THE Federal Government on Wednesday said it has not postponed the resumption of schools slated for January 18, 2021 nationwide. This puts to rest the confusion and controversy surrounding the school’s resumption date.
The controversy stemmed from comments credited to the Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu, on Monday that the January 18 resumption date stipulated by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 was subject to review.
But the Director, Press and Public relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Ben Bem Goong, while making the clarification in Abuja, told Nigerian Tribune that the Minister’s statement that the date was subject to review based on reported cases of COVID-19 was misconstrued to mean postponement.
He said what the Minister meant was that if for instance, the nation wakes up to have over 5,000 cases in a day, there was no way the schools would be reopened on the set date.
Goong said, “The Federal Government has not postponed January 18th resumption date. The Minister said January 18th is subject to review by going by reported COVID-19 cases.
“So, if COVID-19 Task Force gets up tomorrow and says we are having over 5000 infections and we can’t resume, that is the review we are talking about,” he said.
The National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, had also affirmed that the date for school resumption remains January 18.
Aliyu said the January 18 set for resumption by PTF has not been changed pending further directives.
He said no decision had been taken on the date, saying January 18, 2021, remains intact.
“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,” Aliyu said.
The comments by the Minister of Education had attracted divergent reaction from Nigerians with the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), urging the Federal Government not to postpone the resumption of schools.