COVID-19: Safe reopening of schools responsibility of states —PTF

The Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, said on Monday the safe reopening of schools was the responsibility of the state governments.

Mustapha, who disclosed this during the taskforce media briefing in Abuja, said the Federal Government would only provide necessary guidelines for the reopening of schools in the country.

Several state governments in the country had directed the full reopening of schools in the various states.

Lagos State government had on Monday ordered all schools in the state to reopen fully for academic activities from October 19.

He said: “We wish to reiterate that federating units have the responsibility of determining the dates and modalities for the safe reopening, while the Federal Government provides the guidelines.”

Mustapha, who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), said the reports across the world on the COVID-19 pandemic had shown that Nigerians should not lower their guards.

He added: “The PTF is glad that the economy is opening up the more but warns that as we continue to study developments in Europe and other parts of the world, no nation can be said to be immune to a possible second wave if the guidelines and protocols are not adhered to strictly.

“Nigerians need to anticipate this and prepare. Our hope and prayers are that it shall never happen.

“For our proper information and guidance, the picture from around the world can be summarised as follows:

“Over the last few days, global cases crossed the 37 million mark. In the United Kingdom, cases have been on the increase, and the 5th highest number of daily cases was recorded on Sunday, October 11th with 12,872 cases.

“Similarly, Brazil’s caseload has also continued to increase with the registration of a daily caseload of over 65,000 on October 11.”

The SGF added that in Africa, 8,987 cases were reported from 34 countries in the last 24 hours.

This, he said, had led to a cumulative total case count of 1,587,276, including 38,167 deaths, with the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) standing at 2.4 percent.

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