The Federal Government has said that no particular date has been fixed yet for the full resumption of schools, although it continues to engage stakeholders and is optimistic that schools would be resuming soon. This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 on Monday, August 24, 2020, in Abuja.
While speaking, the minister expressed optimism that the date for resumption was around the corner, although he said the government was not going to be brandishing dates. Nwajiuba urged students to exercise more patience as the government considered the reopening of schools after months of forced closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. He gave the assurance that the Federal Ministry of Education was working with stakeholders for the safe reopening of schools.
He noted that the guidelines for the safe reopening had been given to the higher institutions, with some of them already expressing their commitment to adhering to the protocols. He disclosed that himself and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, met with some stakeholders in tertiary education earlier in the day on the issue.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Nwajiuba also revealed that about 78 private universities insisted that they were ready for the resumption of their institutions, while the response from government-owned universities was still 50-50. The minister said that after putting together different opinions, he would return to the PTF to review the situation and then go ahead to make a pronouncement.
