The insistence by the Federal Government on a resumption date of September 22 after having initially chosen a more realistic distant October 13, smacks of insensitivity to the health of the nation’s children in the face of the prospect of the outbreak of a pandemic. It is just as well, therefore, that the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), has vowed not to resume work for now. The teachers’ position that more time should be given to the Ebola scourge to be contained before schools resume is reasonable. When the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) spread to Nigeria through the Liberian-American Patrick Sawyer, the country rose to the occasion, worked tirelessly at its full containment. The remarkable ingenuity of management of the disease earned the country instant credit. For example, the World Health Organisation (WHO) commended the way Nigeria handled the EVD and passed it as model for other affected countries to follow. In the same vein, the United Nations Secretary General Special Envoy, David Navarro praised the country for demonstrating leadership in the containment of the EVD. Indeed, this newspaper also acknowledged that the country whose leadership is noted for mediocrity got it right for the first time in the manner it handled the EVD outbreak. These commendations would seem misplaced if a decision is not taken to err on the side of caution and, instead, the insistence on resumption of schools holds.
Apart from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) which has taken a step further to ask its members to stay at home, other special interest groups in the health sector especially the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have all objected to the new resumption date. The NMA argues that schools should not be reopened until all those under surveillance for the EVD in the country are certified free. It stresses the point that the October 13 resumption date will allow for the completion of surveillance of those quarantined. The body argues that long delay in resumption is not out of place because school children are gregarious and vulnerable; and, therefore, contact among them could lead to an outburst of unmanageable breadth. Besides, only few schools have adequate medical and hygiene facilities. The NUT arguing basically along the same line as NMA has appropriately now gone on strike to compel a reversal of the September 22 date. It stands to reason that government ought to have consulted all stakeholders before arriving at any resumption date.
Government’s reason to the extent that there was no scientific basis for schools to remain shut beyond September 22 seems preposterous. It is confounding how leaders take little or no account of the viewpoint of the ruled. How else can the decision of the Federal Executive Council which last week insisted that primary and secondary schools should be re-opened for academic activities be explained?
Weeks earlier, the same government body had postponed the resumption of schools for fear of aggravating the highly contagious EVD. It is well that the government realises that Nigeria has not been shut down like other West African countries such as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone because Nigerians, for the most part, have played their part by complying with the directives and advice of government and its specialised agencies. For government to ignore the same people and undermine the battle for collective survival in the middle of a disease declared as a regional security threat, is a throwback to the accolades lavished earlier on government. The insistence on the new resumption date does not show the same commitment demonstrated by the Minister of Health Onyebuchi Chukwu and the Lagos State Government of Mr. Babatunde Fashola. It does not show the desire to remain vigilant to guard against further spread of EVD in the country.
A number of questions need to be posed to those in government to convince the public that the doors of the nation’s schools can be open for children. Education is on the concurrent list and why should the Federal Government choose to impose a resumption date when situations differ in each state? Does the country have adequate and necessary health infrastructure to cope with a further spread of EVD? What are the measures in place even before resumption of schools? How many of the schools, both private and public, are equipped with modest dispensaries and medical staff as well as basic equipment such as temperature sensors and quarantine centres? It is public knowledge that most schools lack basic facilities such as healthy toilets, baths, pipe borne water and convenient transportation.
It is certainly better to err on the side of caution than to expose the country to a deadly epidemic that the health infrastructure can hardly cope with at the end of the day. Government, therefore, cannot ignore the clarion call of Nigerians to let assurances be established instead of imposing any resumption date. Even at that, government must ensure that basic medical facilities are in place in both public and private schools before contemplating re-opening of schools. Much ground has been gained in the fight against Ebola and Nigeria needs not willfully reverse these gains by rushing to reopen schools.
