The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, has said that Nigeria’s tertiary institutions will reopen soon.
He disclosed this during a programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) on Saturday. The minister said the Federal Government was also working towards ending the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) before the schools are reopened.
The Federal Government had shut all schools in the country in March this year as part of steps to prevent further spread of coronavirus pandemic. While schools were opened for students in exit classes to allow them to sit their external examinations, other students from primary to tertiary levels have remained at home.
Representatives of students in tertiary institutions had on Wednesday staged a peaceful protest in Abuja against the continued shutdown of their institutions. The students argued that it was wrong for government to open markets, churches and restore domestic and international flights without giving a thought to students who have been home since March this year.
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Nwajiuba said private universities have requested to be allowed to reopen, adding that vice-chancellors want those in exit classes to resume in earnest. “Tertiary institutions across the country will open very soon,” he said.
“Private universities have written us, requesting that they are allowed to reopen ahead of public institutions. Vice-chancellors have also requested that we allow them to reopen for their students in exit classes.
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“We have also a lot of calls from bodies who want us to resolve the industrial crisis with ASUU before reopening because some public schools that are not ASUU-prone want to take the advantage of the strike to move ahead, but that would destroy our public schools. So, we are working on all these calls.”
The minister said the National Universities Commission (NUC) would have to do an appraisal of the state of tertiary institutions ahead of the reopening. “We are waiting for the same from other tertiary institutions bodies so I can situate them and present to the PTF on COVID-19,” he said.
The minister who refused to state the timeline for school reopening said he could not give a deadline. He said, “I can’t give the NUC a deadline on this because our job at the ministry is to wait for their inputs. This is not a political decision alone.
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“If you open the university system, you have opened the country.”
Nwajiuba urged ASUU to call off its strike noting that most of the aggrieved lecturers’ grievances have been resolved.
“The body is making efforts to situate the visitation panel, though, that has to be gazetted and we are on it,” he said.
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