Concerned parents of
the respected Kings College, Lagos have sent a petition to the Chairman, Senate
Committee on Education as regards the attitude of the principal.
Titled SERIOUS
CRISIS IN KING’S COLLEGE LAGOS, they
said the ugly incidents started in November 2011. As serious as it is, some of
the issues raised in the petition is already a subject matter of litigation
before the Lagos High Court in suit Nos. ID/142/2012.
However, 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.
The issues raised
were:
DISTRUPTION OF PTA
MEETING/EXECUTIVE
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 candidate, 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 but 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.
To that effect, he
appointed 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 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. 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.
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 park 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 to
and 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.
