COVID-19: Schools defy closure order in Kano – Official

Some Almajiri Tsangaya schools have defied the Kano State Government directives on closure of schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the state.

Chairman of the Task Force Committee on the Enforcement of the School Closure, Lauratu Ado, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Kano.

Mrs Ado, who is also the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, disclosed that cases of violation to the order were reported at Dala, Doguwa and Gwale Local Government Areas of the state.

She said the committee could not arrest the proprietors of the affected schools, however, it intimated Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the development.

“We have the names of the schools that violated the order, we have presented the names to Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje for more measures to be taken.

“We recommended two alternatives to the government either that the committee be re-enforced with security, resources and the media, or the security agencies takes over the task.

“We need the police, we cannot involve police at the ministerial level, we have to inform the state government so that necessary measures should be put in place,” she said.

Mrs Ado advocated for establishment of similar committees in the 44 local government councils to enhance its operations.

She noted that if the state committee received a report of acts of violation, it would forward it to the local committees for necessary action.

“During our exercise, we have not found defaulters, except some few schools we met few staff doing their work. But we ordered them to leave, because there is an order that civil servants should stay at home.

“Because it was our first outing and we did not see students, we did not arrest them but ordered that they should close the schools and leave,” she said.

The state government through the Ministry of Education had set up the committee to enforce compliance with the school closure order.

(NAN)