Posted by By Onyedi Ojiabor, Segun Olugbile and Babatunde Oke on
Activities at the Federal Government Colleges nationwide were paralysed on Monday due to the strike embarked upon by workers in the institutions.
Activities at the Federal Government Colleges nationwide were paralysed on Monday due to the strike embarked upon by workers in the institutions.
Workers of the 102 unity schools began an indefinite strike to protest an alleged plan to privatise the institutions.
The National President of the Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, Mr. Olukunle Olaitan, mobilised the workers to embark on the strike.
But the Minister of Education, Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, at a workshop on Monday, said there was no plan to privatise the schools.
"Nobody wants to sell unity schools. It is purely a distortion of information," she insisted at the science and technology education post-basic project workshop in Abuja.
The minister explained that as part of the reform initiative in the sector, the government would introduce public/private management model to the schools.
"How do you explain the fact that only 13 per cent in the unity schools pass the West African Examinations Council? It is unbelievable," Ezekwesili added.
Our correspondent, who visited the Federal Government Girls' College, Bwari, found the gate of the institution locked.
A teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the decision to go on strike was taken on Thursday at a meeting of the Northern Zone of the SCSN.
He said the strike became imperative "so that we can save our jobs."
"We have been informed that the management of the unity schools will be handed over to private people. We don‘t know what will become our fate," he added.
At the Federal Government College, Kwali, the situation was the same.
Students of the college were seen loitering in the school premises.
While some Federal Government colleges complied with the directive to shun work, others did not.
For instance, a teacher at the Federal Government Girls' College, Omu-Aran, Kwara State, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent on the phone that the strike did not have any effect in the school.
However, when our correspondents visited Kings' College, Queens' College and the Federal Government College, Ijanikin, all in Lagos State, the teachers were not teaching.
Though none of them was ready to disclose their names, they insisted that the strike would continue until the leadership of the union directed them to to call it off.
Meanwhile, Ezekwesili on Monday said science and technology remained a major pivot in the quest for transforming the country into one of the largest economies in the world by 2020.
She said this at the science and technology education post-basic project workshop in Abuja.
She also urged vice-chancellors to take more interest on how to improve the products of secondary schools.