Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has advised the Federal Government to relinquish the control and administration of unity schools to states where they are located.

Atiku, who spoke as grand patron at a public lecture of the Federal Government College, Okigwe on Saturday, said despite argument by some people that the objective of promoting national unity will be compromised by the transfer; Federal Government has been poor administrators of these schools.

He said handing them over to states would make them realize they can no longer blame Federal Government for their inadequacies and "they will also sooner or later see the need to pool resources with their neighboring states to provide infrastructure and services which would be more efficiently provided collaboratively."

Atiku, who is a founder of a private school system, said it is a "wrong-headed policy" for people to blame the rot in the public school system on growth of private education in Nigeria.

He said the idea that private schools should be levied taxes is uncalled for but "we should strive to improve public education as a way to reduce the need for private education, or to make the latter a matter of choice rather than necessity for most parents and their wards."