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FG gets ultimatum to reverse indefinite closure of schools

By Rotimi Agboluaje (Ibadan), Osiberoha Osibe (Awka), Oluwaseun Akingboye (Akure) and Ayoyinka Jegede (Uyo)
10 July 2020   |   4:03 am
Deploring Wednesday’s backtracking on the reopening of schools by the Federal Government, the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) yesterday gave the President Muhammadu Buhari...

•Anambra backs President, Afenifere, proprietors, others kick
Deploring Wednesday’s backtracking on the reopening of schools by the Federal Government, the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) yesterday gave the President Muhammadu Buhari administration seven days to reverse itself.

In a statement yesterday in Ibadan, the body’s National President, Comrade Olalere Benedict, said failure to heed the call would be met with a mass protest, adding that the decision amounted to selling off the future of Nigerian students.

The undergraduates wondered why the decent learning institutions that mould the future leaders of the nation remained shut under the guise of containing the spread of the novel coronavirus, whereas the more susceptible markets and other public places had been opened for activities.

They fumed: “If schools are locked down, the future of Nigerian students is being sold off. Market places are open, the most vulnerable places on earth, particularly those in Nigeria where individuals will be sneezing on one another.

“The hope of the nation is shut down in the name of coronavirus. If the schools are shut down, that means solutions to Nigeria’s problems are shut down – the end result will be very disastrous.

“The outgoing generation, especially the present government, has failed the incoming generation with deceit, propaganda, political game and lot more.”

Conversely, the Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB) Chairman, Patrick Ugboaja, backed the Buhari administration on the decision.

He said it was imperative that all measures were in place to safeguard pupils before the institutions are reopened.

But the Pan -Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, called for the immediate disengagement of the two ministers for allegedly planning to cripple the sector for a year.

Its Secretary General, Sehinde Arogbofa, said the pupils should be allowed to resume for studies, while government finds a way to protect them.

Besides, the National Parent Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) claimed that they were not carried along by government.

NAPTAN’s National President, Mallam Haruna Danjuma and his NAPPS counterpart, Chief Yomi Otubela, expressed disbelief.

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