By IKE UZOR-NZUBECHI

When Alumni Become the Lifeline: Nigeria’s Public Schools Face a Funding & Accountability Test

NIGERIA’S public schools are increasingly relying on former students to repair buildings, equip laboratories, provide digital facilities and support learners who cannot afford educational expenses. Across the country, alumni associations are stepping in where deteriorating infrastructure and limited resources have left schools struggling to provide acceptable learning conditions.

Their interventions demonstrate the power of collective responsibility. However, they also expose a troubling contradiction: public institutions are increasingly depending on private donations to meet essential needs, even as government remains responsible for ensuring access to quality education.

The controversy surrounding the proposed management concession of King’s College, Lagos, has brought this contradiction into sharp relief. For supporters, alumni-led investment offers a way to rehabilitate a historic institution and improve its management. For critics, however, the arrangement risks shifting public responsibility to private interests without resolving the deeper problems of inadequate funding, weak administration and poor maintenance.

As the debate continues, the experiences of schools across Nigeria show both the value of alumni intervention and the dangers of allowing philanthropy to become a substitute for public policy.

A Nationwide Movement to Rebuild Former Schools

For many former students, returning to their alma mater has become an opportunity to do more than celebrate old friendships. Alumni associations are mobilising funds to renovate classrooms, construct buildings, equip laboratories, provide scholarships and restore facilities that have deteriorated over the years.

At Government College Ibadan, the Old Boys’ Association has undertaken an extensive programme covering infrastructure, sports, accommodation, technology and teacher welfare. Under a 25-year management memorandum of understanding with the Oyo State Government, the association manages major infrastructure upgrades, teacher welfare programmes and free education policies.

At its recent reunion in Ibadan, the association unveiled several projects inaugurated by Governor Seyi Makinde. These included a 270-capacity Computer-Based Test Centre delivered by the 1976 Set, agricultural and laboratory improvements under the GCI Green Renaissance Project, a hockey pitch and pavilion donated by the Babalakin family, and a tennis and practice court provided by the 1986 Set.

Additional facilities included the Jude Bademosi Cricket Oval, Imoyosi House, an expanded Lakeland Area Hall, a new dormitory, the Vice Principal’s Lodge, campus-wide Wi-Fi, refurbished science laboratories and a command and control centre.

GCIOBA President Dr. Wale Babalakin said the partnership had helped the association improve learning facilities while preserving the institution’s traditions. The example illustrates how organised alumni groups can mobilise resources on a scale that individual schools might struggle to achieve.

Nevertheless, not every school has access to alumni networks with comparable financial strength. That difference raises questions about whether public education should depend so heavily on the resources and influence of former students.

Smaller Donations, Essential Improvements

Across other parts of the country, alumni groups are targeting specific deficiencies that affect the quality of education.

In 2021, the 1983 Set of Anglican Grammar School, Iju/Itaogbolu, in Akure North, Ondo State, spent ₦1.3 million renovating dilapidated science laboratories. Set president Professor Christopher Rotimi Falegan said the project responded to an urgent need identified by the school’s principal.

Similarly, the Festac Grammar School Class of 1998 Alumni Association spent about ₦2 million renovating and equipping a senior secondary school laboratory. The project, which began in October 2023 and ended in 2024, provided furniture, laboratory apparatus, teaching charts and other materials for Biology, Physics and Chemistry practicals.

At Lagos African Church Grammar School, Ifako, the 1983 Set presented a modern Introduction to Technology Laboratory valued at ₦10 million as part of its 40th graduation anniversary activities.

Meanwhile, the Ewutuntun Grammar School Old Students Association raised approximately ₦65 million to construct and furnish an administrative building, a principal’s office and four classrooms. Association president Adekunle Jaiyesimi said the project followed a visit during which members discovered the poor condition of the principal’s office. The group also plans to provide computers and printers to strengthen digital learning.

These contributions can transform specific learning environments. Yet they also demonstrate how uneven the response can be: one school may receive modern laboratories and sports facilities, while another continues to struggle because its former students cannot raise comparable sums.

A School’s Survival Should Not Depend on Alumni Wealth

The experience of Annunciation Catholic College, Irrua, illustrates the scale of deterioration that some institutions have faced.

According to the school’s Old Boys Association global president, Dr Joseph Ohens, the association has spent about ₦3.5 billion rebuilding classrooms, laboratories, hostels and internal roads. He said the institution had deteriorated to the point where more than 800 students were served by only a principal and three teachers.

