Several old students of the 104 unity schools in Nigeria gathered in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital recently to discuss ways of restoring the past glory of the institutions that were established to promote unity and better understanding among Nigerians from all ethnic groups.

The choice of Port Harcourt for this parley may not be unconnected to the fact that Rivers State hosts at least three of such unity schools, namely Federal Government College, Rumuokoro, Federal Government Girls College, Abuloma, and Federal Government College (Technical), Omoku.

Among the old students in attendance are the chairman, executive committee of the Unity Schools Old Students Association (USOSA), Deacon Ayo Joseph and the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu.

The event which was organised by the Federal Government College Ilorin Old Students' Association (FGCIOSA) to mark the 43rd anniversary of the school, also had in attendance the secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Hon. Etekamba Umoren, and a legal practitioner cum writer, Barrister Kingsley Wenenda Wali.

Deacon Joseph, an old student of FGC, Ilorin wants all alumni of the unity schools in the country, which include Kings College and Queens College, Lagos, to join hands to restore the glory of the schools.

He said, "This is the first formal programme in our 43rd anniversary of our school. As we all know, the unity schools are facing serious challenges today. We have to join hands to see how we can restore the glory of these schools, not only Ilorin, but all the unity schools."

For Prof. Odinkalu, the present deplorable state of unity schools across the country is a negation of the principle behind their establishment. An old student of Federal Government College, Okigwe, Odinkalu urged the Federal Government, old students of the unity schools and Nigerians in general not to allow the schools to die.

He described the establishment of unity schools as one of the soft investments of the Federal Government that has not only ensured peaceful coexistence in the country but has become the biggest investment in human development in the country. "The idea of the unity schools is endangered, partly because Nigeria is endangered or mostly because our country is endangered. We should not take either the existence of Nigeria or the continuity of the unity schools for granted.

"But the unity schools were part of investments in trying to keep Nigeria together. It was a soft investment that has turned out to be the best investment. The unity schools have come to stay as perhaps the biggest investment in human development and enlightenment in the basis of coexistence in our country. Really, if you look at our country today, the reason it is together is because of these kinds of soft investment. "Today, we wake up and the country is endangered, North to South and East to West, whether it is the caliphate in the North West or Biafra in the South East; whether you are talking about the conflict in the Middle Belt, the inter-ethnic situation in parts of the Middle Belt or the most recent development in Zaria; the clash between the military and the Shiites.

"Wherever you are looking at, the future of our country is the question. As products of the system that invested in the future of this country, we got to take that seriously," Odinkalu said. The national president of FGCIOSA, Mr. Gbenga Olaniyan expressed worry over what he termed drop in the quality of teachers in unity schools and other government-owned secondary schools in the country, saying many of the good teachers had been attracted to private schools that pay higher salaries.

Olaniyan said, "Speaking generally, in my own opinion and the opinion of a lot of educational consultants is that the quality of teachers has dropped. We are concentrating on the secondary education here. "The quality of teachers has dropped mainly in the schools that are at the lower end than the less fee paying schools as well as the Federal Government colleges, because a lot of schools that have very high fees are taking away a lot of these teachers. They are able to attract the very best, leaving behind just those who are really not the best in class.

"Secondly, even the schools themselves, because I now want to compare the Federal Government colleges and the private schools. Even the schools themselves are not attracting the best candidates. If you have somebody who is normally a student that is below average, he is not like going to have a distinction, but you can push to be above average and when these are the students attracted to the Federal Government colleges, then you know it defeats the purpose. "By and large, the main problem is the quality of the teachers and even what is happening in Nigeria now where teachers don't concentrate, they leave school and they are going to do another job; they are patching up with two jobs. So, by and large, this is definitely affecting the education system."

To this end, he applauded the decision of the Buhari administration to recruit about 500,000 teachers for primary and secondary schools in the country. He, however, was quick to point out that majority of those that would likely be taking up the teaching jobs might be doing so due to unemployment and not necessarily out of passion for teaching, adding that may cause more harm than good to the schools at the end of the day if that happened.

"Well, two things, for some people, the problem is that they don't have teachers; for others, it is the quality of the teachers. So the decision of the Federal Government to recruit more teachers will solve the first problem, which is the teachers in terms of numbers. But then, we don't know where these teachers are gotten from.

"It could be people who are out of school and don't have jobs, and are not really interested in teaching. By the end of the day, it might do more damage than good, because they will just be doing the job while looking for another job. But seriously speaking, I think it is a good step because it is better to do that than sit down and do nothing," Olaniyan added.

The consensus among the old students is the urgent need to e unity schools in the country to make them attractive once again and earn the confidence of parents to send their children to them as was the case in the past. How soon this will be realized remains in the realm of conjecture for now.