The Muslim Students' Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Ogun State Area Unit, has called on Governor Dapo Abiodun to reverse his decision to return public schools to their original missionary owners. The governor announced the plan during a meeting with Catholic Church officials, including the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria and the Catholic Bishops of Ijebu-Ode and Abeokuta. In a statement signed by its Amir, Adigun AbdulFatah Akanni, General Secretary Moshood Abiola Tahir, and Public Relations Officer Bello Faruq O., MSSN described the proposed transfer as harmful to Muslim students' educational interests. The group argued the move undermines inter-religious harmony and violates constitutional obligations to provide equitable public education. MSSN rejected the government's framing of the plan as a "partnership," calling it a unilateral handover of taxpayer-funded assets to private religious control. It cited evidence from other Nigerian states where similar returns led to restricted access, admission bias, fee hikes, and marginalisation of non-Christian students. The group asserted that Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution places the duty of free and compulsory education on government, not religious bodies. MSSN maintained that the governor lacks constitutional authority to transfer public schools without legislative approval or a published transition framework. It demanded the immediate withdrawal of the declaration and urged religious leaders, educators, and student groups to resist the policy.
Governor Dapo Abiodun's move to return missionary schools to their original owners is not an education policy—it's a political transaction wrapped in religious symbolism. By announcing the decision during a meeting with high-ranking Catholic officials, the governor has effectively turned public assets into bargaining chips, privileging one faith community over others in a religiously diverse state. The MSSN's objection is not merely about access to schools but about the erosion of secular governance, where public institutions are being rebranded as religious property despite decades of state funding and management.
Ogun State's public schools were built and sustained with taxpayer money, not church tithes. To frame their return as a "partnership" ignores the reality: there is no reciprocity, no shared investment, and no accountability mechanism for the communities losing control. The precedent in states like Lagos and Oyo, where returned schools raised fees and prioritised Christian admissions, validates MSSN's concerns. This is not development—it's exclusion disguised as restoration. The governor's administration has offered no data, no transition plan, and no legal justification for bypassing the legislature, making the move appear arbitrary and constitutionally shaky.
For Muslim families, public schools in Ogun State represent one of the few neutral educational spaces where their children are not subject to religious gatekeeping. If the policy proceeds, it risks deepening religious stratification in education, pushing Muslim students toward overcrowded or under-resourced alternatives. Parents who rely on affordable, accessible education will bear the immediate cost through higher fees or longer commutes.
This fits a broader pattern across Nigeria: the quiet dismantling of public education through piecemeal privatisation under religious or political patronage. When governments offload their constitutional duties onto faith groups, they don't improve education—they fragment it.
