Nwajiuba gave the hint during the PTF COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Thursday where we revealed that the Federal Ministry of Education has developed a proposal for the reopening of schools based on the advice of members of PTF and that the proposal would be X-rayed by the committee before submission to President Muhammadu Buhari for approval. The Minister of state for education, Emeka Nwajiuba had said that the Federal Government will on Monday next week unveil plans for the re opening of schools which would be subject to the rectification of the proposal by the Presidential Tax Force on COVID-19 and the approval by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister added that when this process is concluded, then the plan for the reopening of school will be made public on Monday next week during the PTF COVID-19 daily briefing.
He said “part of the reason why we are keeping our children at home stems from the fact that you can’t see coronavirus with your physical eyes, so you may not know if a child is asymptomatic and if he or she so does, he or she goes back and infect another person, there is no way for us to guarantee their safety.
“Besides, we did a perception survey and we know that 80 percent of the responses we got from around the country from parents showed that they were not willing to experiment with any of their children, to test whether it will work or not.
“But I can assure you that all measures we have taken are guided by members of the PTF assembled by President Muhammadu Buhari to give a scientific background that is governed by data and science to the decisions to be made.
“I’m sure that some of the work we have done has taken some advice from them would be reported next week. Because now we have sufficient information to make some decision and those decisions would be first of all X- rayed and presented by PTF upward.
“When we are cleared with them, we come here maybe Monday and say what exactly we are planning. But until then, kindly abide by what you have been told by this committee that people should stay at home, Keep our children safe for you and for me.
Nwajiuba had denied the story in various publications quoting him as saying schools would have to build isolation centre as one of the condition, insisting the guidelines are just six, like wearing of mask, temperature check, continuous personal hygiene etc.
