SERIOUS CRISIS IN KING’S COLLEGE LAGOS

Some dilapidated parts of the 'revered' Kings College, Lagos.

 Dear KC Parents,

In the attachment is a copy of the mail that was sent to the Minister of Education as a petition, describing the pathetic state of Kings College, Lagos.

This petition has generated series of attentions and reactions from the Principal and PTA Chairman, also from their responds to the query they received from Abuja. They are now working tirelessly on how they can cover up these verifiable truths about the situation of things in the school.

It is time for the entire parents to join in this struggles, we are aware that PTA General meeting will be coming up on Sunday 24th March, let us be prepared to ask questions about fate of our children. We have to take the destiny of our children seriously in our hands and fight this duo, as the Principal and his partners in crime has no intention of repenting from their evil acts. They are bent on extorting more monies from parents perpetually to enrich themselves through the seemingly Hostel building project and other means.

If you will remember, we all agreed to build a 5 storey Hostel Apartment for our children to provide accommodation for our children that had been sleeping on the Hostel balconies since resumption and contributions was made by parents, money was also raised through the fund raising but they have long concluded plans not to go beyond 3 storey but to keep sub-charging the parents every term for the same Hostel Building project.

It may suit you to know that enough has been generated for the construction of the Hostel project, but they keep sharing the money through their self-appointed contractors that collect money without any verification for what the money is meant for.

We can no longer fold our hands and pretend that all will be well, when God has already put the necks of our enemies in our hands, they are in defensive position. It is time to say NO to these tyrant, extortion and robbery.

As mentioned in the petition, our children are kings, privileged and entitled to conducive learning environments and good food. Not the kind of stuff the Principal is offering them. They need these to perform excellently in their academics and other areas.

Let us rise up and speak against this corruption with one voice. Let us get this message to other parents and fight for the benefit of our children. God is on our side, we shall root out this evil from KINGS COLLEGE, LAGOS.

CONCERNED PARENTS

          Signed

14th , February 2013
The Chairman,
Senate Committee on Education
Federal House of Senate
Senate House
Abuja.

Dear Sir

SERIOUS CRISIS IN KING’S COLLEGE LAGOS
This petition is aimed to draw your attention to the ugly incidence happening in King’s college, Lagos since Nov. 27th 2011. A petition dated 29th November, 2011 has earlier on been written to the Hon. Minister of State on Education, Federal Ministry of Education but till now, there has not been any intervention. Some part of the issues in this petition is already a subject matter of litigation before the Lagos High Court in suit Nos. ID/142/2012 and as at date, the principal refused to appear before the court rather he sends his teachers to represent him claiming that at his level, he cannot be seen in the courts thereby giving the impression that he is above sanctions.
We are constrained to alert you and members of your committee because more things are happening and if left unattended to it may degenerate into a worst situation.
 
NOW THE CRISIS ARE:
DISTRUPTION OF PTA MEETING/EXECUTIVE
The principal has taken over the PTA of King’s College as his own personal property thereby making all the parents fools. The principal Otunba Oladele Olapeju aborted the P.T.A. election which was schedule to hold on the 27th Nov. 2011 and appointed his own candidates Mr. Emmanuel Oriakhi to run the affairs of the P.T.A on an interim basis, not minding the fact that the P.T.A. constitution has no provision for interim administration.
The principal on his own without recourse to the general house changed some portions of the P.T.A. constitution and claimed that it was on the instruction of the Minister of Education.
In March 2012, election was conducted to elect new executives to take over from the illegal interim administration and the elected offices were as follows: Chairman, Vice Chairman, Treasurer, P.R.O, Social secretary, Legal Adviser and Financial Secretary. After the election was conducted and concluded, the principal usurped the mandate given by the parents in the case of the Financial Secretary with the reason and excuse that there was a letter again from the Minister of Education stating that the post of Financial Secretary must be held by the school staff and to that effect, he appointed a the School Store keeper as PTA Financial Secretary. This he did to enable him take over the control of the finance of the P.T.A.
The imposed PTA Chairman, Mr. Emmanuel Oriakhi with the connivance of the Principal single-handedly brought in some members of the interim committee into the executive as ex-officio and as at this report they are the ones that coordinates PTA key projects, for instance, School Bus Shuttle Services, Laundry etc. in order to continue to perpetuate their fraudulent and illegal acts.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE P.T.A HOSTEL SCAM
The School management through the principal wrote a letter to PTA, requesting for assistance to build a 5 storey Hostel block to accommodate the teaming population of the student (copy attached). This request was accepted by the parents in PTA general meeting. A building levy of N15,000 was agreed, just for the Principal and his partner the PTA Chairman to impose N40,000 on parents of the new intakes.
At the commencement of the Hostel project, the Chairman and the Principal with impunity connived to impose two unqualified main contractors to handle the project, shrouded in secrecy, without the knowledge of other members of the executives, without going through the due process of tendering and bidding which is expected for such Capital project, they did this to protect their fraudulent interest.
From the preliminary stage, they decided to compromise on a whole lot of things for instance, Soil test that should be carried out to determine the soil bearing capacity and foundation types suitable for the building structure was not properly done, argument ensued on who should handle the drawing and the fund to be raised between the Principal and PTA Chairman. The Principal wants to be in control of the finance, the standard practice was not allowed since he was not in direct control of the finance.Using his office and intimidation, the idea of securing the building plan approval and other necessary documents approval were dropped.The Principal claimed that the school is a Federal Government property and that he had handled other building projects in the school without Lagos State Physical Planning Agency approvals.
Personnel from Lagos State environmental agencies came to the site thereafter,just for the duo to start looking for who can assist them to evade the necessary dues and procedure that should have been done.
In furthering their plans to defraud PTA, they appointed some of their cronies to handle supplies.And at many occasions, materials supplied for the Hostel building, at the instruction of the Principal and with the knowledge of PTA Chairman, are carted away overnight to other location for other on-going project in the school. 

