The Ogun State Government has ordered the management of Royal Institute of Health Technology, Ifo, to immediately recall its students who are on industrial training (IT) programme.
Governor Dapo Abiodun gave the directive during a meeting with the management of the institute and representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the National Association of Ogun State Students (NAOSS), on Monday in Abeokuta.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the institute had deployed its students to various hospitals and health institutions to observe the mandatory IT programme.
NANS and NAOSS, however, decried the mobilisation of students for the programme, saying that the management had, by that action, violated the order by both the federal and state governments on the closure of schools.
Gov. Abiodun, who was represented by his Special Assistant on Students’ Matters, Azeez Adeyemi, explained that the decision was not to witch hunt the school management but to save the students from the risk of contracting the deadly coronavirus disease.
“We have both agreed here today that your students must be recalled from their industrial training programme. As government, we are mandating you to recall all of them.
“We have professional doctors and nurses who have contracted COVID-19 and have died. Exposing students, who are not yet professionals to the risk of contracting COVID-19, is not too good,” he said.
The Public Relations Officer of the institute, Mr Adewale Dada, denied that the institution had reopened for academic activities, saying there was nothing of such going on in the school.
Dada explained that the industrial training programme had been called off and that students were being recalled from their various places of primary assignments back to their homes.
He added that the school would never act contrary to government’s directives, even as he commended government for its efforts so far at reducing the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
