Covid-19: NUC gives preparation guidelines for resumption of Universities

The National Universities Commission, (NUC) has set out some guidelines spelling out preparations for resumption of universities.

Speaking at a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, August 4, the NUC’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said that so far, reasonable number of vice-chancellors have submitted their reports on the level of their readiness to the commission.

Rasheed added that when all processes are concluded, the commission would make a statement either to direct universities to resume or otherwise.

Daily Times reports that universities in Nigeria have since been closed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

 While highlighting the extent of their prepartions, Rasheed said that the commission was collating data on the assessment of the level of preparedness by the various universities through their vice-chancellors to determine if the universities were safe for resumption to both academic and non-academic activities.

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He also said that a total of 32 universities in the country were carrying out researches on solutions to the dreaded Coronavirus in the country. .

Rasheed, who spoke through the Deputy Executive Secretary, Academics, Dr. Suleiman Ramon Yusuf, at the briefing meant to showcase the ongoing contributions of Nigerian universities to the national response to COVID-19, however, regretted the expected resumption may be marred by a strike in public varsities even as he said efforts were on to looking for a permanent to the incessant industrial action in universities.

Rasheed, “We have a template to vice-chancellors of all universities requesting them to suggest to us what kind of protocols and strategies are they putting in place in the various institutions. We are collating some of the responses which have already started coming in and at the end of the day the picture should emerge about the extent to which our universities are prepared to reopen for academic activities,” he said.

Rasheed said that the University of Jos, which is leading in herbal and natural product development, could do more if federal government release more funds to such institutions for research purposes.

According to him, “The performance of the African Centers of Excellence, particularly the Center for the Genomics of Infectious Diseases at the Redeemer’s University, Ede in Sequencing SARS-CoV-2 virus, the collaborative development of vaccines with the University of Cambridge and as a pioneer national testing and screening centre and the other ACES in ABU, BUK, UNILAG, UNIBEN, UNIPORT and UNIJOS that also served as national testing and screening centres have proved that world-class Research and Development work is possible in Nigeria.”