Why We Support Federal Government Reopening Schools – NCDC

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced on Friday that its unwavering support for the Federal Government’s decision to reopen schools for the 2020/2021 academic session was as a result of the fact that the advantages of having children in school outweigh the risks of transmission of COVID-19.

However, NCDC Director-General, Chikwe Ihekweazu, also stated that although children are not the main target of COVID-19 at the moment, they risk being among its highest and largest victims.

Chikwe further noted that the current information and statistics for the welfare of children in Nigeria was weakening, and having them stay out of school would further intensify the situation by denying them what they need to have healthy and productive lives.

According to him, Nigeria has the highest number of children drop-outs, nearly 31 million of children under the age of five and about half of the population under the age of 15.

He added that 10.5 million children are currently out of school and closure of schools may result in 10 million being out of school forever.

The Director-General had initially said the worst outcomes of the virus had been spared in children because the presentation in them was less severe, often asymptomatic and often not clinically significant to visit the hospitals.

According to him: “Just 10 percent of our cases have been confirmed in children and one per cent deaths.

“The few deaths that occurred in children were likely to have happened to them through morbidity that led to deficits in coping with the virus.”