The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Monday, warned the Federal Government not to reopen schools, especially tertiary institutions of learning.
ASUU said the reopening of schools without taking cognisance of the need to curb the spread of the deadly COVID-19 would be suicidal.
The academic union lamented that the Federal Government did not deem it fit to give bailout funds to universities as it did for airline operators and other private businesses, warning that government should be ready for any negative consequences that may follow its planned reopening of tertiary institutions.
The Lagos Zone of ASUU disclosed this while speaking at a press conference held at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, in Ogun State.
In his words, the zonal coordinator of ASUU, Prof. Olusiji Sowande, warned that having the students back on the campuses should not be the priority, but the atmosphere and conditions must also be right at this period of the pandemic.
Sowande maintained that there are no facilities on ground to effect social distancing in large and crowded classrooms and hostels.
According to him, water and electricity supply are nothing to write home about in the universities.
Sowande stressed that the education and health sectors have suffered years of neglect in Nigeria, which he said has resulted in poor infrastructure, lack of well-equipped diagnostic, testing and research laboratories as well as treatment centres in both sectors.
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