Federal varsities have lost one academic session 

13 Feb Federal varsities have lost one academic session 

The Federal Ministry of Education, yesterday, said that all federal universities in the country have lost one full academic session as a result of the industrial strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Academic activities in Nigerian universities were suspended between March and December last year due to the industrial action embarked upon by the teaching staff, as well as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at a time most universities were at various stages of learning.

Although the government lifted the national lockdown last August, public universities remained shut until late December when the ASUU suspended its industrial action. By then, the institutions had lost 10 months.

Many higher institutions were in their first semester before the lockdown; hence the closure not only interrupted teaching and learning, but also coincided with a key assessment period, as tests and examinations in some of the institutions were postponed.

In an interview with The Guardian, the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Bem Gong, said nothing can be done to recover the full academic session lost due to the industrial action.

He stated: “It is not just some schools, all public universities have lost one full academic session and there is no way you can recover that. The truth is that you can never recover the one full year that has been lost; that is the extent ASUU can go.

“At the basic and secondary education sector, we also had challenges there, but the minister has constituted a committee that is working to harmonise the academic calendar. But for the university, it is already given that one year has been lost.”