Ebola: Schools must resume September 22 – FG

The Federal Government has reacted to calls in some quarters that schools should remain shut nationwide until when the country is certified Ebola-free, insisting students must return to school on September 22, 2014.

Owing to the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country, the schools resumption date was fixed for October 13.

But after last week’s meeting between the Minister of Education and the State Commissioners of Education, a new date of September 22, was announced having talking into consideration the near containment of Ebola in the country.

Speaking with correspondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, the Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu, said there is no scientific basis for school resumption to be postponed.

According to Chukwu: “There is no community transmission of the disease in Nigeria. That is what separates Nigeria from other countries. It is what I call irrational fear; we don’t need to be irrational about this.”

He therefore, enjoined Nigerians to allow authorities do their work.

Prof Chukwu, recalled: “The Minister of Education after meeting with the Commissioners for education from the 36 states and FCT decided when public schools should open which they told us is 22nd of Sept. In taking that decision, they used information that was given by the federal ministry of health to the fact that there is actually no reason now with the expert information we have at hand why no schools cannot resume earlier than the original date of Oct. 13.
“I think people should just allow us to do the work we have been doing very professionally. It was based on advice given by the ministry of health that the minister of education took the original decision that it was going to be in October and nobody quarreled with the minister. Now the minister, based on expert advice, has come back to say well, for us, if u are asking us we don’t have any reason to stop that and everybody is now quarrelling.
“I think we should allow the authorities to do their jobs. It is not an ordinary matter to be discussed the way we want to discuss it. If you have any evidence why we need to review, supply such evidence to the minister of health. We will look at it, because we may never know you may have a real reason. But it is not something people just wake up and begin to make comments. We are very serious, we should be sober about this situation in Nigeria; we must be extremely careful”.
The Minister spoke further on ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the EVD, “We have allowed a football match to go on and we screened every fan in Calabar. We screened every player and everybody, even the governor and the wife were screened.

“We are dead serious, we are not perfect, but I know we are trying to encourage everybody in Nigeria to collaborate. We don’t need to close the world. We don’t need to say nobody should go to work in Nigeria.
“There is absolutely no reason for that. I will tell you why. First, unlike other countries, there is no community transmission of the disease in Nigeria; not one yet. But we have taken precautions, what we are doing, we may as well have said everybody should just be moving about, but we are taking precautions”.