Federal Government Ikot Ekpene welcomed its Secretary, Uwem Inyang, from a visit to its alma mater.

The President of Nigeria, at the Presidential Forum on Education held at the Banquet Hall of Aso Rock Presidential Villa, stated that "the education ministry has to be reformed for it to successfully carry out the reform of education." He further said, "we are not selling any educational institution. Education is a service and it will remain so, but we want to get value for money. We want to manage it well. We want to ensure that it gets quality. We want to ensure that it favours us at the end of it. Education is so serious and so important that we must all put our eyes on it. "President Obasanjo added that "the ownership of unity schools will not change. The Federal Government owns the unity schools. That will not change. Management will be PPP because to me, if you are managing, and I am regulating, and I am monitoring, we are part of management".

Mr Uwem Inyang (left) presenting the computers to Mr
Ajoku (Vice Principal of the school)

The news coincides with the donation of computers and printer by the UK Chapter of the FGC Ikot Ekpene Alumni to its alma mater.  The Secretary of the UK Chapter, Mr Uwem Inyang, who made the presentation to the school said “the government has failed woefully in either releasing the funds or making sure that the funds were actually utilised for the acclaimed purpose. Privatising will ensure many students drop out not because of academic inability but financial constraints. The very aim of having unity schools is to ensure that pupils from all ethnic background can mix together at an early formative stage of their lives and reject tribalism, religious bias and territorial dichotomy.”

His thoughts were echoed by the President of the UK Chapter of the alumni association, Eze Umezuruike, who said “ President Obasanjo’s statement has brought some clarity to the Unity privatisation matter. It would have been a major mistake to privatise Unity schools. The PPP arrangement needs to been given serious thought prior to deciding whether it should be adopted. It has not always yielded the best results. Fact is, education is grossly under-funded in Nigeria and has not been a priority of the government. The current budget allocation of N186 billion to education is encouraging.” He further added, “There were not many schools other than Unity schools, in my time, that offered the sense of unity Nigerian kids from varied backgrounds enjoyed at FGCs and FGGCs. One had the opportunity to build genuine bonds and friendships with people at an age when there tribe or creed mattered not. What the government needs to do is make that quality of education we had at the FGCs, available to all young Nigerians as a minimum. This is about making our youths more competent and competitive in the future for our nation. There are huge economic implications of under-funding education. For Nigeria to compete globally in the future, the youths need the right quality of education. I am proud of what we (the alumni association) have achieved, but there is a limit to what alumni associations can do. The right policies need to be adopted by the government”.

A recent report published by the Federal Ministry of Education showed that the pass rate of Unity schools in the WASCE examinations is under 50 percent. Only about 15 percent of Unity school students passed (that is scored five credits including English and Mathematics) in the WASCE in the past 5 years according to the Education Minister. In that period funding is said to have increased fivefold. However, it is difficult to see where the money has been spent.

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