Amid Concession Revolt By Parents, King’s College Plans Big for 117th Anniversary

Mary Nnah                                                             

Despite protests over a controversial public, private partnership (PPP) deal, King’s College, Lagos, is marking its Founder’s Week with what has been described as its boldest line-up of activities yet.

The 117-year-old institution is marking the anniversary under the theme, “Owning the Future, Advancing the King’s College Lagos Legacy.”

The week-long celebration kicked off on Monday with a charged press briefing led by the leadership of King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA).

Addressing journalists, Monday evening, the president of KCOBA, Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Iman, admitted that the timing could not be worse but said the school must still celebrate.

Ibrahim-Iman stated, “We actually agonise over whether to go ahead with this press briefing or not, because there is a very important issue you want us to speak to – the PPP arrangement between King’s College and the federal government.”

He revealed that the man expected to answer the burning questions, Alhaji Femi Okunnu, SAN, President of King’s College and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, could not attend after losing his younger brother.

A full world press conference was scheduled for September 15, at 1pm at King’s College, Lagos, to address the concession directly.

“Please, bear with us. We will address every single issue. There will be no question left unanswered,” Ibrahim-Iman pleaded. “I sleep King’s College. I wake up King’s College. My contributions have practically bankrupted me,” he said.

King’s Week 2026 is going full throttle from September 14 to September 20.

Chairman of the 2026 King’s Week Planning Committee, Sir Gbolahan Olayomi, said the coincidence was almost prophetic.

Olayomi stated, “Our college was founded on September 20th, 1909. And we are here in the week of September 20th celebrating our 117th anniversary and at the same time taking charge of the management of our college.”

The activities for the week began with yesterday’s press conference and will continue tomorrow with a double bill. First, the world press conference with Okunnu, and then at 3pm a global virtual conference on Zoom under the same theme, featuring speakers from the diaspora.

The celebration comes as parents staged protests yesterday over the proposed PPP or concession, leading to the shutdown of King’s College and other federal colleges.

When pressed to respond to the current issue, KCOBA leaders refused. “We don’t want to pre-empt what Alhaji Okunnu will say tomorrow,” Olayomi said on Monday.

“But let me leave you with this: There is no sale of King’s College. Come tomorrow and ask me the same question I will be sitting beside Alhaji Okunnu,” he stated.

In a bid to counter claims of neglect, KCOBA also rolled out figures to prove their commitment.

The Class of ‘81 to ‘86 alone invested tens of millions to digitise classrooms, with the overall digitalisation project combined in a N200 million intervention designed to turn the school into a world-class learning centre within 30 to 60 days.

Olayomi said the project was “good to go” before the end of December last year, but part of the deployment had been put on hold due to the current school shutdown.

Other give-backs listed included an NBA-standard basketball court donated from the U.S., a FIFA-level pitch and upgrades to sports facilities, and the mobilisation for WAEC CBT exams to ensure King’s boys wrote on campus.

Last November, 1900 students were trained on Sustainability and Climate Action by global experts flown in from Canada, facilitated by a class set in partnership with non-profit organisations.

The Federal Ministry of Education through UBEC also donated five interactive flat panel displays to transform learning at the college in the last one year, and another class set is currently upgrading the college’s medical and dispensary facilities.

“These interventions ran into hundreds of millions of Naira in 365 days,” Olayomi said, adding, “There is no alumni in this country that does the size of give-backs that King’s College has done.”

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