The Nigerian Medical Association on Sunday advised federal and state governments against disregarding medical experts’ advice on COVID-19.

The NMA President, Professor Innocent Ujah,  stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents while commenting on government’s decision to reopen schools beginning from Monday (today).

Ujah stated that although the association would not advise government not to reopen schools, he stated that authorities must ensure compliance with COVID-19 guidelines of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

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The experts spoke as coronavirus cases in the country rose from 75,062 on December 17, 2020 to  108,943 on Sunday, January 17, 2021.

Also during the same period, COVID-19 deaths increased from 1,200 to 1,420, an increase of 220.

Advising government on the rising cases, the NMA president stated, “What we are saying is that for schools to reopen, authorities must be prepared. We don’t know how long COVID-19 will last for us to say schools should not reopen.

“But what we are saying is that they (school authorities) must prepare to comply with the NCDC protocols of hand washing at several points not just one point.

“In the universities where we have a large number of people in faculties and departments, there must be points for hand washing and sanitizers. The  issue of face mask  is a must and social distancing in the classrooms is also important.”

He suggested that lectures should conducted online, adding, “Once we comply with these protocols, I believe they will reduce the spread.” While stating that the association had earlier advised Federal Government not to deploy people for the National Youth Service Corps, Ujah, who is also Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo, Benue State,  said that the NMA  would continue to advise authorities.

He stated, “The NMA said that the  NYSC should not deploy corps member for now. We don’t know what government will do, but we have to advise that authorities must listen to experts. That is one way of making progress, therefore  reducing  infections.”

It had reported that the Federal Government shunned a recommendation by the Economic Sustainability Committee led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and decided to re-open orientation camps nationwide on Tuesday amid rising COVID-19 infections.

According to the report, the Osinbajo-led committee had in June 2020 recommended that while the NYSC programme could continue, the three-week orientation exercise should be suspended for two years.

Meanwhile, nursery, primary and secondary schools in states including Lagos, Ogun,  Ogun, Ebonyi and Nasarawa will today resume academic activities for the second term of the 2020/21 academic year.

Some higher institutions, both federal and states, had also signified their intention to resume academic activities today.

Resumption at basic schools was delayed in many states following the second wave of COVID-19 as well as the advice by the NCDC.

Schools in Oyo State, however, resumed on January 4, while schools in Edo and Anambra states will resume in February.

The Lagos State Government, in a statement on Friday, affirmed its earlier pronouncement that all public and private schools in the state below tertiary level should resume on Monday (today).

In the statement, the state Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, urged students and staff members to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines.

Also, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, had on Friday directed all primary, secondary as well as government science and technical colleges to resume academic activities on Monday.

Arigbabu appealed to parents, guardians, teachers, school administrators and other stakeholders to ensure full compliance with all coronavirus protocols

Also, the Ebonyi State Government will deploy two nurses in each public school ahead of today’s resumption to stem the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chairman of the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr Francis Elechi, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria, explained that the nurses would assist the teachers, who had been trained on the preventive measures against the second wave of COVID-19.

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Public and private schools in Abuja resumed for academic activities on Monday amid the second wave of COVID-19.

Monitored activities at some schools in Karu, Abuja Municipal Area Council early in the morning, observed partial compliance with COVID-19 protocols released by the Federal Government.

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Schools visited included Government Secondary School, Karu; Hayatu Islam International Academy, Karu; Shalom Children Academy; Prime Scholars’ School and Total Academy among others.

At the GSS, Karu, two spots for washing of hands were provided at the school gate.

female member of staff was seen washing her hands before entering the premises.

Other members of staff and students did not do so.

There was also no temperature check for those entering the premises.

A male member of staff, who arrived at about 7.30am was seen shaking hands with all his colleagues who were at the gate to stop latecomers.
Students and members of staff were, however, seen wearing their face masks before entering.

Many of the students were seen bringing the masks out from either their pockets or school bags.

More compliance was, however, noticed among private schools

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Non-teaching staff in the universities under the aegis of the Joint Action Committee, will on Tuesday, embark on three-day nationwide protests over the government’s handling of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, sharing formula of the N40 billion earned academic allowances and non-payment of arrears of the new minimum wage.
The committee said other contentious issues that informed the decision include inconsistencies in IPPIS payment and the delay in the renegotiation of the FGN/ ASUU/SSANU 2009 Agreement.
Others were the non-payment of retirement benefits to former members, non-constitution of visitation panels to universities, poor funding of universities, teaching staff usurping the headship of non-teaching units, among others.
The JAC which comprised the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities directed all its branches to mobilize the members on Monday for the rallies.
The decision to embark on the protest was taken on Friday night at a meeting by the leadership of NASU and SSANU, in Abuja, where they reviewed the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Federal Government on October 20, 2020.

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In a communique signed by the SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, and the General Secretary of NASU, Prince Peters Adeyemi, the committee added that the unions would consider other measures, including embarking on an indefinite strike, after the protests.
The JAC was expected to meet on Thursday to review the success of the protest and deliberate on the next step.
It was also gathered that the unions have notified the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who is the conciliator between the FG and the unions of their intention to embark on the protests.
The FG had in December approved N40 billion earned allowances for the four university unions and allegedly allocated 75 per cent of the amount to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, leaving 25 percent for the other three unions.
But this did not go down well with the NASU, SSANU, and the National Association of Academic Technologists as they rejected the sharing formula and threatened to ground the universities.
When asked what was being done to address the unions’ demands, the spokesman, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr Charles Akpan, said he has no information on steps being taken on the issue.

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