Barely a week to the resumption of schools across Nigeria, the Federal Government has made a U-turn on the directive and announced that the date, January 18th, 2021, would be subjected to another review considering an upsurge in the number of Coronavirus positive cases recorded recently in the country.
The government added that from tomorrow, the Ministry of Education would commence a review of the date to determine when safe for schools to resume for the 2020/2021 second term across the country.
Announcing the new development on Monday at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 press briefing in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said that the rising cases have become a source of worries to the government.
“You will all agree with me that what is happening presently is not friendly. And earlier before we made the announcement on resumption, it was agreed that it was not sacrosanct.
“And today at the PTF meeting, we took another look at the number of cases recorded across the country and we decided that there was a need to review the date”, he added.
Earlier, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, who also doubles as Chairman of PTF on COVID-19, raised concerns over the increase in cases and attributed the spike currently experienced across the country to the reopening of schools, and other sectors of the economy.
Mustapha said: “It is however very instructive to stress that factors that have contributed to rise in numbers from late November 2020 included increased local and international travels, business and religious activities, reopening of schools without strict compliance with COIVID-19 safety measures.
“The full import of the fore-going is to press further on the need for us all to elevate the level of our vigilance and compliance with the recommended non-pharmaceutical interventions”.