Nwajiuba said this during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on Monday in Abuja.

The minister, however, expressed optimism that the date for resumption was around the corner, adding, that “we are not going to be brandishing dates.”

He disclosed that he and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, met some stakeholders in tertiary education earlier in the day on the issue.

Nwajiuba said about 78 privately-owned universities were insisting that they were ready for resumption while the response from government-owned universities was still “50-50.”

He said that after aggregating opinions, he would return to the PTF to review the situation and then go ahead to make a pronouncement.

The minister urged students of tertiary institutions protesting the continued closure of their schools to be a little more patient with the government.

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Aliyu, who made the clarification, at the PTF on COVID-19 briefing on Monday in Abuja, explained that the date would be for consideration of resumption of flights.

According to him, Aug. 29 is not sacrosanct but if aviation authorities meet the criteria for resumption on the 29th, they will be given the green light to resume.

The coordinator said: “We will spend a whole day to discuss international travel and how this will be done.”

“We are grateful to CACOVID and it’s partners for helping to support this process, because it would help us to expedite action of the airport.”

“And if I may clarify, we said from the 29th of August, we didn’t say on the 29th of August. So, very similar to what we did for the domestic flights.

“Don’t come back and say that we promised we will open on the 29th, but that date is not sacrosanct; but we will work towards it.

“We will seriously try and deliver it but from the 29th as far as the PTF is concerned, if aviation comes to us and say they are ready from the 29th, we will say please go ahead. If they come back on the 28th, it is too early.”

Earlier, the minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika said that International flights, which were suspended by the nation’s Aviation authorities in the country as a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, would resume Aug. 29, 2020.

Sirika said the Nigeria’s international airports had reached advanced stages of preparedness for the resumption of international flight operations.

The minister disclosed that like it was done during the resumption of domestic flights across the country, the international flights would commence with the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos.

Emphasis, he said, would be placed on the observation of all the safety and technical guidelines as prescribed by global and health authorities, which would be communicated in due course.

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Nwajiuba said this at the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Monday in Abuja.

He was reacting to a question on if it was proper for private schools to charge third term fee since the period the exiting students would spend in school was short.

The minister said that private school owners were running a business venture and not a charity organisation.

He added that “for public institutions, we can’t tell you that we charge school fees, as most of our schools are free. Public schools are free and vary from state to state.

“But when you go into a contractual relationship with a school owner, a school owner is a passionate person, but is also a business person. He or she is not running a charity organisation, they may be charitable in their approach, but it’s not charity.

“So, it’s important that you appreciate that a private school is entitled to charge fees for the work they do. The person that runs a school may be passionate about education but will still charge fees.”

Nwajiuba said that “once the WAEC examination starts on Aug. 17, it will run till the middle of September and NABTEB will start immediately and run till October.”

He said “NECO examination will start on Oct. 10, about a week to the end of NABTEB and run through to November.”

“We expect that throughout the period, students are working and learning.”

“We don’t just want them to be in school and be playing, this is exit class, it says a lot about the six years spent in secondary school.

“Right now, we are lifting the registration for NABTEB and NECO, continuously running, even while we are about to begin WAEC.

“All examinations are a test of outcomes. We will want our teachers to continuously engage the students,” he said.

Nwajiuba emphasised that schools resumption was for exit classes at the moment, adding that some schools had even opened on Monday, Aug. 3.

He said: “I monitored developments in Lagos State, where some schools opened and cleaned the classes and the environment, while some other states will open as the week proceeds.”

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The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Olasunkanmi Olaleye disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday in Ibadan.

Olaleye said that various training had been given to categories of school heads, principals and teachers on how to monitor and report any sign of illness that showed symptoms of COVID-19 to the authority.

He said the State had set up Emergency Operation Centres (EOCs) in the State capital and at zonal levels and as well as appointed Incident Managers for each school who would report any emergency directly to the EOCs through special communication lines.

He went further to state that each class would have a Warder whose obligation was to relate with the Incident Managers on his or her observations.

“Among the measures are the compulsory hand-washing points at the school entrances and at the entrance of each classroom as well as alcohol-based sanitiser for the use of students and teachers.”

“Throughout last week, what we have been doing was to train school heads and teachers of public and private schools, preparing them for this task of taking firm control of preventing the spread of COVID-19 into our schools as we resume.”

“Each school has been mandated to strictly enforce social distancing and observe other protocols against COVID-19 among teachers and students as laid down by NCDC.”

“Students are to come to school with their face masks and follow instructions on the guidelines from the management, these are imperative since the government cannot lock down forever and education is an aspect of life that should not be allowed to suffer backwardness.”

“I can boldly tell you that with these measures in place, the children are safer with us in school than even many homes, imagine situations whereby students are asked to go to private lessons that provide no safety measure.”

“Many follow their parents to the market and workplaces where the possibility of contracting the virus is high, so they are rather better kept at school than home,” he said.

It was reported that teachers of public schools in the state should resume on June 29 in preparation for students resumption by July 6.

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Mrs Otasowie Oshodin, the Registrar of UNIBEN, made this known in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday. In Benin.

Oshodin said that the postponement was necessitated by emergency repairs in the students’ hostels.

She said that the new date for the resumption is now Sunday, Aug. 11, adding that “any inconvenience caused by this postponement is deeply regretted’’.

Oshodin advised students to prepare for the resumption as lectures would start immediately upon resumption.

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Saraki made this known via his twitter handle on Monday.

He said,“I have received a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari informing the Senate that he has returned to the country.

“I have also acknowledged the letter.’’

Our correspondent reports that the letter will be read in plenary when the National Assembly resumes from its recess on Sept. 19.

President Muhammadu Buhari had written to the National Assembly informing it of his medical trip to London, which he commenced on May 7.

He had transmitted power to the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to act in his absence.

He returned to Nigeria on Aug. 19.

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