WELCOME TO DIRECT REPORTERS

NANS CALLS ON THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS ON THE NEED FOR IMMEDIATE REOPENING OF OUR INSTITUTIONS.

Greetings to everyone!

I write with total displeasure and as a representative of all Nigerian students in the South-South and South-East region, extending our dissatisfaction over the fact that our campuses have remained closed beyond necessary.

It can be recalled that some months back, the deadly COVID-19 pandemic struck and subsequently became a global trend, which shut down almost all sectors of the economy and placed activities on hold, including our institutions of higher learning.

After a while, most of these closed sectors gradually gained reopening, after several reviews of the Covid-19 guidelines.

As Nigerian students, we cannot fail to mention the fact that the pandemic has had a pronounced effect on the students community (that has been without news of sad occurrences) ranging from a number of losses of intelligent and well meaning Nigerian students (including the death of Uwa, a student of the University of Benin, Edo State who was raped and killed), to other  deaths of students. We cannot fail to mention the daily abuses experienced by our innocent students in the hands of properly oriented security agents and the related.

Nevertheless, in view of the state of things, many students (especially the self-sponsored ones) still got involved in legitimate engagements just to get busy and as well, raise money for food and survival.

Today, I write together with the voices of over one million Nigerian students studying in the South-South and South-East of Nigeria, to cry out to the federal government and relevant stakeholders, to consider the reopening of our closed campuses. The psychological, emotional and mental state of students having spent this prolonged duration at home should be considered at this point.

Prior before now, we had received complaints of students who already paid rents for their respective lodges in school, and had barely lived in them before the lock down was announced. What becomes of the rents they paid? Of course, it is non-refundable.

We cry out to the federal government, the President of our nation, His Excellency, Gen. Muhamadu Buhari, the Minister of Education, members of the National Assembly (to mention but a few), to please come to our aid; a definite date for resumption should be announced as soon as possible, to ensure that students go back to their campuses and complete their programmes.

The government should give out exact guidelines for the reopening of schools; and such guidelines should be feasible and very observable for our students.

Our future is paramount and should not be truncated.

We are Nigerian students and our campuses deserve to be open!!!

Thank you as we anticipate a favourable response.

Yours in struggle,
Comr. Jeremiah Friday O.
(Co-ordinator, NANS Zone B--- South-South, South-East).