The federal government has warned state governors against the full reopening of schools.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state had on Saturday, August 29, announced that all the schools in the state would resume on September 21. Boss Mustapha, the chairman of PTF, however, advised the states to learn from the US experience where reopening of schools escalated the cases of COVID-19
Ahead of the proposed resumption of academic activities in Lagos state and some other states of the federation, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 has called for caution among the stakeholders.
It was reportedย that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, cited how such haste escalated the COVID-19 management situation in some other countries.
Mustapha said it would be in the best interest of Nigeria to stick to the pattern proven effective since the national response was launched.
He said: โIt is in the above context that the PTF appreciates the on-going calls for re-opening of the education sector and indeed some sub-nationals are already making preparations for such.
โWhilst the PTF does not discourage making such preparations, we need to be guided by experiences from countries such as Germany, France, the United States and the UK where opening of schools in some cities led to an increase in confirmed cases and fatalities.โ
He further said that more sectors of the economy may soon be reopened, especially as the nation would be entering a new phase of the eased lockdown.
Mustapha said the PTF would present its recommendations to President Muhammadu Buhari this week, which will determine the next phase in the national response.
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