FG Sets to Reopen Tertiary Institutions

The Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has announced plan to reopen tertiary institutions across the country

While making the announcement on Monday August 24, 2020, the Minister urged students to stop protesting.

He noted they the ministry is working to articulate the situation report from the National Universities Commission, NUC, and other regulatory bodies of various tertiary institutions and present to the Presidential Task Force, PTF on COVID-19 for evaluation.

Nwajiuba, who disclosed this while responding to questions at the Presdential Task Force briefing in Abuja, added that the ministry has received calls from private universities and public universities for reopening of tertiary institutions in the country.

“There have been a lot of improvement, however, the guidance we have given and for which we are receiving feedback from many institutions are the moment includes items that you need to prepare.

“We want content around them and we are going to go back to see if people have complied with those requirements,” he said.

“This morning, myself and minister of education, Mallam Adamu Adamu,the executive secretary of NUC and permanent secretary all met and we have been at it since morning.

“We have reviewed responses from about 78 universities already and most of them are private universities who are already insisting that they are ready to go.

“We also have 50 responses from state owned universities and we are working to upscale that and make sure that everybody is ready to go,” he added.

He stated that the time for the reopening of schools is around the corner.

“We don’t want to bandy around dates, we just want to remain positive and the sooner we can get that, the better.

“I urge our students who have actually exercised a lot of patience and bear with us a little bit more. The rioting needs to stop. There is nothing to riot about. We are in full negotiation with ASUU,” he concluded.