The 104 Federal Government colleges, also known as Unity Colleges spread across the country are gasping for breath, as they contend with existential issues, checks by Vanguard have revealed.
This is just as an outbreak of Diphtheria has hit the famous King's College in Lagos, with some students falling victims.
The outbreak of the disease in the school followed the startling discovery by the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, when he visited the college a few weeks ago where he met run-down facilities, disoriented workforce and students studying under very deplorable conditions.
Before his visit, the college had been without public power supply for eight months.
Among the challenges facing the unity colleges are overcrowded classrooms and hostels, poor power supply, poor feeding of students, lack of qualified teachers among others.
Outbreak of Diphtheria at Kings College
Vanguard gathered that due to over-crowding in classrooms and hostels, coupled with unsanitary condition of facilities, diphtheria broke out in the college few days ago. One student has been reported dead as a result, and some others have been hospitalized.
The alarming rate of infection forced the school authorities to design a consent form for parents to allow their children be immunized against the disease.
Federal Ministry of Education gives update
When Vanguard contacted the Federal Ministry of Education, FME, its Director of Public Affairs Folasade Boriowo, on phone, she confirmed the development, adding that necessary steps were taken by the Ministry and the management of the college.
"The students were promptly taken to the hospital and treated. The management of the college has also visited the family of the deceased student. Now, the students have been immunized and they now use face masks to prevent further spread of the disease. The situation is under control," she stated.
How unity colleges started
The first set of what could be termed unity colleges were established by the colonial government in the 1920s with the establishment of Barewa College, Kaduna, King's College, Lagos, Government College, Ughelli, Government College, Ibadan and Government College, Zaria.
However, following the contentious general elections of 1964, the Federal Government in 1966, set up "Interregional Secondary Schools" in each of the then three regions.
The schools were located in Okposi, for the East, Sokoto for the North and Warri for the Western Region.
The Federal Military Government in 1973 established more colleges in Ilorin, Ikot-Ekpene, Kaduna, Kano, Jos, Odogbolu, and Port Harcourt. In 1974, all girls federal secondary schools were opened in Abuloma, Bauchi, Bida, Benin, Calabar, Gboko, New Bussa, Owerri, and Oyo and in 1975, similar schools were established in Bakori, Gusau, and Kazaure. The number of such colleges has risen to 104 nationwide. The purpose of the Unity Colleges is to promote national unity by bringing students from different ethnic and religious backgrounds together.
Issues at the colleges - Poor funding
Generally, poor funding has always been the bane of the education sector in Nigeria. Being under the purview of the Federal Ministry of Education, FME, the colleges also suffer the fate of poor and inadequate funding.
Even the amount budgeted for the colleges are not always fully released.
It was gathered that in most instances, the colleges hardly get up to 40 per cent of their budgetary allocations.
For instance, in 2016, out of the N13.7 billion budgeted for the colleges, only N5 billion, which was 36 percent of the sum, was released to the colleges. The situation was described as embarra-ssing by the then Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu.
To boost revenue that would accrue to the colleges, the Federal Government in 2023, increased the tuition fee payable by the students from N45,000 to N100,000 per annum.
Over-crowded classrooms, hostels
There are two Federal Government colleges in Kwara State in Ogidi, Ilorin and Omu-Aran.
Vanguard gathered that increasing yearly students intakes, without commensurate infrastructure is putting serious strain on the colleges.
Unlike in the 1970s when the colleges were established with four arms per class, there are now eight arms, A-H, at both junior and secondary school levels.
"We now have eight arms in junior secondary school with average of 35 to 40 students and SS2 has nine arms with an average of 40 to 45 students. Also, SS1 has eight arms with an average of 55 students," said the Immediate past Chairperson of the Old students association of the school, Prof. Mutiat Adebanke Balogun.
At the Federal Government Girls College, Omu-Aran in Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, a staff, who craved anonymity, told Vanguard that the college similarly has challenges of classrooms and hostel accommodation.
"There is immense pressure on the infrastructure of the college, which is not commensurate with increasing number of students being admitted to the college yearly.
