The Federal Government of Nigeria Thursday asked all the state governments and school administrators to start making preparations for full reopening of schools.
It also asked the National Youth Service Corps to start making preparations to reopen its orientation camps nationwide.
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National Coordinator, Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Sani Aliyu, who spoke at the briefing of the PTF in Abuja Thursday, said: “Educational institutions, which include daycare, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, should begin the process of working towards potentially reopening within this phase.”
He, however, said the PTF strongly recommended that states conduct risk assessment “to ensure all schools are at a level of compliance and create a monitoring mechanism to assess, create, and monitor this level of preparedness.
“All daycares and educational institutions are to remain closed to in-classes until this level of risk is assessed.
“And if there will be opening of schools, it must be staged and preferably carried out in phases to ensure that this does not pose a risk to the general public and in particular to vulnerable groups that might end up getting infected by students going back home,” Aliyu said.
Aliyu said the government was in the process of developing strict guidelines to forestall the outbreak of infections when the NYSC camps eventually reopened.
NYSC orientation camps were closed in March as part of measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.
He said: “The NYSC is to consolidate on safety measures currently being put in place and start preparing for the reopening of orientation camps when educational institutions open.
“We’re in the process of developing strict guidelines to ensure there is no outbreak of Covid-19 when this process starts.”
Aliyu also said the government had relaxed the nationwide curfew imposed to reduce the coronavirus spread.
The curfew, which was hitherto from 10pm to 4am, is now from 12am to 4am.
“We’re modifying the curfew to commence from 12 midnight to 4am nationwide, effective from 12:00 tonight.
“This does not apply to people on essential services and international travelers that might be returning from abroad,” Aliyu said.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, said Nigeria was not ready yet for a full reopening of the economy.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari had extended the six-month mandate of the PTF, earlier scheduled to expire this month, to the end of December.
Mustapha said the global response had continued to witness huge deployment of resources and collaborative efforts to combat the pandemic and that the global statistics depicted the virulent nature of the virus.
He said: “The PTF believes that while Nigeria is not ready for a full re-opening of the economy, there has been sufficient progress to warrant significant further relaxation of the restrictions applied.
“Based on the foregoing, the PTF today submitted its 7th Interim Report to Mr. President for his consideration and approval.
“The main thrust of the recommendation is that Nigeria advances to the third phase of eased restrictions with further amendments, to address economic, socio-political and health concerns.
“This will last till a time when the epidemic is sufficiently controlled in Nigeria.”
He said Buhari had considered and approved the transition into the third phase of the National Response to COVID-19 for a period of four weeks with effect from 12.01 am today in line with amendments to address economic, socio-political and health considerations reflected in the implementation guidelines.
