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COVID-19: Nigeria begins disinfection of schools ahead of resumption

Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, Honourable Minister for Environment

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

In preparation for the phased resumption of schools, colleges and universities with the students’ writing their final examinations, the Federal Government has announced that the decontamination of the institutions of learning schools against the spread of disruptive COVID-19 epidemic, beginning Tuesday, July 7, 2020.

Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, Honourable Minister for Environment, who stated this at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19, in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Monday, July 6, has assured Nigerians that the Ministry has enough hands to carry out the disinfection exercise across the country.

“So, it is between tomorrow (Tuesday) and the rest of the week. We have enough teams and people that we will be engaged to get that done.

“Be rest assured that your kids will be returning to a safe environment when they resume,” he disclosed.

Disinfecting a Classroom Ahead of School Resumption in Nigeria   Photo: The Punch

Mahmood further said “earlier I told you that we have sat with the Ministry of Education and we have the list of all the schools that need to be disinfected before resumption.

“Well, what we plan to do now is to do (decontaminate) the centres that will be used.”

The Minister, however, explained that the delay in the schools’ disinfection process before now was intentional, as the plan was to ensure that the chemicals were effective enough when the schools resume.

He said: “The delay is because it is better to disinfect and decontaminate within a short period of time, so that the kids will be going back into these classes when they have been freshly decontaminated.

“This is because the chemicals we use are chemicals that are not long lasting; they have short contact time to do their job.

“So, we will be getting this done before Monday when they (school children) will be back to use these classes,” he said.

The Minister for Environment assured parents and guardians that the schools would be safe for learning activities after the exercise.

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