Parents and other stakeholders of King’s College, Lagos, have mobilised for a mass protest against the Federal Government’s decision to concession the 116-year-old institution to the King’s College Old Boys’ Association, KCOBA.

The Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association, Peter Oluwaseye, said the protest was necessary because parents, some senior civil servants and members of the community were opposed to the concession.

Oluwaseye argued that King’s College remained public property and should not be taken over by its old students. He maintained that KCOBA should support the school through donations rather than seek control of its management.

The controversy followed an announcement by KCOBA President, Kashim Ibrahim-Imam, that the Federal Government had approved the concession of the college to the association.

The old boys subsequently launched a N100 billion endowment fund aimed at improving infrastructure and repositioning the institution. Among the early contributors were First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, who donated N10 million, and Ibrahim-Imam, who pledged N1 billion. Former Board of Trustees Chairman, Philip Asiodu, and the association’s new Board Chairman, Femi Okunnu, each donated N100 million.

According to KCOBA, the concession would support infrastructure development, teacher training, digital technology, scholarships, research, innovation and students’ welfare.

Ibrahim-Imam said the arrangement was not a privatisation of the school, stressing that ownership would remain with the government. He described it instead as a new governance framework that would allow KCOBA to work with the government to modernise and sustain the institution.

However, the parents maintained their opposition, insisting that the college should remain under public control and warning that they would resist any attempt to concession the institution.