Defence minister tells unity school alumni to help fix education
- General Christopher Musa urged old students of Federal Unity Colleges to fund and repair their former schools.
- He spoke in Abuja at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Unity Schools Old Students Association.
- Alumni leaders admitted standards have fallen and pledged to track spending in the schools.
Old students of Nigeria's Federal Unity Colleges have been asked to step in and help repair the schools that shaped them, as concerns grow about falling standards in public secondary education.
The call came on Saturday in Abuja at the 50th anniversary plenary and annual general meeting of the Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA), the umbrella body for alumni of the colleges run by the Federal Ministry of Education.
Minister of Defence General Christopher Musa, who was represented by Major General Garba Abdullahi, said the alumni network is a national asset that should use its money and reach to lift education and prepare young Nigerians for security and technology challenges ahead.
Musa said the schools have spent more than six decades mixing students from different ethnic groups, faiths and regions, and that this shared experience is a defence against division.
You are living proof that our diversity is not a point of vulnerability but our greatest collective strength,
he said, according to a statement on the event.
He warned that the country cannot keep living on the achievements of past graduates, arguing that security and the quality of education are closely linked. He asked the alumni to set up endowment funds to build and maintain laboratories, libraries and hostels, so the schools depend less on tight government budgets.
Alumni admit standards have fallen
USOSA President-General Michael Magaji, who is preparing to hand over, said the 50th anniversary was a moment to look back and to do more for education. He described his time in office as service rather than a position.
He said the association has grown into a national network with a strong presence abroad, including in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, and has partnered with the civic group BudgIT to track spending and improve accountability in the unity schools.
The keynote speaker, Ibom Air managing director George Uriesi, said the schools once offered a world-class education and gave children from across Nigeria the chance to meet at a young age. He said overcrowding and other changes have weakened that experience, to the point where some alumni no longer trust the schools with their own children.
Uriesi urged the association to think beyond single schools. Fixing the whole unity school system, he said, should be the goal, with results measured over the next 20 years.
For parents, the message matters because the unity schools were set up to bring young Nigerians from different parts of the country together to learn and build friendships. If their standards keep sliding, families who hoped to send their children to the same schools they attended may look elsewhere.
What happens next
The association has not announced how much money it plans to raise or when repairs will start. Its partnership with BudgIT suggests parents and alumni should expect more public scrutiny of how funds for the schools are spent.
