The National Universities Commission (NUC) has directed vice-chancellors of universities to commence academic activities on January 18.
The Commission stated that this was in accordance with the directive of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) team on COVID-19.
The nation’s public universities have been closed since March 2020, following a strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the lockdown occasioned by the spread of COVID-19.
The union suspended the strike on December 23, 2020 after the federal government met their demands.
The directive signed by NUC’s Deputy Executive Secretary (Administration), Chris Maiyaki, on behalf of the Executive Secretary, Professor Abubakar Rasheed, urged the tertiary institutions to safeguard lives by strictly adhering to all laid down protocols by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to curb the spread of dread Coronavirus disease.
“I am to add that universities on resumption of academic activities, must under no circumstance violate the full cycle of the semester system, consistent with the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) approved by the NUC, as well as other extant quality assurance standards and guidelines,” NUC’s statement noted.