"The old excellent academic performance of products of the college still persists, so there is increasing number of students being admitted to the school. A classroom meant for 40 students now has 55 students. Similarly, a hostel apartment meant for eight students, now takes 12 students. The over-crowded hostels also lack basic amenities."
We defecate in the bush - Students
The Federal Government College, Enugu is presently in a sorry state. Apart from the recent bullying scandal in the school that went viral and is still very much in practice, the school has other multiple issues.
One of them is that the female hostels don't have toilet facilities.
One of the female students in a junior class (name withheld) confirmed that "we just defecate in a cellophane bag and go and throw it into the bush."
The hostels are nothing to write home about either. Boarders don't have cupboards, no mattresses and the provision of water is a big issue.
Students live in darkness
When the Education Minster visited King's College in February this year, he was told by the principal, Magaji Zakariyau, that for eight months, the school had been without connection to the national grid, as they were sourcing power through other means.
This is because the college was owing the Eko Electricity Distribution Company over N70 million.
"When I resumed here, the college was owing over N50 million to Eko Disco and our electricity bill monthly was between N8 and N12 million and there is no way we can raise such money internally. Now, we are owing over N70 million and we are also placed on Band A category," Magaji told the Minister.
PTA teachers earn N40,000 monthly
Due to inadequate teaching staff, most of the colleges have had to do with ad-hoc teachers usually engaged by the Parents/Teachers Association, PTA. Such teachers are dubbed PTA Teachers and earn about N40,000 monthly.
Apart from the inability of such teachers to put in their best, the issue of raising money to pay them has become a source of sleaze among leaders of some PTA bodies.
For instance, at the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos, efforts by some parents to call the immediate past leadership of the PTA to order over alleged fraud in the administration of the PTA Levy to pay teachers, led to some parents having their wards and children suspended.
In fact, one of the suspended students was never recalled and after about a year, his father, took the matter to court. The matter is now before the Court of Appeal in Lagos.
Situations across some states
The two unity colleges in Plateau State, the Federal Government College, FGC, Jos and the Federal Government Girls' College, FGGC, Langtang, are in bad shape.
At the FGC, Jos, power supply is so bad that recently, some old students had to donate solar panels to light up the school.
An old boy, Agabus Pwanagba lamented the deterioration saying, "the standard has dwindled, the infrastructure are dilapidated, there is no discipline, and the students are unable to keep the environment clean. Maybe the Federal Government doesn't give the desired attention to unity schools again.
"Some parts of the school environment are not properly lighted so we recently donated solar power. The Federal Government should pay attention to unity schools because these are schools that have united Nigerians."
The Federal Government Girls College, Imiringi in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State could be described as one of the lucky unity schools in the federation that enjoy constant power supply from the Shell gas-powered plant that supplies electricity to Imiringi community, host to the SPDC Kolo Creek Logistics Base.
Also, the school which also boasts ICT and mini tech hub is wearing a new look as its structures were recently painted to give the complex a face-lift. Security around its dormitories was recently reinforced. During school hours the students are hardly seen outside their classrooms.
The school premises is also well-illuminated at night by the NDDC street lights under the commission's Light-up Niger Delta community scheme, making the serene complex a conducive environment for learning.
The story is however slightly different at the Federal Government College, Odi in Kolokuma-Opokuma LGA which relies on the PHED for electricity supply, which is epileptic.
The school which today boasts of staff quarters and vast improvement when compared to its early days, has a standby generator which supplies electricity from 7 pm until lights-out at 10 pm in the event of public power outage.
A parent's experience
A parent in one of the schools in Lagos State, told Vanguard what the major issues are and what the experiences of parents are.
"For students in the hostels, poor feeding is the order of the day. The hostels are more than over-crowded. Parents supplement the feeding of the students. The ministry approved N5,000 as PTA Levy from which we are to pay PTA Teachers and do other things, but the leadership of the PTA gradually increased it to N10,000 and now are contemplating raising it to N13,000.
"The issue therein is the lack of accountability. In most of the colleges, PTA leaders collude with principals who demand their own cuts from the money raised through the PTA levies. Now, we are hearing that a principal is demanding N14 million from the money raised. If you don't give such a principal, he would raise issues and get the PTA leadership dissolved," Babatunde (other name withheld) said.
