Reps oppose School Resumption, propose Three-Month Postponement

The House of Representatives has faulted the Federal Government for giving schools the go-ahead to resume on Monday despite the increasing cases of COVID-19.

The House said government officials did not consult the relevant committees of the National Assembly, contrary to their claim that all relevant stakeholders were consulted before arriving at the January 18, 2021, resumption date.

It, therefore, demanded postponement of resumption for three months, where necessary safety measures weren’t put in place and compliance with protocols low

Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education and Services, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, disclosed these in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Saturday.

“They did not consult us; at least in my committee, nobody from the ministry spoke to me. I have been in Abuja. And I am not sure that they spoke to any of my members. They just don’t see us as part of the critical stakeholders,” he said.

Ihonvbere, in a statement he issued in Abuja on Saturday, on behalf of his committee, opposed the Monday resumption date.

The statement was titled “School resumption: Are we truly prepared

It read, “The Committee on Basic Education and Services, House of Representatives, has received with concern the decision of the Federal Government to reopen schools on January 18, 2021

We are particularly concerned that when the infection rates hovered around 500 and under, schools were closed; but now that it hovers well above 1,000 infections daily, schools are being reopened. Why are we rushing to reopen schools without adequate verifiable and sustainable arrangements to protect and secure our children?”

Comments

ASUU to FG: Varsities will be Shut Down Again Over Non-payment of Salaries

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has threatened to resume its suspended strike over non-payment of salaries and alleged victimisation of members. The chairman, University of Ibadan branch of ASUU, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, in a statement on Sunday asked Nigerians to blame the Federal Government if universities are shut down again. Akinwole decried that despite agreeing to ASUU’s condition before the strike was suspended on December 24, 2020, many lecturers are still being owed salaries of between two and 10 months ASUU had called off its nine-month strike after the FG agreed to its conditions. However, within two weeks of the conditional suspension of the nine-month strike embarked upon by ASUU, the Federal Government reportedly flouted the agreements. It was learnt that as of December 31, 2020, the Federal Government had failed to fulfil three agreements reached with the union. Among the agreements, FG failed to fulfil was the payment of the lecturers six months salaries, inclu...

Exam Malpractice: WAEC gets tough, cancels Results, bars Candidates from Future Exams

West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has cancelled the entire results of some candidates who sat its 2019 private series and 2020 school-based West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCEs) and also barred them from sitting for its future examinations for a certain number of years. The examination body also banned some schools for life or some years from presenting candidates for its future exams even as it is also planned to formally report all exam officials including supervisors and invigilators with proven cases of malpractice against them during the various exams to their appropriate authorities for sanction. Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, Nigeria, Mr Demianus Ojijeogwu, made this known in a statement, on Monday, without giving statistics nor names of individuals and institutions involved recalls that a total of 215,149 (representing 13. 98 per cent) of 1, 538,445 candidates, who sat the 2020 school-based WASSCE were involved in malpractice according to WAEC’s ...

ASUU Strike: Honourary Doctorate Recipient pleads for ASUU’s ceasefire

An honourary doctorate degree recipient from Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, AE-FUNAI, Ebonyi state, Dr. Anayo Onwuegbu has appealed to lecturers who are members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to sheathe their sword and resume academic activities for the sake of security of the country Onwuegbu said that for the young population of Nigeria to be out of school for nine months posed serious security threat to the country, adding that the parties at the receiving end in the impasse were every Nigerian He said that he had the opportunity of listening to both sides of the argument between the federal government and ASUU and came to a conclusion that ASUU should succumb to their pleas of Nigerians and resume academic activities in the universities for sake of not deteriorating an already bad security situation in Nigeria Onwuegbu made the appeal shortly after his conferment of Doctor of Business Administration (Honoris Causa) at 5th special convoc...

Uniabuja Channel

Search This Blog