The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU), Nsukka Zone on Friday warned that plans to reopen universities now are a Pandora box to the second wave of COVID-19.
The Zonal Coordinator, Dr Igbana Ajir, who stated this during a press conference held at Chateau De Victoria Hotel, Makurdi also debunked the belief in some quarters that ASUU embarked on strike as a result of Integrated Payroll and Personal Information.
Dr Ajir said that following the guidelines established by the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, the government should address adequate hostel accommodation, availability of physical facilities to enable social distancing in large and crowded classrooms, running water, steady source of power, testing and isolation centres.
The Zonal Coordinator noted that without addressing most of the established guidelines, reopening of schools now may trigger more consequences.
Though, Dr Ajir said that most of the guidelines would be very difficult to meet in the next ten years but noted that the union will be ready to call off the strike if the Vice-Chancellors are ready to open and provide safety for the students.
On IPPIS, the Zonal Coordinator said that the union did not go on strike due to the policy, saying, “it was a distraction by the federal government to deceive Nigerians.
He said that though, the union had developed an alternative system, University Transparency in Accountability Solution, UTAS which he said captured all the peculiar structure and expressed confidence the system will be approved by the federal government.
