NIGERIA UNIVERSITIES WILL NOT RESUME AS SCHEDULED . . . ASUU. gave COVID-19 pandemic as excuse.

By Mike ALADENIKA.

The likelihood of Nigerian undergraduates resuming full blown academic exercise in the varrious Nigerian Universities appears bleak, no thanks to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)  as the leadership of ASUU  has disclosed that "Nigerian Universities are not prepared for the resumption of operations due to lack of preparatory materials to handle the Covid-19 pandemic for students and teachers".

In a statement issued on the Union's official Twitter handle,       Dr Adeola Egbedokun,  Chairman   ASUU,  Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, said  "the union cannot afford to mess up with the health of its students and warned that no preparatory measures have been put in place to deal with the pandemic".

According to the statement “COVID-19 is very real and this second wave is as real as described. We cannot afford to toy with our health and the health of our dear students in the name of resumption, which is politically motivated. 

"There are no preparations for safe re-opening of the universities and I think parents must insist on safe re-opening. The current classroom and hostel configurations in our universities do not in any way conform with the PTF (Presidential Task Force) on  COVID-19 protocols."

“There is no way universities can achieve that. I have said this elsewhere, that rather than for government to have addressed the obvious deficits in the public universities during the lockdown and strike, they were playing to the gallery.”

While to Dr Adebayo Oni, Chairman of ASUU-FUNAAB in his own view, "the University lacks protective materials for hand washing, as lecturers have not been provided with hand sanitizers. He also warned that the University may not have the capabilities to deal with a surge of student during the pandemic" 

“The lecture halls are overcrowded. As of today, in my own campus, I have not seen any facility for hand washing. Who is to provide sanitizers? Do you expect lecturers to provide sanitizers for themselves. Fumigation of the environment from time to time should be done. 

“It is definitely a threat to the resumption of academic activities. The fact is that under this circumstance and looking at the threat of the figure, going physical with students would be more disastrous".

"Conducting physical session, physical lectures with students would be more disastrous", the statement concludes. 

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