Such an account raises questions that extend beyond the success of an individual intervention. How could a school reach such a condition, and what arrangements should prevent it from deteriorating again?

At Community Secondary School, Amachalla, in Enugu-Ezike, Enugu State, the immediate concern was the examination hall. Former students reportedly became alarmed after learning that the school risked losing its status as a centre for examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council because of the hall’s poor condition.

The association’s chairman, Aniagboso Eze, said the group raised about ₦25 million over six years and had spent more than ₦17 million. After renovating the hall, members began a fencing project. The association has also provided scholarships to 48 students through voluntary donations.

The intervention helped address an immediate institutional threat. However, the need for former students to organise themselves in response to such deterioration highlights the importance of regular inspection, maintenance and public investment.

Safety & Overcrowding Add to the Pressure

Beyond the condition of buildings, many public schools face wider infrastructure and safety challenges.

A UNICEF assessment conducted in 2023 found that states met an average of only nine out of 21 standards under the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools. Just 14 per cent of schools met basic safety requirements, including perimeter fencing and lockable gates.

A subsequent Universal Basic Education Commission audit reportedly found that 78 per cent of public schools lacked perimeter fencing and 65 per cent operated without security guards. These findings highlight the national scale of the challenge, although they do not establish the exact safety conditions at every school.

Classroom and sanitation capacity also remain concerns. Data on the Federal Ministry of Education’s Nigeria Education Statistics portal for 2024/2025 recorded about 39.8 million learners and 725,778 classrooms. The reported learner-to-classroom ratio stood at 60.1, against a benchmark of 35, while the learner-to-toilet ratio was 65.9, compared with a benchmark of 30.

However, only 124,066 of the 230,844 schools listed on the portal submitted data, giving a reporting rate of 53.7 per cent. The figures must therefore be interpreted with caution, even as they indicate substantial pressure on reported facilities.

The Funding Crisis Goes Beyond Buildings

Infrastructure is only one part of Nigeria’s education challenge. Without sufficient teachers, learning materials, effective instruction and sustained funding, renovated classrooms alone cannot guarantee improved educational outcomes.

UNICEF reported in September 2024 that 10.2 million primary-school-age children and 8.1 million junior-secondary-school-age children were out of school. It also found that 74 per cent of children aged seven to 14 lacked basic reading and mathematics skills.

More recent evidence on public financing adds to the concern. In a report published in September 2026, UNICEF found that education spending as a share of total government expenditure fell from 9.3 per cent in 2015 to 3.6 per cent in 2023, compared with an internationally cited benchmark of 15 to 20 per cent.

The report also highlighted Nigeria’s earlier commitment to spend four per cent of gross domestic product on education by 2025 and maintain that level through 2030.

Learning assessments reinforce the urgency of the situation. UNICEF’s account of the 2022 National Assessment of Learning Achievement in Basic Education found that 49 per cent of Primary 3 learners, 67 per cent of Primary 5 learners and 86 per cent of Junior Secondary 2 learners failed to achieve minimum proficiency in mathematics. In addition, about 30 per cent of learners who reached Junior Secondary 3 in 2021 lacked foundational reading skills expected to have been acquired in Primary 2 or 3.

These findings show why education financing must cover more than construction. Government must also fund teaching, learning materials, school safety, maintenance and measures that improve access and learning outcomes.

King’s College Brings the Management Question to the Fore

The proposed 35-year concession of King’s College, Lagos, to its Old Boys’ Association has exposed the tensions surrounding alumni-led intervention.

Under the proposed public-private partnership, the King’s College Old Boys’ Association would finance, rehabilitate, modernise, operate and maintain the 117-year-old institution. The Federal Government would retain legal title and its statutory powers of regulation, monitoring, inspection and enforcement, Education Minister Tunji Alausa said.

According to the minister, the proposal underwent technical, economic, financial, legal, environmental and social assessments. It also received value-for-money and fiscal-impact reviews, risk-allocation analysis and commercial structuring before the necessary regulatory and Federal Executive Council approvals.

Alausa said the arrangement was designed to mobilise investment and management capacity to address the school’s infrastructure and operational needs and secure its long-term sustainability.

However, the proposal sparked opposition from school workers, labour unions and some parents, who feared that it could amount to privatisation and undermine public control. The old boys’ association maintained that the school was not being sold and promised to improve facilities without increasing school fees.

