The Federal Ministry of Education has announced the immediate closure of all tertiary institutions, secondary and primary schools nationwide, following Coronavirus outbreak in Nigeria and as a preventive measure to curb the spread via person-to-person transmission.

The Ministry of Education’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. Sonny Echono, confirmed this development to Flavision via a phone conversation on Thursday, March 19th, 2020.

Update
In a later statement, it was added that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, remarked that in carrying out the order, all the principals of the 104 unity colleges

should fast-track the ongoing second term examinations and close shop until further notice.

The Ministry of Education’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr. Ben Goong, in the statement, said,

The Federal Government has ordered the closure of all the 104 unity schools in the country on March 26, 2020 as a proactive step aimed at preventing the spread of the dreaded coronavirus.

Giving the order today through the Permanent Secretary, the minister said all the principals of the unity colleges should fast track the ongoing second term examinations and close shop until further notice.

In the meantime, Adamu admonished the management of all the unity colleges to immediately put in place all the necessary emergency procedures and processes like the providing alcohol-based sanitisers and hand washing facilities among other things. He added that students should strictly abide by the principles and best practices of proper hygiene.

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.