It’s unsafe to reopen varsities now, COVID-19 guidelines absent – ASUU

Branches of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, on Sunday, January 10, 2021, assessed COVID-19 protocols in the universities and said the institutions were not ready for safe reopening.

The chapters of the union, speaking with newsmen, commented on the directive of the National Universities Commission that universities could resume on January 18, but must adhere to COVID-19 protocols in hostels and lecture halls.

ASUU said although its members were ready to start work, government had not put measures in place for safe reopening of the schools.

ASUU’s concern came amid coronavirus cases and deaths, which rose to 99,063 and 1,350 respectively on Saturday.

The union Chairman at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Osun State, Dr Adeola Egbedokun, disclosed that classroom and hostel situations in universities did not in any way conform with COVID-19 protocols.

Egbedokun further said no preparations had been made so far for the safe re-opening of the universities and urged parents to insist on safety before re-opening.

He said, “COVID-19 is very real and this second wave is as real as described. We cannot afford to toy with our health and the health of our dear students in the name of resumption, which is politically motivated.

“There are no preparations for safe re-opening of the universities and I think parents must insist on safe re-opening. The current classroom and hostel configurations in our universities do not in any way conform with the PTF (Presidential Task Force) on COVID-19 protocols. There is no way universities can achieve that. I have said this elsewhere, that rather than for government to have addressed the obvious deficits in the public universities during the lockdown and strike, they were playing to the gallery.”

But the OAU spokesperson, Abiodun Olanrewaju, said the university management was ready for resumption and had put in place “a lot in relation to the COVID-19 protocols” in a bid to ensure safety.

However, ASUU at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta said the university was not ready to cope with COVID-19 challenges.

The Chairman of ASUU-FUNAAB, Dr Adebayo Oni, stated, “The lectures halls are overcrowded. As of today, in my own campus, I have not seen any facility for hand washing. Who is to provide sanitisers? Do you expect lecturers to provide sanitisers for themselves?

“Fumigation of the environment from time to time should be done. How do you cope with students surge and the challenge of power supply?”

Oni said the union had observed that conducting physical lectures with students would be more disastrous.

He described as alarming, the figure of COVID-19. He said, “It is definitely a threat to the resumption of academic activities.

“The fact is that under this circumstance and looking at the threat of the figure, going physical with students would be more disastrous. Conducting physical session, physical lectures with students would be more disastrous.

“The truth of the matter is that we now propose a mixed model of online teaching and probably some level of physical teachings.

“Even the online teaching also comes with its own facilities which are not readily available.

“We don’t want to be pessimistic to say that it is not going to be workable. However, it is going to be at the risk of our lives and the lives of our students if the required facilities are not provided by the government.

“The truth is that the facilities to cope with the pandemic are not available in our institutions. It appears the government is not ready and our institutions are not helpful.”