COVID-19: Pro-chancellors beg FG to reopen private universities

The committee of pro-chancellors of private universities (CPCPU) have, in a statement urged the federal government to permit them to reopen. They decried the continued shutdown of universities by the federal government since the COVID-19 noting that failure to reopen institutions will have an unpleasant effect on the universities.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria, which led to the country’s 78 private universities being shut alongside other educational institutions, the CPCPU have implored the reopening of private universities in the country within the next month.

Tunde Olofintila, the head of corporate services of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, in a statement noted that the committee’s demand was contained in the communiqué issued at the end of its emergency virtual meeting on Saturday, July 25.

The pro-chancellors further said that the failure to reopen private universities will kill the institutions in the country.

According to the communique, CPCPU said that private universities were ready to reopen having put in place all the necessary requirements and protocols to ensure a safe and secure campus. The committee went on to state that the plea became very important because private universities had made sustained efforts to comply with the guidelines for the reopening as detailed in its template submitted to the Nigerian government.