KCOBA DENIES PLAN TO TAKE OVER OWNERSHIP OF KING’S COLLEGE
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By: Fasasi Hammad
The King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) has dismissed allegations that it is seeking to take over ownership of King’s College, Lagos, insisting that the institution remains a public national school.
The association said what would change was the framework for managing, maintaining, financing, modernising and developing the institution.
Chairman of the KCOBA Board of Trustees, Femi Okunnu, SAN, said the proposed arrangement was aimed at restoring the school’s standards and ensuring that it continued to provide quality education in a fair and transparent environment.
“There is no sale. There is no transfer of ownership to KCOBA. The college remains, today and always, a public national institution,” Okunnu said.
He explained that the association was not seeking to acquire the college but to support its management and redevelopment as part of its responsibility to an institution that had produced generations of Nigerians.
“We are not acquiring King’s College. King’s College is not for sale. We are returning to serve it to help manage, support and rebuild the institution that shaped generations of Nigerians. This is a matter of stewardship, of responsibility, of service rendered in gratitude, not a bid for possession,” he added.
Okunnu, however, raised concerns over what he described as long-standing irregularities in the school’s admission process, alleging that places meant for deserving students had, in some cases, been compromised by money and influence.
He also alleged that some admission slots allocated to particular states had been diverted to candidates from other states through improper arrangements.
According to him, investigations and inquiries conducted by the association had established concerns that undermined merit, federal character and access for children from modest backgrounds.
“There has been in the past an established admission racketeering where affluent parents have made monetary payments to secure admissions,” Okunnu alleged.
He further claimed that the alleged diversion of admission slots had contributed to over-admission, saying the school at one point had more than 3,800 students despite having a carrying capacity of about 1,200.
He said the situation had placed excessive pressure on the school’s facilities and affected effective student monitoring and discipline.
Beyond admissions, Okunnu expressed concerns about the state of infrastructure at the institution, alleging that some facilities had deteriorated significantly and required urgent attention.
“Kingsmen have witnessed, and repeatedly raised alarm over, deteriorating infrastructure, poor maintenance, and conditions in parts of the College unworthy of the institution we remember and cherish,” he said.
He added that some buildings and facilities had deteriorated to the point where their structural integrity raised concerns about the safety of students, teachers and other staff.
Okunnu also raised concerns about cases of substance and drug abuse among students, saying such challenges should be addressed through a combination of discipline, counselling, early intervention and improved student welfare.
He further expressed concern over reports of students allegedly asking for money on the school premises because of hunger, describing such reports as troubling and calling for greater attention to students’ welfare.
On the school’s Victoria Island campus, Okunnu alleged that the premises were being operated as a commercial car park for people visiting nearby commercial facilities, including a visa application centre.
He claimed that the arrangement exposed the school to security risks and raised questions about the transparency of revenue generated from the car park.
The KCOBA trustee chairman also questioned the management of levies collected by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), alleging that the funds, which he said run into hundreds of millions of naira, were used for procurement and contracts.
He argued that no stakeholder should control both the collection of substantial levies and the award of contracts financed with the funds without transparent safeguards.
On the proposed management framework, Okunnu said the objective was to build the capacity to professionally and sustainably restore, operate, maintain and develop King’s College.
“It is simple: to build the capacity to restore, operate, maintain and develop King’s College professionally and sustainably. We are not coming to take King’s College. We are coming to help save it,” he said.
He reiterated that KCOBA had no claim to private ownership of the institution and that its public character would remain protected.
According to him, the association’s objective was to strengthen systems, protect school assets, improve student welfare, support teachers and create an environment where academic excellence could thrive.
“This is a not-for-profit mission. Its purpose is not to extract gain from King’s College, but to ensure that every resource serves education and the children who pass through its gates, not personal enrichment,” he said.
Okunnu said the association’s vision was to restore King’s College to an institution with safe buildings, functional laboratories and libraries, reliable digital systems, strong academic standards, disciplined administration, effective student welfare programmes and modern sporting facilities.
He added that the ultimate goal was to ensure that children from modest Nigerian families could aspire to gain admission through a fair and transparent process, with poverty never becoming a barrier to excellence.
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