School resumption: FG finally approves full reopening, releases new update on nationwide curfew – COVID-19
The Federal government has approved the full opening of schools across the country for the start of the new school session, also made some adjustments to the nationwide curfew that was imposed to restrict movement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
National coordinator of the presidential task force on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu on Thursday, September 3, announced that the curfew will now begin from 12am to 4am and no longer 10pm to 12am as formerly observed, also gave the directive on Resumption of Schools across the country.
Dr Sani Aliyu, the national coordinator of the taskforce on COVID-19, made the announcement during a briefing at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, Channels TV reported.
Aliyu, who directed the schools to conduct a risk assessment, said the reopening would be done in phases.
He said: “For educational institutions which includes – daycare, primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions should we begin the process of working towards potentially reopening within this phase.
“However, we strongly recommend that states conduct risk assessment to ensure that all schools are at a level of compliance and create a monitoring mechanism to access and monitor this level of compliance.
“Meanwhile all daycare and educational institutions are to remain closed to in-passing classes until this level of risk is assessed and if there will be opening up schools, it must be staged and preferably carried out in phases to ensure that this does not pose a risk to the general public, and in particular developer bill groups that might end up getting infected by students going back home.
The federal government had ordered a nationwide closure of schools in March to contain the spread of COVID-19 but in July, the government approved the reopening of schools for students who are currently sitting for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
He however explained that people on essential service and travellers returning from abroad are exempted from the curfew.
“We are modifying the curfew to commence from 12 midnight to 4am nationwide, effective from 12:00 tonight.
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“This does not apply to people on essential services and international travellers that might be returning from abroad,” he said.
In a related report, in what seems like a big relief for the people of Oyo state, Governor Seyi Makinde has announced the cancellation of the 10 pm curfew imposed on the state to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The statement stated that the curfew was abolished after a series of reviews of the situation.
Meanwhile, reprive will continue to come the way of taxpayers and business owners as governors of Nigeria’s 36 states have agreed to extend tax reliefs till year 2021.
Also, It was previously reported that ahead of the proposed resumption of academic activities in Lagos and some other states of the federation, the PTF on COVID-19 called for caution among the stakeholders.
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The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, cited how such haste escalated the COVID-19 management situation in some other countries.
Mustapha said it would be in the best interest of Nigeria to stick to the pattern proven effective since the national response was launched.
In another report, two days after the announcement of the resumption date for all schools in Lagos state, the Education Quality Assurance (OEQA) unit of the state ministry of education warned the public to disregard a resumption time table flying around on the social media.
The time-table claims to be the 2020/2021 academic calendar, states that the first term of the session would start September 21, 2020 and end December 18, 2020.
