Lagos State government’s decision to rely on advice from the Federal Government as well as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in determining when to reopen schools in the state is the right and proper thing to do.

The state’s commissioner for education, Folashade Adefisayo, said the state government was discussing with the Federal Government to arrive at a date. The two governments are however being guided by the NCDC.
Speaking while highlighting the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration’s plans for education during an online discussion tagged ‘Covinspiration Show’, to keep the public abreast of the administration’s activities in the last one year, the commissioner said the decision to reopen the schools cannot be unilateral because COVID-19 affects the entire country, and indeed the whole world.

“We are watching the behaviour of the pandemic to see what happens next and we are working with the Federal Government on the reopening of the schools in the country. This is not a decision that any state can unilaterally take on its own.

If we are certain that the children are safe, we will reopen the schools for learning to resume”, Adefisayo said. She added that “After the protocol is completed and health officials assure us that the coast is clear, we will give the schools some days to adjust their premises in accordance with the guidelines on commencement of academic activities”.

It could not have been better said. Indeed, this is the appropriate model that all state governments should adopt. This is not a matter to be emotive or partisan about. Coronavirus is no respecter of political party or status.

It has consumed some of the high and mighty in many parts of the world, including Nigeria, and some of them were only lucky to have returned home after being treated for the novel virus and discharged.