The Oyo State COVID-19 taskforce yesterday disclosed that the state government had re-adjusted the resumption date for Primary Six, Junior Secondary School III, and Senior Secondary School III students in the state.
The task force, which rose from a two-and-a-half-hours meeting on Monday, reviewed the state of preparedness of the schools ahead of the planned resumption.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, said that the Commissioner for Education, Olasunkanmi Olaleye and experts from the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), had been going around the schools to determine compliance with the COVID-19 prevention protocols put in place by the schools.
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Education had earlier raised the alarm over the decision of the Oyo State government to reopen its primary and secondary schools.
Minister of State for Education, Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who expressed the concern while briefing members of the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education on his ministry’s plans for pupils who had been forced to stay at home on account of the COVID-19, said: “Why is Oyo State government, which is currently battling with an increased case of coronavirus, eager to open the gates of its schools when its neighboring states are employing caution.”
The minister spoke while reacting to a question from the representative of Oyo South, Lekan Balogun, who wanted to know the views of the Federal Government on the decision of his state to reopen the schools.
However, the Oyo State government yesterday said that it had expended a little above N2.7 billion so far in its fight against coronavirus in the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinola Ojo, who disclosed this shortly after the weekly State Executive Council meeting in Ibadan, said the total donation, including cash and material items, was N1.177 billion while total cash received as donations into the state COVID-19 endowment fund stands at N378 million, adding that the total amount expended on palliative sits at N900 million.
