The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, has said that the Federal Ministry of Education has no date yet when schools will resume in Nigeria, irrespective of President Buhari’s relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.

Nwajiuba said this while responding to news reporters during a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, April 28th, 2020 in Abuja.

The minister said,

The President actually addressed the issue of the opening of the economy gradually. Until that is done, we can’t foresee or immediately tell you when all the schools will be reopened. It will not be proper for us to simply give you a date. It has to be in tandem with these opening terms. We don’t want to put our children at risk. None of these schools can function on their own without the society.

On the question of children promoting to the next class, those exams will happen when we are satisfied that the children have learnt what is enough for them to move. For those who are in the exit classes of junior basic and senior secondary schools, we are preparing them and will continue to.

This will go on until we are sure that they are equipped for the external examinations. The West African Examinations Council has not cancelled their external exams. It was postponed indefinitely. This indefinite nature is so that we can get a definite date. Students will still have to go and take those exams when we are sure that we have taken good care of the pupils.

Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory Administration Education Secretariat has cautioned schools not to re-open, staging that it had not directed for their resumption of academic activities.

The acting Secretary for Education, FCTA, Umaru Marafa, in a statement on Tuesday, April 28th, 2020, asserted that the presidential order shutting down all schools at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic explicitly stated that it would be in effect

until further notice.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.