*Asks Parents and Students to Put Travel Plans on Hold

Following the upsurge in the number of persons infected by the deadly COVID 19 pandemic in the country, Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State has announced an indefinite postponement of its resumption date.

To this end, the management of the school which is one of the foremost private universities in the country has advised parents and prospective students to put on hold all travel plans for resumption for academic activities on campus until further pronouncement by the institution.

The decision of the school owned by Seventh Day Adventist Church was in line with the National Universities Commission (NUC) directive that vice-chancellors of universities should suspend all activities in their institutions in compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.

The university had in a letter dated December 14, 2020, ordered fresh students to resume in three batches from January 10 to 14, 2021, while returning students were expected to resume in six batches from January 17 to 21, 2021.

In a statement obtained by Maritime Bits yesterday and signed by the Director of Communications and Marketing, Dr. Joshua Suleiman, said with the directive from NUC on December 23, 2020, in line with the directives from the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and other recent government COVID-19 related releases, parents and students should put on hold all travel arrangements.

He said this was to ensure the best for parents as well as to safeguard the health, interest and future of the university students.

The NUC in a circular issued and signed by its Deputy Executive Secretary (Administration), Chris Mayaki, said classrooms activities, hostel accommodation, conference and seminars should be suspended.

“Vice-chancellors are to please note that the directive is part of the measures approved by the president to mitigate the second wave of coronavirus infections in the country. The affected officers are expected to perform their duties from home while those on GL13 and above should strictly adhere to the extant preventive measures, including maintenance of physical distancing, regular washing of hands and/or sanitising of hands, wearing of face masks and reducing the number of visitors to their offices”, it added.

The reported outbreak of the second wave of the pandemic in Nigeria which has led to an astronomical increase in the number of infections across the country, the federal government has stepped up efforts to enforce the NCDC protocols in curbing the disease spread among the citizenry.