The National Association of Nigerian Students has told the Academic Staff Union of Universities not to stop the resumption of academic activities following the rise in the cases of Coronavirus Disease in the country.
The President of NANS, Sunday Asefon, said this in a statement on Tuesday.
This followed the position of ASUU that academic activities cannot resume on January 18, 2021 as directed by the Federal Government following the spike in COVID-19 cases.
The Federal Government also on Monday said it was considering changing the January 18 date it earlier announced for resumption of academic activities.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said this during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.
But Asefon in the statement on Tuesday said the time for resumption was now after over 10 months strike by the ASUU.
He said: “Rather than postpone schools’ resumption, it has become imperative to address the alarming spread of COVID-19 and rising cases of deaths from a position of environmental strategy and human coordination since the lockdown mechanism can no longer be a mitigating option in the face of our economic reality.
“The federal government is immediately urged to rethink its approach and take only actions that can get more Nigerians into coordinated and regulated systems, like schools and offices, where hours of wearing face masks and complying with COVID Safety protocols can be guaranteed to curb the spread.
“Consequently, the National Association of Nigerian Students is undertaking to prevail on students union bodies to set up Students Task Force Against COVID-19 in every school, while asking the Federal Government to rejig its basic COVID guidelines for schools resumption.”