He added that parents are made to buy cleaning materials like rake, disinfectants, soaps, A4 paper costing as much as N15,000 per term.
Complaints galore by parents[
A look at comments by parents on some PTA platforms of some of the colleges revealed deep-seated anger regarding the manner some leaders and school management run the PTA.
Here are some of the comments:
"Some parents should stop coming to the platform to suggest in whatever guise that additional monies be paid to PTA for food. How do you explain that previous PTA executives in FGC, Lagos collected N7,500 and in all their expenditures, never did they mention any amount spent to buy foodstuff to support the school in feeding the students.
"All you hear is diesel for school, salaries for PTA teachers and all that, and you see parents clapping for them. Presently, the current PTA exco collects N10,000 as levy, and if judiciously spent, while prioritising the welfare of the students, nothing should stop them from buying foodstuffs in form of bags of rice, vegetable oil and cartons of spaghetti from time to time to complement whatever the school provides for the students.
"After all, at the PTA meeting before the election where the N10,000 levy was agreed and adopted, increase in provision of food for the students was a major reason why the amount was accepted by parents.
"For those of us, who are wondering how possible is it for PTA to assist the school with additional food stuffs with N10,000 levy, yes it is very possible. I have said it before on this platform, that at Federal Government Girls College, Sagamu, where I am a PTA member, we pay N8,500 and what the PTA executives do, is from time to time, provide the school with additional 20 bags of rice, 20 gallons of 25-litres vegetable oil and cartons of spaghetti to complement the school's effort. And the students are well-fed with good nourishing foods in quality and quantity. You hardly see parents on the platform of the school's PTA complaining about feeding of their children. It can also be replicated in this school if they want to."
On another platform, a parent complained about the paper his ward was asked to bring to school.
"Good afternoon my fellow parents, my ward informed me today that the A4 paper he submitted was rejected because it is 75 grammes not 80 grammes. I was shocked when he told me, I remembered the stress I went through getting the paper, the 80g was very scarce. I told my son not to bother himself because I am not ready to buy another paper. He said they told them that except if their guardians can stand in for them and promise that they will buy another paper (80g). I don't really understand and I am very tired of all these their protocols."
NAPTAN calls for improvement
Meanwhile, parents under the aegis of the National Parents/Teachers Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, have expressed disgust at the state of facilities in unity colleges in the country.
Their stance is coming on the heels of recent developments in some of the schools across the country.
Speaking in a chat with this paper, National President of NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, said if King's College, an elite school among the unity colleges could be in such a bad situation, the conditions of other colleges should be better imagined.
"We have been calling for adequate attention to education in the country. No nation can develop beyond the level and state of its education system. If unity colleges that are deemed to be special schools are in such deplorable state, what do we expect to see in other schools?
"A visit to any of our public schools would reveal over-crowded classrooms, broken down and inadequate furniture and other items. The teachers are not enough and it has been the PTA in many instances that employ teachers to fill the gap. When they are talking about the state of facilities, that affects the welfare of students and their teachers too.
"We are appealing to the government to please pay adequate attention to the education sector. We appreciate some steps being taken by the government but more efforts still must be put in place to make things better. The food being served students in the hostels is not good enough. We are also using this opportunity to call on state governments to co-operate with the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, in funding of projects and payment of counterpart funds," he said.
Danjuma also charged the management of the colleges to also make judicious use of funds allocated to the colleges.
We will restore their lost glory - Minister
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has, however, given the assurance that the Federal Government will restore the lost glory of the unity colleges.
Speaking in an interview at the Yaba College of Technology, YABATECH, during a visit some days after his experience at King's College, he described the schools as national legacies.
"The unity colleges are national legacies which we will not allow to go to rot. We will surely preserve them and restore them. They were established for a purpose and the Bola Tinubu administration will ensure they live up to expectations. We will get the resources needed to fix things in the colleges. All the lapses will surely be fixed.
"We are also going to get the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, to assist in getting resources for the upgrade of facilities and the provision of new ones in the colleges. They are our legacies and heritage and we are going to preserve them," he stated.
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