Benue Shuts Down Schools Over Coronavirus

In a bid to prevent the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, Benue State government on Thursday announced that it had ordered shutdown of public and private schools in the state from March 27 until further notice.

An senior officer in the ministry of education,  Sulvier Agida, disclosed this in an interview with THE WHISTLER. 

The measure by the state government is coming on the heels of similar shutdown of schools by Lagos, Anambra and all states in North West zone of the country over the virus.

The move came after Nigeria confirmed five new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, raising the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 8.

“Yes, the shutdown is from the 27th of this month, all schools, both private and public primary and secondary schools will shut down. The measure is because of the coronavirus.”

Asked whether the measure also applies to tertiary institutions, Agida said “tertiary institutions are already on strike, so if they were not on strike, they would have been included.”

She further disclosed that the government had taken measures to contain the disease in the event of an outbreak.

“Two weeks ago, the state government voted ten million naira for the purchase of equipment and got a place it is furnishing in case of any emergency,” she said.