ADMISSION SCAM
The principal sometime before September admission in 2012, made an open promise to parents in PTA General meeting that he will assist parents whose children failed to secure admission into JSS1 and SS1 on merit to secure admission. The PTA Chairman acting as a front for the principal, informed parents to either bring 50 bags of cement or the cash equivalent of N100,000 as a support for the Hostel building project before the admission will be given.
About 50 parents paid the sum of N100,000 each and were issued fictitious receipts for cement as a cover up. What was very disheartening in this act, was the fact that children with higher scores whose parents could not afford to pay N100,000 were denied and the fund raised diverted, as the Principal insisted and collected the money from PTA personally before signing the admission letters.

UNHEALTHY BOARDING HOUSE FACILITY
Some of the SS1 – SS3 students at the main camp have been sleeping on the corridors of the hostels since the beginning of this session, because of the greed of the principal, who gave admission to more students over the existing capacity and facility available in the school. This act has over-stretched the existing structures and facilities thereby affecting the welfare of our children that paid for boarding accommodation.

COMMERCIALISING THE SCHOOL PREMISES
The Annex Campus of Victoria Island had been turned into car parks for banks and their customers such as GT Bank at Adeyemo Alakija which has no car park due to the high rise and no space building that it has. The principal leased out the school premises to them for a high amount of money thereby endangering the lives of our children.Not minding the spate of insecurity in our society today.
Shops and business centers were constructed everywhere making the school atmosphere un-conducive for learning. But for the intervention of Lagos State Environmental Agencies that demolished some of the shops that were recently constructed, our children would have been learning in a market square other than school premises.
During the weekends, the school premise in the Annex Campus is rented out at a fee for one social function or the other and parties are thrown without caution and recourse to the fact that this is a learning environment for children in JSS1-JSS3 whose ages range between 10-13 years (Moral bankruptcy).

IMPOSED RAFFLE TICKET LEVY
At the resumption of this second term, the principal Otunba Oladele Olapeju with the connivance of the P.T.A. Chairman Mr. Emman Oriakhi suddenly increased the PTA levies from N7,500:00 to N20,500:00, imposing an additional N10,000:00 tagged Raffle ticket levy, and N3,000:00 as laundry fee, without discussing it at the general meeting for approval.

MISMANAGEMENT OF PTA FUND
The PTA Chairman and his cronies dispenses PTA money as their personal money,himself and the principal, through the imposed Secretary Mrs. Umeano a teacher, who co-sign the PTA cheques with the Chairman. They decide on what areas to utilize the funds and allocate contracts to their cronies without the knowledge of other members of the executives and approval of the general house. They run the PTA without a budget, no checks and balances. It has become so bad, that the Chairman operates the P.T.A. Secretariat from his personal office at Alaka, along Funso Williams Avenue Surelere, where he keeps contract files away from other members of the executives.
The principal and the chairman uses different fictitious contractor names to siphon the P.T.A. money without the approval of the general house and do not render an account to the general house. Among many others are the Cleaning contractor imposed on the PTA, since Nov. 27th 2011, which the PTA pays the sum of N500,000;00 monthly for service not rendered, and the sum of N1.5million paid monthly for PTA staff that does not exist.

CONCLUSION
Rancor and crisis is brewing up now in the school at the moment because of the building levy that is incessantly imposed on parents,the unhealthy and not conducive learning environment that the school has subjected our children,our children return home at the end of every term with water related sicknesses, in spite of all the good-wills offered to the school by parents and corporate bodies. Parents are asking questions and are of the opinion that the previous money paid for the building project is not being judiciously utilized. Raffle ticket shared to students for sales should not be made compulsory for them to pay before completion of the sale.
We hereby do appeal to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Education and to all concerned to come to the rescue of the Students, Parents, Teachers and the good image of this premier institution from collapse and to correct these administrative ills being perpetuated by the principal and his partner P.T.A Chairman to return Kings College to its former glory. We will appreciate your immediate intervention to correct these wrongs in order to give us the joy of seeing the king’s college of our dream.
Thank you as we look forward for your urgent intervention into this matter.
Yours Sincerely,

Concerned Parents.