Schools across the nation will resume on January 18 except the Ministry of Education announces otherwise, the Federal Government stated on Tuesday.
National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Dr Sani Aliyu, said this during a television programme.
Aliyu said: “As regards schools, I just want to make a clarification, what the minister said yesterday was that they were going to review, he didn’t say that they were going to change the date. He said they will review the situation and let the nation know.
“So, for the moment, it is still 18th January until the ministry of education comes back either with an alternative date or reconfirm that.”
The National Universities Commission, NUC, had on January 8 directed universities nationwide to resume academic activities on January 18 in strict compliance with COVID-19 safety protocols.
The commission’s Deputy Executive Secretary (Administration), Chris Maiyak, said in a statement on Friday, January 8 that administrators must safeguard lives of staff and students by putting necessary safety measures in place.
The NUC also stressed that universities must ensure compliance with the full cycle of the semester system, consistent with the approved Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS), and other quality assurance standards and guidelines.
Officers on Grade Level 12 and below are also to remain at home until further notice, in accordance with the directive of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19.
Students of public universities will be returning to classrooms for the first time in 10 months following a strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The union’s strike started in March 2020 right before Nigeria went into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The March strike was hinged on the failure to implement previous agreements between the union and the government in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2019.
The union called off the strike in December after reaching an agreement with the government on major issues including revitalisation of public universities, salary shortfall, neglect and poor funding of state universities, absence of visitation panels, and withheld salaries and non-remittance of dues.
An implementation monitoring committee will work diligently to ensure government action, and status of implementation will be reviewed in February.
The Nation
