Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities are expressing their reservations over the January 18 resumption date for academic activities in all universities across the country.
Tertiary institutions nationwide were closed for over 9 months in 2020 partly because of the protracted strike action of the union as well as the COVID19 pandemic.
ASUU on December 23 called off their strike. The National Universities Commission NUC have asked Universities to resume for classes on January 18. The directive for reopening came with a strong warning that school administrators must ensure strict adherence to all COVID19 protocols which include sanitizing, wearing of facemasks as well as social distancing.
Members of the Academic Union are however saying that the resumption date isn’t feasible as most of the universities cannot adhere to the COVID19 protocols. The chairmen of various chapters of the union in various institutions said the COVID19 protocols cannot be adhered to in classrooms and hostels that are already crowded.
The chairman of the union at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Dr Adeola Egbedokun, said no preparations have been made so far for the safe re-opening of the universities and urged parents to insist on safety before re-opening.
Egbedokun said “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 confirm 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 the government to have addressed the obvious deficits in the public universities during the lockdown and strike, they were playing to the gallery.”