The dispute escalated into protests and confrontations at the school gates, disrupting school activities and contributing to wider industrial action across federal unity colleges.

At the heart of the disagreement lies a difficult policy question: can government secure the financial and managerial benefits of alumni participation without gradually transferring responsibility for public education to private organisations?

Adeduntan Warns Against Turning Charity Into Policy

Public policy and advocacy specialist Adewale Adeduntan argued that alumni interventions should not be mistaken for a substitute for government responsibility.

He maintained that when former students must repair leaking roofs, purchase desks or employ teachers because public authorities have failed to provide basic facilities, the situation reflects a breakdown in public service rather than a successful partnership.

Adeduntan warned that treating charitable contributions as policy could allow government to escape scrutiny. It could also make school development dependent on a small number of successful graduates and leave projects vulnerable when donations stop.

In his view, projects that generate publicity but lack reliable maintenance arrangements may deteriorate once alumni withdraw their support. Consequently, he argued, government must establish systems to preserve facilities after donors complete their work.

He also warned that unequal access to alumni funding could deepen disparities between public schools. Institutions with wealthy, organised and well-connected graduates may obtain laboratories, solar power and modern equipment, while schools whose alumni struggle financially may remain with leaking roofs and poorly stocked libraries.

That outcome could create a two-tier public education system, with better-resourced schools serving communities connected to influential benefactors and neglected institutions serving those without comparable support.

Ogudoro Questions Whether Management Concessions Address the Root Cause

Educationist and researcher Dr Peter Ogudoro cautioned that policymakers risk creating new problems if they transfer school management without first identifying the causes of institutional failure.

He questioned the assumption that alumni representatives would necessarily manage a public school more effectively than existing administrators. In his view, the more fundamental issue is whether school leaders possess the professional, administrative and leadership skills required to run institutions successfully.

Rather than automatically transferring management, Ogudoro advocated training administrators and using experts and corporate organisations to strengthen school operations. Alumni associations, he argued, can provide funds, equipment and professional support while government retains control and responsibility.

He also warned that some arrangements presented as philanthropic interventions could create opportunities for private interests to benefit from public assets. Where governance and financial terms remain unclear, he argued, proposed concessions require careful scrutiny.

Another concern is affordability. Ogudoro cautioned that schools under alumni-led management could begin operating more like private institutions, potentially raising fees and excluding children from low-income households.

Such an outcome would undermine the purpose of public education, particularly in a country where many families already struggle with the costs of schooling. Any partnership must therefore protect access and prevent the pursuit of better facilities from creating new barriers for disadvantaged students.

Maintenance Is the Missing Link

The sustainability question is especially important where alumni have already invested heavily in school infrastructure.

Adeduntan argued that facilities should not deteriorate shortly after former students complete renovation projects. Government, he maintained, must establish reliable maintenance and supervision arrangements rather than leaving alumni to return repeatedly to repair the same institutions.

The King’s College proposal partly reflects concerns about the long-term maintenance of facilities following previous interventions. However, a management concession is only one possible response. Stronger inspection systems, transparent maintenance budgets, professional training and clear lines of accountability may also help address the problem.

Policymakers must therefore explain what a concession would achieve that existing government oversight and targeted partnerships could not deliver. They must also clarify how the public would assess performance, protect students’ interests and resolve failures if an operator did not meet its obligations.

Public Education Needs Partners, Not a Retreat by Government

Alumni associations have shown that former students can help restore neglected schools, strengthen practical learning, award scholarships and improve students’ prospects. Their work reflects a valuable commitment to giving back.

Nevertheless, the existence of successful interventions does not remove government’s responsibility to finance, regulate and maintain public schools. Nor should a school’s future depend on whether its alumni can raise millions—or billions—of naira.

The challenge for policymakers is to build partnerships that combine private expertise and voluntary contributions with dependable public funding, transparent management and enforceable accountability. Such arrangements must also protect affordability and ensure that children in schools without wealthy alumni receive adequate support.

Ultimately, alumni can help public schools recover, but they cannot independently resolve the national education crisis. Lasting improvement requires government to fund the system adequately, train school leaders, maintain facilities and measure educational outcomes.

The test of a successful policy will not be how many schools alumni associations can rescue. It will be whether public institutions can remain safe, adequately funded and fit for learning without depending on repeated private rescue efforts.