NCDC finally speaks on resumption of students, makes clarification
- It is more beneficial to the country if students are in school, the NCDC has finally declared
- According to the health agency, government's decision to reopen schools is a sound one
- Also, it said that the virus is less severe in children and as such, there is no cause for alarm
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In a complete reversal that will shock many Nigerians given the fact that educational centres were not allowed to resume for many months in 2020, the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has now declared that there are benefits if schools across the country resume.
According to the health agency the benefits of having children in school outweighs the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
This was disclosed by Chikwe Ihekweazu, director-general of the NCDC in Lagos on Friday, January 22.
The Cable reports that Ihekweazu said he supports the government’s decision to reopen schools.
Source: Facebook
He said:
“You can see why some decisions around school reopening are so difficult to make by the government; how do you balance the need to control this pandemic versus the other requirements children need to live healthy and productive?” he said.
“This pandemic is threatening efforts to prevent major causes of child morbidity and mortality, and threatening the small gains we have made over many years in a very difficult context that is ours.
“I, personally, still support the decision of the Federal Government to reopen schools and try as best as we can to mitigate the risks, at least for now.
“If things get out of hand, we may and we will consider this condition but we all understand that the lockdown had a huge impact on children.”
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the federal government issued a clear message on the possibility of imposing another lockdown following disregards towards the safety protocols issued on COVID-19.
Speaking during a media briefing on Tuesday, January 19, the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 through its chairman Bosss Mustapha lamented low compliance to the safety protocols by Nigerians.
Mustapha said since schools resumed on Monday, January 18, there has been a clear disregard for the federal government's directives on the deadly virus.
Legit.ng also reported that despite the order made on Thursday, January 14, for the resumption of all private and public schools across the country on January 18, the federal government said it was against the decision.
Speaking at the media briefing of the PTF on COVID-19, on Monday, January 18, the minister of education, Adamu Adamu, said the federal government did not agree with the states on the resumption date.
The minister, who noted that the PTF would monitor the COVID-19 situation on a daily basis, said schools' resumption could be reviewed again.
COVID-19: Is Nigeria ready for another lockdown | - on Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
