NAPPS Threatens Legal Action Against Katsina Govt over Revocation of Licences

Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Katsina State chapter of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has threatened to institute legal action against the state government for revoking operational licences of its members.

The state government, through the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, has terminated the operational licenses of all private and community schools in the state and ordered fresh applications.

The government also reviewed the license application, registration, annual renewal, and school upgrade fees, but warned the affected schools against increasing school fees without the ministry’s approval. 

But the state Chairman of NAPPS, Mansur Sani-Jibia, in an interview with THISDAY Saturday, said the association will drag the state government to court if it fails to revise what he termed a blanket revocation of their licenses.

He said the government has ordered private and community schools to pay a fresh license application fee of N50,000, registration fee of N250,000, N170,000, and N100,000 for those in urban, semi-urban, and rural centres.

He said the state government has also directed the affected schools to pay an upgrade fee of N200,000 and three per cent of their students’ annual school fees to its Single Treasury Account (TSA) on or before September 30, 2025.

He explained that the new license application, registration, and school upgrade fees invalidate the certification given to members of the association by the previous administrations in the state.

He urged the government to revise the revocation of existing licenses, imposition of registration fees on the already licensed schools, and application of renewal fees based on gross income.

Failure to revise these provisions, he said, the association will drag the government to court after exhausting all available resolution mechanisms in collaboration with its national headquarters.

He reiterated that the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Zainab Musa-Musawa, has rebuffed the association’s request for a meeting to address the looming educational crisis.

Describing her action as a dictatorship, Sani-Jibia said that if allowed, it would undermine the contributions of both private and community schools to the growth and development of education in the state.

He said: “Our national headquarters and our zonal structures are with us in this struggle. We are going to meet to explore all options, including heading to court, to seek interpretation because the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education can not be above the Nigerian Constitution.

“If the law says we are to charge three per cent and renew our license every five years without concession. Let the court interpret whether the government has the right to do all that they have done, including charging us on gross income.”

“Look at the current situation of the state, insecurity, poor economic indices, and high rate of out-of-school children, but the government is busy destroying the private sector instead of supporting the system to drive sustainable education.

“Asking us to pay for the form and registration when we already registered invalidates the action of previous governments. Does that mean that previous governments that gave us approval and we paid for registration have erred? No.”

He added that: “The government should not mandate us to purchase any form again because we purchased this form from the same ministry of education, and it does not carry an expiring date at the time of purchase.

“As private-driving institutions with no help from the government in terms of logistics, infrastructure, running cost, and even land for us to establish our schools, it should be driven by market forces, not dictatorship.”