2023: NANS Opposes Closure Of Schools

The decision of the Federal Government through the National Universities Commission to close out ivory towers for weeks all in the name of election is an unfortunate one and does not worth any form of applause from right-thinking Nigerians.

This was contained in a statement by the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS.

According to the association, “We have at different fora maintained that for no reason should our higher institutions of learning be hastily closed in response to certain actions. And, this played out during the heat of the COVID-19 crisis where we, as an association condemned the closure of schools.

“For no reason whatsoever should academic activities be put on hold not even at this time that Universities are just making up for the 9 months ASUU strike. And, it is public knowledge that some of our institutions have tens of polling units on their campuses. So, how then would students in these campuses be able to cast their votes when schools are shutdown? That is disenfranchisement in itself and we condemn such.

“As an association, we make our position known that we will never for any reason support such irrational action by the Federal Government. Rather, they should allow schools declare few days as break for their students who would be travelling to their various homes to participate in the election. And, we call on the Federal Government to stop paying lip-service to education. The government must massively invest in education and must not for any reason put academic activities on hold. If the government had invested in the educational sector, there would have been any need to halt academic activities because of election, rather, schools would go virtual and learning process would continue.”