The Minister of State for education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has said that the Federal Government is considering the reopening of varsities soon.
Afriupdate reports that Nwajiuba made this assertion while speaking at a programme broadcast by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
The minister said that the government had received letters of permission for reopening from private institutions, stating that they were prepared to resume activities ahead of federal institutions.
He also added that striking unions like the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had reached out to put “the industrial action” to bed.
Nwajiuba said, “Tertiary institutions acUniversities Willross the country will open very soon.
“Private universities have written us, requesting that they are allowed to reopen ahead of public institutions. Vice-chancellors have also requested that we allow them to reopen for their students in exit classes.
“We have also a lot of calls from bodies who want us to resolve the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities before reopening because some public schools which are not ASUU-prone want to take the advantage of the strike to move ahead, but that would destroy our public schools. So, we are working on all these calls.
Read Also: ASUU Strike Not Threat To Reopening Of Varsities, Says FG
“We are waiting for the same from other tertiary institutions bodies so I can situate them and present the PTF on COVID-19,” he said.
“I can’t give the NUC a deadline on this because our job at the ministry is to wait for their inputs. This is not a political decision alone.
“If you open the university system, you have opened the country.”
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